Journey To Freedom
THE VINE CHURCH ANNUAL REPORT 2023
THE VINE CHURCH ANNUAL REPORT 2023
2023 at The Vine has been all about the journey that God takes us on
from a place of slavery in sin
to freedom in Christ.
This journey is the singular most important one we will ever embark on, and the one in which we discover our deepest challenges and greatest joys.
Our study in the book of Exodus has been at the center of this journey for us this year, and as we unpacked the narrative of Israel moving from slavery to freedom, we reflected on our own personal movements out of the things that tie us to our past and into the faith that releases us into our future. The accompanying devotional books, films, and weekly messages all guided us through Israel’s immense adventure, and it has been so amazing to hear of how so many of you have been deeply impacted and changed over the course of the 30 weeks.
But our journey to freedom this year was not only about what God did for us through our study of Exodus. 2023 also saw us launch our very first church plant as Tim, Ivan and their amazing team of staff and volunteers formally commenced their gatherings in Yuen Long in January, and then moved into their purpose-built venue in September. This was a whole church effort as our community in Wan Chai prayed, raised funds, sent out and cheered on all that God was doing in the community. We are now one church with two communities in Hong Kong, something that has been a long-held dream at the Vine. We believe Yuen Long is the first of what we hope will be a number of intentionally smaller, community-focused church plants across our great city.
In other highlights, 2023 also saw the formal launch of a new ministry focused on inner healing and restoration, our counseling and psychotherapy centre, Oasis, continued to deepen their impact into society with the addition of new counselors and staff and a added focus on providing professional care to minors and families, and we ran two highly successful Alpha programs across the year with new people coming to faith across three different language groups. We also hosted our largest group of children ever for our annual Vacation Bible School (VBS) program over the summer, and baptised more people across the year than in recent memory. These are just some of the many highlights across our church life, and as you read this report may you be inspired and encouraged by all that is happening.
At the heart of all of this has been the steady, loving, and graceful presence of Jesus. It is Jesus who deserves our focus and praise, and the one who moves all of us towards greater freedom. As we step into 2024, we will do so with a focus on intimacy. Jesus does not set us free for freedom’s sake. He sets us free for himself. May we all look back on 2023 with gratitude in our hearts for all that Christ has done amongst us, and look forward to 2024 with expectation of more of him like never before.
We might have lost track of the time span that The Vine Church has been in Wan Chai, if not for the renewal of the lease of the premise. We had in that sense finished one significant segment of a faith journey, which was indeed a major leap of faith considering the composition and the size of the congregation some 15 years ago.
Now we are continuing our faith journey as we commit to a new lease with options of taking up the premise for the next nine years. The new challenges would include a significant change in the demographics of our congregants, and the aftermath of new church attendance phenomenon post covid. But if we continue to believe that God planted us as a light of hope for the city, to reach out for the loss and to grow His people, we should indeed journey on in confidence, not on our resources but the divine purposes and provision of God.
Yet, we could only be thankful to the faithfulness and generosity of all of us who toughed it out in the past years, despite the Covid restrictions and the change in financial outlook. The giving towards the church,
including the fundings for the church plant, is just phenomenal. On the other hand, the ‘return’ to physical services, worshipping and celebrating together, is most encouraging while we are reminded that the outreach model and our expression of faith shall continue to evolve drastically in days to come.
So in that backdrop, putting into practice the River vision, by planting a church in Yuen Long, is indeed a bold move. Despite many setbacks, including the challenge to finish off the renovation, passion and favour propelled us forward. To date, The Vine Yuen Long has started their respective English and Cantonese services, with a growing vibrant congregation and enthusiastic volunteers, ready to reach out to the many in the area. It remains whether we ‘dare’ to envisage that the River Model will continue to branch out, or even church plant in new locations down the road.
