Christian Education

Nursery

The New Life Nursery & Pre-School Ministry offers care giving supervision for infants, 1 to 2 year olds (toddlers), 3 to 5 year olds (pre-schoolers), and K to 2nd Graders (primary). Care giving is offered during the English service. Aside from the Overseers and the Coordinator(s)/Director(s), the entire staff is a volunteer crew. Parents and singles alike volunteer for one month terms throughout the year. An obvious love of kids and a firm belief in one’s own faith and salvation in Jesus Christ are the two most important qualifications.

The Korean Ministry staff for whom we are so thankful supervises the Infants & Toddlers. Depending on how many children are in the class, there are usually 2 or 3 caregivers. The Pre-School class is generally divided into the 3 to 4 year olds who are supervised by the Pre-School teaching aide and the 4 to 5 year olds who are supervised by the lead Pre-School teacher. This class is currently averaging 15 or more children each Sunday. Pre-Schoolers have a fun, craft-friendly Christian curriculum that is geared towards readying them for a more structured classroom setting. The Primary class consists of K to 2ndGraders. Family worship is the goal at New Life, but some of our youngsters are not used to sitting through the entire adult worship service, so the Primary class was started to introduce the concept of worship service so that the kids can join their parents and be able to benefit from the adult worship. The Primary kids hear a sermonette based on the same passage as the worship service the week before. The sermonettes are somewhat interactive and are currently given by our deacons. After the sermonette, the kids are led in reading the Bible by the Primary teacher. Although the kids usually read only a passage that is about two to four paragraphs, the important thing is that they are actually taking turns reading the Bible aloud, and it’s all about planting the Word of God in their hearts.

 Sunday School

Our Sunday school exists to support parents in training and educating their children in the ways of the Lord. Deuteronomy 6:7 says, “Impress them (God’s commandments) on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” This verse commands parents to be responsible in teaching their children the ways of the Lord.

During Sunday Worship, Pastor Sam goes through 5 catechism questions and answers first with the parents then with the children. This is a good example that we put great effort in educating and training our children as a whole church. Catechism is also taught during Bible study time. Music, games, art, written activities and lots of repetition reinforce the teaching and help the children memorize the answers to the question. We also explain what they are memorizing to lay a foundation for the children’s belief and trust in God through Jesus Christ.

The saddest Bible verse is found in Judges 2:10, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.” Our Sunday school department humbly and prayerfully teaches our children in the hope that they may carry on what they’ve been taught to the generations to come.

 

Youth Group

NLMC Youth Group exists to nurture and train young people to become faithful instruments and ambassadors of God through Christ-like life style.

We believe in God-ordained covenant family as we strive to cultivate trans-cultural and trans-generational community within NLMC. We believe that family is the primary culture of children, where they are taught and shaped. God commands parents to be responsible for raising and training their children (Deut. 6:4-9 and Eph. 6:4). Therefore, we adopted family-based youth ministry as the foundation of the group. Parents are encouraged and equipped to be active leaders of the Youth Group and become role models at home.

The Youth Group includes young people from grades six and twelve. The staff, including the director, consists of parents and adult members of our church. Various programs and opportunities are offered to foster and challenge spiritual and intellectual growth of the members. Those include worship services, Bible studies, peer group (cell) activities, retreats, community services, and short-term mission trips. Our dream and prayer are that each member of the Youth Group will have saving faith in Jesus Christ and become an active leader in Christian community and the world. We invite you to come and grow with us!

 

Adult Bible Studies (LT)

LT, or Leadership Training (Bible Studies), provides intellectual and spiritual training that the Bible is the Word of God and our only infallible rule of faith and practice. It is a commitment to Reformed theology which sets forth our understanding of biblical faith in a consistent and reliable form; to equip our congregation for effective living in a changing world. Three times a year, LT provides small group classes by trained teachers at various times during the week. LT strives to develop mature believers who are sound in life and doctrine

Missions

Missions

Several years ago Pastor Sam returned from a trip to India with a conviction that any missions-oriented group at our church needed to meet frequently and regularly. Not long after that our missions committee structure changed from a monthly meeting of cell representatives to a core group meeting weekly to think, pray, and dream about all things missions.

