#acl NeilPeters:read,write All:read Link to CouncilAgenda20220912 > CouncilMinutes20220912 == Cedar Church correspondence == === First email === <> === Second email === {{{ From: Timothy Jiang Subject: The church cooperation Date: 18 August 2022 at 11:39:42 pm AEST To: "office@gwuc.org.au" Dear Rev. Neil Peace in Lord of Jesus Christ! A few days ago I sent an email to several churches, including yours, seeking cooperation, which I trust you have received. I am sending you this separate email today to express our desire to partner with your church or rent your church space. Last time we met you in front of your church and had a brief communication. As you requested, in the previous email, we answered your request for our church's beliefs, proclamation of faith and vision. I hope that this will help you to have a preliminary understanding of us, and will be helpful to your church in discussing this matter. If you need to know more about us, please let us know. We would be very happy to answer any further questions you may have and can talk in person over a coffee at your convenience. We look forward to hearing from you, thank you! May God bless you and your church! God's servant: Timothy Jiang Cedar Christian Church Tim Jiang Pastor }}} === Meeting August 30 === * NeilPeters and DavidMorgan met with Pastor Tim and three other members of Cedar Church. * The conversation was open and with a generous spirit. * Pastor Tim required translation of all conversation. * Cedar Church comes from Shanghai. * Neil outlined the UCA history and characteristics, including unity in diversity, and attitudes to sexual diversity and aboriginal Australians. * Sexual diversity is clearly an issue for them. * Our use of the buildings on the weekends was described. Would there be enough space and time available to be useful to them? * Our desire to build bridges between Anglo and Chinese communities, rather than have separated congregations was emphasised. * It was agreed that they would prepare a statement on how they could see cooperation happening. * Sharing the buildings would be inconvenient but not impossible. We would like to see a relationship fitting more with our mission. === Third Email 7 September === {{{ Dear Pastor Neil & Elder David, Peace be with you! Thank God for bringing us together on last Tuesday, we had a great fellowship with you two. Below is my recollection of the main issues we discussed, please comment / confirm: 1.We agreed to have fellowship or worship on Saturday night. 2. We have a joint fellowship or worship on Sunday every three months or six months. There will be someconnection / communication between our churches. 3.At the joint worship services, preaching should be based on the beliefs that we both agree, we put aside the different viewpoints. Our aim is to spread the gospel, we respect each other’s different viewpoint.(attached is our statement of faith) 4.We are willing to actively participate in community care and gospel activities during festival / holiday seasons. Blessings, Timothy Jiang, A servant of God Cedar Christian Church Melbourne }}} === Reply after Council meeting Sep 2022 === {{{ Dear Pastor Timothy, Thank you again for the opportunity to meet you and your team. Our Church Council met Monday night, and decided not to enter into an arrangement with you at this time. We are expecting two new ministers in the next year, and the meeting felt that any such arrangement should wait for that. Also, as we said at breakfast, fitting your congregation in on the weekend would have significant practical difficulties, and the fit of your program with ours was not felt to be close enough to overcome them. Yours, David Morgan Secretary to Glen Waverley Uniting Church Council }}}