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Stewardship
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 25th December 2006
Revd. Matthew Vernon
Thank you.
Duo xie.
Salaamat.
Thank you.
Here's the bottom line:
• without each of us contributing to Emmanuel, we wouldn't be here.
Without each of us making a contribution,
• great or small, to our life together as a church,
• there would be no Emmanuel Church.
So thank you for what you do.
Thank you for making this possible.
And please feel thanked.
This is not an underhand way of making you feel guilty for not doing more!
Of course, some of us give above and beyond the call of duty.
It so happens that this coming week some of us have a church meeting 3 nights running!
But how much we contribute depends on ability, circumstances, level of comfort and so on.
Certainly, in a stewardship review we reflect on how we use our time, talents and resources.
But this is a genuine thank you for what you already do.
Even just being here on Sunday mornings is an essential contribution.
For this is where we support each other
• and encourage the faith that inspires our giving.
For any church to work well a lot of volunteer time is needed and financial support is necessary too.
In the St. John's family that volunteer time and that money allow a remarkable range of activities to take place.
I'll spend a few minutes outlining those activities both to remind us about them and to celebrate them.
Your contribution of time and/or money allow them to take place.
There's the Cathedral itself and the daughter churches:
• St. Stephen's in Stanley, Discovery Bay Church and us at Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam.
At the Cathedral on Sunday there's the Mandarin Congregation and the Taglog Congregation as well as the English language Services.
Plus all the activities associated with the various Services and congregations:
• activities like Sunday School, social gatherings, Christian education programmes;
• there are pilgrimages and prayer groups;
• music-making, flowering arranging, and so on.
Those things are important – they are part of our worship of God
Put crucially, the St. John's family isn't just about Services.
We don't just exist for ourselves.
Throughout its history, the St. John's community has made a valuable contribution to the community of Hong Kong.
This is about service:
• serving those in need;
• faith with actions,
• not just faith for its own sake.
Today this serving the community of Hong Kong is most obvious in our outreach ministries.
The Bookstore; the HIV Education Centre; Helpers for Domestic Helpers; the Counselling Service; Mission for Migrant Workers.
These outreach ministries belong to the whole St. John's community,
• not just the Cathedral where they are located.
You'll notice from that list that John's is a socially radical church.
St. John's has been called the AIDS and Maids church.
There are people who don't come to one of our churches
• but do know that we campaign for the rights of the marginalised
• and that we have some unusual outreach projects.
Maids and AIDS is not a bad title for a church that sets out to include those who have in the past never been welcomed.
I'll highlight in more detail, two of our outreach ministries.
The HIV Education has recently been involved with the 16th International AIDS Conference.
This one was held in Toronto.
People from all over the world gathered in August.
Our HIV Education Centre had a booth in the Global Village.
Our team included Elijah Fung, the manager of the Education Centre and Revd Des Cox, one of my clergy colleagues.
They manned a stall covering our work in schools and women's groups here in Hong Kong.
It was a stall amongst many others from around the world:
• youth, women, indigenous peoples, church people, doctors, media, governments, non governments, HIV+ people and many others.
Our Counselling Service provides professional counseling to many who couldn't otherwise afford it.
The Service helps people with a wide range of life issues and problems.
From work stress to relationship issues, from teenager problems to depression.
People from any background are welcome: irrespective of gender, culture or religion.
They pay what they can – often a lot less than the market rate for counseling.
The Gospel this morning is about saving or losing our life.
Jesus says that those who want to save their life will lose it,
• and those who lose their life for the sake of the Gospel will save it.
Serving others is at the heart of the Christian gospel.
Jesus teaches us that we find life by sacrificing ourselves.
That strange paradox:
• we don't gain life by helping ourselves;
• we find fulfilment by helping other people.
You know that from you own experience:
• either through supporting a friend in need
• or caring for a sick relative
• or as a parent
• or giving to charity.
That rule of life is shown in the outreach ministries of St. John's –
and I say again, that means the Cathedral, St. Stephen's in Stanley, Discovery Bay Church and Emmanuel Church.
Which means its thanks to you that these things happen.
Thanks to your contribution:
• you presence here,
• your time and expertise, if your on committees and Boards,
• and your financial giving.
A review of stewardship is often taken to mean giving more.
The Gospel is demanding.
Taking up the cross is not easy.
But a review of stewardship includes appreciating what is being given and what is happening already.
And many people give: in big ways and in smaller ways.
So thank you for what you give.
Your contribution enables this wide range of ministries within the St. John's family to happen.
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