6 February 2007

Dear brethren in the ICCC,

Fourth Letter
Greetings in the precious Name of Jesus! I hope you have received my first three letters published in this paper. Let me know if you have not seen them. I am writing this letter to you from Cambridge, UK, enroute Guatemala City to attend the 19th Congress of ALADIC, our Latin American Alliance of Christian Churches, scheduled for 8-13 February, 2007. Our President, Dr Choi Kwang Jae, and I, together with other members of our international body look forward to the time of fellowship and witness-bearing together. We were recently together in South India for the work of the ICCC. As you can see we are both doing our utmost to revive the work of the ICCC.

Improving our communication
It goes without saying that the effectiveness of our work depends on our keeping in touch with one another. On September 16, 2006, I shared with you an encouraging word from Pastor Al Williams of Thornton Independent Baptist Church in Jamaica. Do any of you have anything to share with the rest of the ICCC family? Sending an email to me or my father, who edits the Far Eastern Beacon, is the best, easiest and least expensive way of keeping in touch. During my travels for ICCC I am often told that this paper is not reaching those who requested for it. Some have mentioned that they have sent letters in the past and have not received replies. I hope by the grace of God to improve our communication with each other. Please send, where possible, your updated email and website (if you have one) so that we can communicate better and the Far Eastern Beacon can carry more news representative of our international body. Let us have your website address (if you have one) so that we can glean from this and carry photos and news of your work in this paper. We are trying to put out a 'soft' version of the Far Eastern Beacon, which may be slightly different from the hard copy. The absence of graphics will make Far Eastern Beacon less heavy to be sent out as an email file attachment.. You should be able to see the full Far Eastern Beacon on our ICCC website. Give us some time to effect all these changes. But please let us have news and photos of your activities. If you experience any difficulty, please direct your response to me. As your General Secretary I shall try to enable a free flow of news within the ICCC family.

Renewal of Membership
At our last World Congress we made certain important changes concerning mem-bership within ICCC. It is my duty to effect these in keeping with the spirit of that understanding. Kindly note the action that you may need to take on a number of matters.

First, we need to tidy up our membership. I began my General Secretary work without a complete membership list. That means that if you are an existing member and your record is not with me, we need to set the record straight and this can preferably be done via email to expedite matters. This is an important matter as we have begun in earnest to prepare for our 2010 World Congress. When we have completed this membership exercise, I shall issue a complete list of ICCC members in this paper so that we can then know whether or not any member has been inadvertently left out.

Second, all current memberships have to be renewed or updated. You can find the application forms on our ICCC website. Please use the right form: there are three types of members. Ensure that the names of those recommending are clearly indicated and their signatures obtained. One of them should be a current Executive Committee member. You can send the application first by email t, and then followed by a hard copy by ordinary mail. If you are unsure whether the reapplication has been made by anyone in your church or organization, let me have your email and I shall communicate with you on the status of the matter. Any enquiries about membership matters should be directed to me because I should have on record all applications.

Third, our Credentials Committee have decided that before deciding on membership matters the interna-tional body shall first receive recommendation from the national or regional bodies. In my Third Letter in this paper I gave the deadline of June 8, 2006, to the regional bodies to respond to me concerning the photo-copies of membership applications that I sent out to them. I have not received any replies. I prefer to receive a clear reply before proceeding to issue the membership certificates that will confirm those who are members of ICCC. Please note that in this matter I am merely acting, not personally, but on behalf of the Executive Committee.

Fourth, a question often asked of me is whether or not ICCC can support a ministry financially or sponsor the expenses of those wishing to attend ICCC meetings. I wish this could be done, especially for our members from Third World countries. But the reality is that currently there is no fund for this purpose. So please do not write me and indicate that you wish to receive financial support for your church or ministries, especially if the understanding is that becoming a member of ICCC qualifies you to receive such support. However, what I can do is to put up your needs in the Far Eastern Beacon so that anyone receiving this paper who may be touched by the Lord to offer any help can do so, not in the name of ICCC, but rather in their own name or the name of their own organization. It is my hope and prayer that ICCC members who are able to extend a helping hand financially can do so. As God has blessed us, so we must reach out to others and be a blessing to them (1 Cor.16:2).

Reviving ICCC in our various countries
I am happy to report to you that Dr Choi and I, as well as others whose efforts I do not know of at the moment, are doing our utmost to revive the work of ICCC Councils that have not been meeting for many years. This is necessary as part of the run-up to the next World Congress of the ICCC. We are glad to report that so far in the name of ICCC, Dr Choi has visited India, Pakistan and Africa. I have visited India, Malaysia and Philippines. My father and I have also been encouraging individuals who stand with us to revive the work of ICCC in Europe and the Middle East. We hope to have encoura-ging news of these developments together with photographs of the ministries when we have all the reports ready. For the moment we can simply say that it is necessary for each country to prepare ahead of time for our next World Congress in the following ways:

First, prepare reports of your work so that we can have a clear idea of what ICCC is doing in your countries or region. Let us also know what challenges you face and how the world community can be of help to you. How can we pray for your work? What are your plans for the next period, from 2010 to 2015?

Second, you should begin to identify who can represent your countries and prepare financially to sponsor their travel expenses. ICCC cannot take up that responsibility. If funds are available we can give only partial travel subsidy for Executive Committee members. However, as usual we hope to be able at the most to look after the hospitality needs, of all those who can make their way to Seoul, Korea. as we did at the last World Congress. But please remember that travel needs have to be undertaken by yourselves. You have at least three years to prepare for our next World Congress. Please remember to prepare ahead for your visa so that we will not again have the uncertainty of knowing who will be attending. With the understanding concerning the financial aspect of your travel, we shall be glad to issue you with invitations to attend our 2010 World Congress, giving you sufficient time to process your visa applications.

Third, we should be consciously identifying issues that should be researched, invite theological schools and suitable individuals to engage in preparation of papers that can be used as the basis for Statements or Resolutions that can be put forward to our World Congress for approval. This is where our various Commissions can work on. In fact I have been receiving word from those who signed up to be on the Commissions. These want to know what is happening and how they can contribute. This is encouraging and I hope in my Fifth Letter to have more to say on our ICCC Commissions.

Yours faithfully in Christ,

Dr Quek Swee Hwa,
ICCC General Secretary
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