On Oct 7-9, the First Chinese Baptist Church (FCBC) in San Francisco will celebrate 125 years of faith and witnessing for Christ.

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving," which was taken from Colossians 2:6-7 and will be the main verse for the anniversary with the focus placed on "abounding in thanksgiving."

On Oct 7, leaders, deacons, board members, and others who lead the Church will take part in "rededicating" their lives once again to Christ and His mission. The day of rededication will focus on a broad range of leaders with different experiences from elders and seniors to those who have just planned to devote their lives to God.

The next day, FCBC plans to outreach to the community by inviting them to their "homecoming," where they will open their Church to the community in order for them to see what is happening with the Church and for them to see the renovations.

The senior pastor Rev. Don Ng said the reason why the Church continues to renovate is that it wants to be here to continue the mission that has not finished. In the light of the 125 anniversary, Rev. Don Ng also wanted to remind the members of FCBC and the whole world that the Church is here to serve God.

"FCBC continues to want to serve Christ in the heart of Chinatown… we are wholeheartedly committed and as long as there are people who want to know Jesus Christ, we will continue to serve the community," Rev. Ng said. "We want to be the model for other churches."

The Church continues today to instruct new arriving immigrants through language instruction, citizenship classes and fellowship, and they have committed themselves to serving the neighborhood and to know Christ by providing a way for the church, most importantly, to live out the discipleship of Jesus.

Since 1880, FCBC has strived to reach out to the community of immigrants and non-believers by providing a place where they can receive an education in Chinese and English. Historically, when Chinese students were not allowed to attend public schools, the church was a place where they could study through a staff of missionaries.

In addition, the Church has survived through the infamous 1906 earthquake in San Francisco in which their building was destroyed by a fire, but with support from other American Baptist churches they were able to reopen their church to the public in 1908.

Presently, FCBC is a multigenerational bilingual bicultural church with about 500 members, that is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches of USA, the San Francisco Chinese Christian Union, and whom supports the National Council of Churches of Christ and the National Conference of Chinese Churches (CONFAB).

They believe, "Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are called to be a people so transformed by God's gracious love in Jesus Christ that we joyfully commit ourselves in worship, witness, discipleship, and ministry."