In 2022, we announced on Vision Sunday that we would plant a church in Yuen Long with an English and a Cantonese Sunday service. The planting of the church was a dream that God has put in our hearts ever since Ps Andrew shared with us the River Model Vision in 2019. I am happy to report that in 2023, this dream has become a reality. In January 2023, we had the soft launch of the English service. We shifted from meeting as a Launch Team in Wan Chai to gathering for Sunday services at EIS International Preschool in Yuen Long. While this was not part of our original planning, it was God’s plan for us. During this time, we went from being acquaintances to being a spiritual community, from being a launch team to being the church. During our EIS time, we celebrated our first child dedication and baptisms and launched our Cantonese service in August. God used the time at EIS to prepare us as a community for this new season we find ourselves in now as a church.
In September, the Ho Shun Lee venue was handed over to us, and we now have a beautiful space in the heart of Yuen Long that God has provided for us for a new season of ministry and collaboration. On 1 October, we had our Grand Opening, where we publicly launched The Vine Yuen Long. We had 237 adults and 56 kids attend across our two Sunday services. One of the words God has given us as a church for this new season is that we are to be workers and proclaimers of the gospel of peace in Yuen Long. We are running Alpha in the fall to proclaim the gospel of peace and freedom. We are forming collaborations with other NGOs, schools, and churches to do the works of justice and mercy to practically serve the city and contribute to its peace, security, justice, wholeness, and flourishing. We praise God for his faithfulness through the process of the planting of The Vine Yuen Long.
Following from last year, we have continued to run Alpha twice a year in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. In 2023, we welcomed 158 guests, and trained over 70 volunteers.
Over the four courses, we have seen our guest demographic change from those inside the church to those outside the church. And excitingly, three of those guests who joined the Spring 2023 Alpha as non-believers have since made commitments to Jesus and have returned to the Autumn 2023 Alpha as volunteers serving on team – two as Small Group helpers and one on the production team.
Zoe is one of those guests. Originally from Beijing, she grew up with very little exposure to Christianity and was thus fascinated to learn that the bible was the most read book in the world, when she moved to Hong Kong. How could she have never read it or even heard her friends and family talk about it? Ever curious, she joined our Spring 2023 Alpha and made a commitment to follow Jesus on the Alpha Day. This started a journey of reading the Word daily and growing in her faith. Zoe was Baptised in August and has returned to the Autumn 2023 Alpha as a Small Group Helper.
Alpha is one tremendously practical tools that allows us to live out the call on our church to focus on evangelism, mobilising many in our congregation to volunteer and participate in undertaking this calling together.
Resound is a citywide gathering of Hong Kong youth! The purpose is to unite students to glorify Christ and seek for spiritual awakening in this Generation. This summer we had the honour of hosting this awesome event at The Vine. The theme for this Resound was “JOY”. Over 200 youth were in attendance filling our auditorium with their vibrant energy and worship for God.
The youth of our city have been through so much over the past few years, and to be able to see them come together in unity was truly an amazing sight. We ask that you continue to pray that this generation would discover what a meaningful relationship with Jesus looks like. That in times of stress and hopelessness they would be able to turn to Jesus and hear his voice and that they would find a loving and caring community to encourage them on to realise just how amazing they are.
This year our K4C team led us on a journey into outer space as we discovered how ‘Stellar’ God is. Through interactive songs, amazing scientific discoveries, lively Bible stories and engaging skits, our children were taught that in all situations and circumstances we can “SHINE JESUS’ LIGHT”.
Over 70 volunteers and 100 children took part in this week-long adventure. This was also the first year we were able to welcome preschool-aged children in our programme!
Our team did an amazing job in putting together such a magnificent event. From decorating the entire Vine Centre with stars and planets, to covering the entire event in prayer; they worked tirelessly to make sure that all who attended had the best experience. A special thank you to Pastor Elizabeth who led the event so strongly.
Investing in the lives of our children and their families will continue to be one of our strongest priorities. Events like VBS are a great example of how a healthy children’s ministry can inject life not just within the ministry itself, but into the church as a whole!
Stay tuned for next year’s where we will be going on an Underwater Scuba Adventure and dive into a friendship with God!