Though our structure changed our purpose remained the same. We exist to encourage the church's ownership of missionary support and mobilize the congregation to awareness and participation in the Great Commission. To that end our efforts could not consist of mere programs and activities. Mobilization and nurturing had to be a part of spiritual development and we soon realized that our work had to be ministry, a service unto the congregation. These concerns became the staple of our prayers.

One of the privileges we have as the body of Christ is supporting workers in the mission field. New Life is blessed to have many to support but with this is the challenge of ownership and participation by the congregation at large. The church addresses the issue of ownership by relegating missionary relationships to the many cell groups at our church. This way a smaller group of people can focus on a particular missionary and his/her needs. The Missions Ministry then works with cells (via mission representatives) to pray and communicate concerns to the congregation via announcements and other means. The Missions Ministry also sponsors missionaries when they return from the field on furlough. Working with the representatives we coordinate personal care during their local stay and set aside funds to care for their needs (rest, training, counseling, etc.).

The Missions Ministry also sponsors events for mission awareness and spiritual growth. We coordinated a missions celebration where several guest speakers came and spoke on missions and its place in our lives. We also host what we call a "Conversational Banquet," which is a casual forum for interested people to share their testimonies from short term missions, to hear from live missionaries and their experiences, and to hear from the leadership and their vision for the church. Book Reviews also give us a chance to read missionary biographies and other spiritual-formation literature together and discuss their impact on our lives.

In the light of our ministry-oriented approach we have renamed "Short-Term Missions" "Overseas Discipleship Training." ODT provides a means for our church to build and strengthen relationships with our missionaries. In our past trips to China, India, Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Mexico, we have had the privilege of serving the workers, doing evangelism training (EE), leadership training, and ministry vision sharing. ODT has added benefits for those that go: the challenges of making culture adjustments, living a simple lifestyle, having a ministry-oriented mentality, and building meaningful relationships with natives. At home ODT benefits the church as she supports with prayer and sacrificial living.

In the larger picture we are also working with the New Life association of churches to develop and work together in our missions efforts. Just this past March representatives met together to pray for the respective ministries and share our summer plans. In the future we will be encouraging joint short-term ventures and working together for strategy and development. Our desire as an association is to challenge our people to respond to the Great Commission as individuals and as a church and work together to pool resources and strategies to eventually do church plants and send out missionaries together.

We are excited at the prospect of sending out missionaries from our midst within the next two years. New Life in Cerritos will be sending out a family to the Philippines, and New Life in Buena Park will be sending out our Missions Ministry director and his family. Our ministry's approach has been significantly influenced by the needs we foresee as we prepare to send out our own. Mobilization and participation have acquired a personal flavor.

The church has the amazing call to share in and to act in taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. We pray that our ministry will grow in its effectiveness to arouse our church to be a part of God's continuing work to call unto Himself His people even in the remotest parts of the earth

Evangelism

Evangelism

At New Life, we believe that evangelism is a calling not for just the clergy and the evangelists but for all believers. We believe that laypeople are the most strategic and unused key to the evangelization of the world, so we are committed to training and equipping all members in evangelism.

 

Matt 4:19-20 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect

Evangelism Explosion
At New Life, we train our members using EE (Evangelism Explosion), a 13-week class that provides training and OJT(On the Job Training), so that all can be equipped to share the gospel and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks them the reason for the hope that is in us.

The goal of EE is equipping- not just winning souls. EE believes that it is more important to train a soul-winner than to win souls just as it is more important and lasting to plant a tree than to pick a fruit. However, the training of a soul-winner is always through modeling. That is why it is crucial that the Pastor and all the leaders are leading by example in making evangelism a priority and a lifestyle.

Cell Groups

So what is Cell?

Cell Groups are small groups of people who gather together at homes on Friday nights to have fellowship and accountability, to grow in faith, to discover and use gifts, and testify to their faith. At New Life Mission Church, our cell groups create a wonderful atmosphere for spiritual growth within a small, supportive, and close-knit family.

New Life currently has six (6) adult cell groups, a youth cell with members between the ages of 12-17, and one (1) college/young adult cell with members between the ages of 18-25.