It is a delight to see how our Community Groups serve the space for our members to grow like Christ, to love each other, and to flourish as part of the body of Christ. We have a Filipino family-oriented community group, named Echoes of Hope, who were given the vision of connecting young Filipino families, when the leaders saw the need of building a community for their people in the city. Over the past two years, God has drawn different Filipino families to the group and many of them felt that this has been an answered prayer, as it was hard for them to find a community which shares similar walks of life among the Filipino residents in the city. From what has started with three families, the community group has now grown to 15 families.
I was born and raised in a Christian family so every Sunday was sacred until I was 26, I left Hong Kong to “find” myself, went back to school, and learned to live my life independently. It was at that moment when I stripped myself of everything I knew thus finding myself “churchless” and my soul dry that when I attempted to attend church again, I was emotionless, I longed to feel God’s presence but felt empty. Five years later, I was back in Hong Kong and went back to my old church but it never felt the same, somehow I felt ostracised and un-welcomed. I was a floating Christian for a year, longing for a home until I tried attending The Vine and loved it here, I thought it was a church where I could sit at the corner and worship the Lord in all my lonesome, waiting in the wings until I feel His presence again. Little did I know, it is where all the closest people I know attend and that’s when I felt a gush of emotions, finally feeling God’s presence among everyone I love and who prayed for me all those years and that’s when I felt Jesus and those words echoing in my head “Welcome Home, my child!” I felt whole, no longer lingering and pondering my life without JESUS as he has given me not just a whole community but a family I have known all my life, sharing one goal and that is to SERVE our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Our journey towards freedom in Christ significantly involves our mental and emotional maturity and wellness, which is the focus of both the new Restoration Ministry as well as our counselling and psychotherapy centre, Oasis. Their respective stories are highlighted below.
This newly launched ministry envisions empowering individuals through Discipleship and Prayer Counselling for continual restoration and transformation to walk fully in their God-given identity. Among others, two individuals have experienced significant healing through participating in the ministry’s initiatives.
One such individual participated in Elijah House School of Heart Healing and Healing Trauma, facilitated by the Restoration Ministry for over 100 attendees. Through these programmes, she recognised negative judgments and inner vows toward her father, bitterly expecting distance from all fathers and God. After confessing, repenting, and renouncing these, she found peace without bitterness, and her eczema healed within a week. She learned honouring her father is empowering. She and many others discovered their journey of healing and experienced support from one another.
Another individual underwent training as a prayer minister with Prayer Counselling offered by the Restoration Ministry and during the process God deepened her own personal healing. This training, was offered in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, and it's designed to support individuals in connecting deeper with Jesus, through processing wounds, and uncovering negative influences. Recognised unresolved root causes and sinful responses, are then brought to God in prayer to experience restoration. This empowers people to live out their identity in true freedom.
Oasis has had big changes this year. In February we said goodbye to two of the senior partners, Lance Lee and Karen Tong. With Lance moving on to pursue other options in the city and Karen moving into a partner role we looked at strengthening our centre through the hiring of additional experienced counsellors who form part of a strong team now led by Christine Gardener as the Head of Oasis.
Over the year we have created an environment in which many people, both within the Christian community and in the wider city, have moved into greater freedom and restoration. Freedom, restoration and client care also comes through well-established support systems and clear protocols.
This year we have also broadened our services to support children, adolescents and families which we hope will really serve our city.
Emerging from a three-year pandemic emphasised how much connectivity matters.
As we explored what it meant for a church to care for the people around us, we came face-to-face with an overwhelming sense of loneliness in our city and the importance of building relationships across cultural divides.
Neighbourhood Conversations was born out of this revelation to connect with and know our neighbours in Wan Chai. As a church, we have connected with small shop owners, domestic workers, solitary elderly, security guards, and street cleaners. We listened to their stories and blessed them by praying and supporting them where possible. We have seen that our words carry God’s power, and our physical presence is essential for people to feel God’s love around them. These outreaches led us to miles that we were surprised for:
The church body’s generosity has allowed us to support over a dozen partners around the world with approximately HK$ 2 Million including relief support for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey & Syria as well as the deadly cyclone in Myanmar. We have discovered the joy that is to serve, learn, and build fellowship together and see the goodness which God calls us to share in our city and beyond.
When Roland first came to Hong Kong, he was not a follower of Jesus, but instead embraced a lifestyle that involved night clubs and alcohol. However, Jesus wanted to see him set free and kept pursuing him. One afternoon, while watching a storm brewing on the horizon, Roland put out a proverbial fleece before the One who kept tapping him on the shoulder. “Lord, if that’s really you, then let lightning strike right there,” he prayed, pointing to a specific spot in the distance. Immediately, there was a massive flash of lightning in the exact spot that he had pointed to. In that moment Roland decided to follow Jesus wholeheartedly and asked, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” “Learn to play the guitar,” came the Lord’s response. The following year, Roland began attending the African Fellowship at The Vine and was soon serving on the worship team. Today, he is the main worship leader at ARISE, and most of the songs we sing have been given to him by the Lord. But his journey to freedom does not end with himself... it also involves others being set free.
Some time ago, the Lord led Roland to start a YouTube channel and post gospel messages, testimonies, and worship videos in English and French. During COVID, a group of African guys in Paris watched his channel and made commitments to follow Jesus. Roland was able to connect them to local French pastors and they were baptised at the beach. Now they’re on fire and want to spread the love of Jesus, so Roland told them about what God is doing in Hong Kong. Inspired, one of them has started visiting the homeless and is running a feeding program out of the back of his car while sharing the Gospel. Another has started a food pantry out of his home to feed the homeless and university students. Roland’s influence extends beyond France: a lady who was in Hong Kong is now ministering to youth back in her home country of Indonesia. She recently sent Roland a video of her leading them in worship to Jesus, singing one of Roland’s songs.
Roland continues to serve the Lord wholeheartedly both at ARISE and throughout the community in Hong Kong. He and his wife of 9 years have a son (8) and a daughter (6) and recently welcomed their second son into their home.
As we dwell on the theme of Journey to Freedom, I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness and consistent financial provision to us over the years, and I am pleased to report that our church is financially strong, free of debt, and able to invest into exciting new initiatives.
Our full year income for Wan Chai and Yuen Long was $51.2M, which is around 5% lower than last year, likely due to people moving and our congregation settling into new norms following the pandemic. Despite this small dip in our income, we have managed our expenses carefully, have continued to tithe over $5.8M toward our external mission and ministry partners, and we finish the year with a modest surplus of $3.4M.
Our Vision Sunday services in March saw a generous outpouring of financial support toward the Yuen Long church plant, with a sum of $12.5M raised! In total, this project has come in under budget at a cost of $9.1M and will be an excellent ministry base for years to come.
If you are reading this update and wondering how to contribute at The Vine, may we humbly ask you to consider giving a regular tithe as part of your weekly worship? You may be interested to know that at our current size and expense base it costs around $2,400 per month for each adult who attends the Vine. We value your prayerful consideration as to how you may invest into our Kingdom-building community.
On behalf of the staff and elders, we are full of praise to God for your kind generosity and faithful giving to The Vine Church this year. May we continue to partner with our Lord as He leads us in our journey to freedom in Wan Chai, Yuen Long and beyond!
We would like to take the opportunity to honour the incredible men and women on staff at The Vine who have worked so hard and with great diligence to ensure we continue to serve our congregation and the city of Hong Kong, in a way that truly honours God. Many of our staff are the unseen heroes, committed to the routine of the ordinary tasks, whilst being part of the extraordinary work of God and witnessing His love, grace and mercy.
To our staff, we echo the words of Paul speaking to the Philippians in Philippians 1:3-6, and we thank God for you. It is a privilege to journey alongside each other, and we are confident that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Amen.
