Category: Pastor’s Sharing

        In recent years, “restarting life” has become a popular theme. The Japanese drama Brush Up Life follows its protagonist as she lives her life over and over again, coming to appreciate the preciousness of everyday life and friendship. Arthur Brooks, a social scientist who studies happiness, picks up related questions in his bestselling book—published in Chinese as《重啟人生》(literally “Restarting Life”)—as he reflects on success, happiness, and the second half of life. He explores why many people who appear highly successful still often feel miserable in private, leading readers to reconsider what success and happiness really mean. This theme of “restarting” resonates with us because we have all wondered: If we could live life over again, would we make different choices? And if we cannot, how can we make the most of the life that lies ahead?

       Yet, we cannot turn back the clock. But in this life that we cannot live over again, Christ gives us new life. At the beginning of Galatians, Paul declares that Christ, according to the will of God the Father, “gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). Those who trust in Him are not only accepted by God but also become children of our Heavenly Father. At the end of the epistle, Paul sums it up by saying, “what counts is the new creation” (Galatians 6:15).

         Being a “new creation” does not erase our history: believers must still honestly face the past, but our former failures can no longer define who we are before God. At that time, the Galatian churches were troubled by false teachers who were undermining the foundation of the believers’ identity. They misled people into thinking that faith in Christ alone was not enough, and that circumcision and law-keeping were also needed to fully belong to God. Paul therefore firmly pointed out that setting up any additional requirements beyond Christ’s saving grace strips the gospel of its true meaning.

         When Rev. A. B. Simpson taught from Galatians, he gave special attention to the words, “Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). He emphasized that what we need is far more than improving our old selves. What the Lord gives us is Himself. He loves us and gave Himself for us, and now He lives in us through the Holy Spirit. The power for renewal therefore comes from daily trust in the indwelling Christ, not from gritting our teeth through sheer willpower. This is precisely the truth of the believer’s union with Christ.

        Today, we no longer argue about circumcision. Yet we often measure our spiritual worth by our ministry, devotional life, moral standards, or the praise of others. These things are originally fruits that grow out of grace. Once they become the basis for earning God’s acceptance, they become a heavy burden. We may sing about amazing grace, while still asking ourselves: If I have not done well enough, or if I have failed, will God still love me?

        Galatians reminds us: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1) The freedom Christ purchased for us means that we do not need to prove ourselves by outward performance. It also changes how we treat others: not doing whatever we please but instead being led by the Spirit to serve one another in love and accept one another.

        Dear brothers and sisters, whether you are new in the faith or have believed in the Lord for many years, my hope is that through studying Galatians this quarter, you will stand firm in the grace of Christ, depend on the Holy Spirit to live out the fullness of the new creation, and experience the freedom and lightness of a life restarted by the gospel.

        Every September, Hong Kong welcomes many students from mainland China who come here to study, and our church does too. As Christians, how can we welcome these young people who are new to Hong Kong with the love of Christ?

        I believe the first and most important thing is to reach out to these mainland students with caring, open hearts. With this willingness, we will be motivated to get to know them sincerely, spend time with them, and engage with them. Looking back on the mainland students I have known, most seemed young and shy, often unsure of what to say. We can learn to open up conversations by asking questions. Some questions I often ask are, “What do you like about living in Hong Kong? And what are you still adjusting to?” Like most young people, mainland students have their own interests and aspirations, as well as experiences of studying and daily life to share. When we are willing to care and listen, we can help them make sense of their thoughts and experiences. Genuine relationships will naturally begin to grow.

        For students who have just arrived in Hong Kong, we can learn to respond to their everyday needs and offer practical help. For example, we can show them around their neighborhoods and accompany them to the supermarket to buy everyday necessities; share information about transportation, communication services, and medical care; and help them adjust to Hong Kong’s weather, pace of life, and environment. These things may be thoroughly familiar to us, but for mainland students in an unfamiliar place where they know few people, they are matters of immediate, practical concern.

       Mainland students are usually eager to become part of Hong Kong society, so most are willing to learn Cantonese. This is another area in which we can help, enabling them to learn everyday conversational Cantonese and feel more at ease living here. Our church offers Cantonese classes to meet this need, and we welcome brothers and sisters who are native Cantonese speakers to take part as they feel led. Our church also participates in the “Host Families” and “Mentors and Friends” programs organized by two universities to help mainland students adjust to life in Hong Kong. By occasionally inviting them to share a meal, celebrating their birthdays, spending holidays together, taking them to visit different sights, and bringing soup to their dormitories during exam week, we can offer practical care, welcome these students, and build relationships that feel like family.

        As I write these words, I am reminded that I, too, am a “fruit” of the welcome I once received. I remember that during my first year at university, a brother took the initiative to visit the dormitory and reach out to students. After that, he shared a meal every week with those of us who had left home to study, taking an interest in our lives and even responding to our needs. What I remember most vividly is the care he gave me when I was sick, and the joy on his face when he learned that I had come to faith in the Lord and, later, that I had received God’s call. As I recall these moments now, I realize once again that welcoming others is truly a way of returning love with love, the deepest response to the love of Christ!

        Having been loved, are you also willing to welcome others with love and become a channel through which love flows?

        Some brothers and sisters have asked why the annual mission pledge needs to be in the tens of millions. Indeed, at first glance, the 2027 mission budget of nearly 41 million is undoubtedly a huge sum. In fact, however, this budget is allocated across different areas, including overseas and local mission as well as evangelistic ministries.

        First, our church has sent out 32 missionary units, serving and proclaiming the gospel in different parts of the world. These missionary units, made up of individuals or families, have undergone discernment by the church and their mission agencies and received the church’s affirmation. For the sake of the gospel, they leave their familiar environments to engage in mission. Their service represents the church’s response to the needs of the gospel worldwide, following the incarnational example of the Lord Jesus by going to serve among local people. The church, in turn, provides them with practical support through a long-term commitment to regular giving. More than 10 million of the budget is used to support the missionary units sent out by our church.

       Besides the missionaries sent out by our own church, the NPAC family, as a church deeply committed to global missions, also gives to support missionaries sent out by other churches. Their mission work is spread across different parts of the world. Some serve with the Hong Kong Alliance Mission, while others serve on mission fields through other mission agencies or organizations.

       Missionaries are not the only ones who need financial support; mission organizations also have needs, so that their gospel work can continue to advance. The ministries of these organizations span a wide range of areas, including Bible translation, gospel ministries among Muslims and students. By giving financially to these organizations, brothers and sisters of the NPAC family are also participating in these gospel ministries. Of course, according to its own capacity, the NPAC family also makes more substantial commitments to mission work in particular regions, such as supporting seminaries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Indonesia to train workers, and building children’s homes. In fact, Rev. Philip Teng, who once served as Senior Pastor of NPAC, also spent a year doing mission work in Kalimantan, Indonesia!

         Each year’s mission pledge also includes support for local mission and gospel ministries. Population movement creates gospel opportunities. People from countries that are closed to the gospel of Christ may find it difficult to hear the gospel message in their own countries. Yet, when they come to Hong Kong to settle or stay for several years, local mission organizations actively build relationships with them and share the gospel. Other organizations devote themselves to serving local people in poverty, young people, children, hospital patients and other groups they seek to reach with the gospel. Still others do not proclaim the gospel directly, but work in society to promote Christian values. All these are indispensable forms of gospel ministry, and the NPAC family also participates in supporting them.

         “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48) Our loving God has graciously blessed the NPAC family over the years and provided abundantly for the church, so that the NPAC family may become a channel of blessing and continue to participate in gospel work around the world. May our heavenly Father be glorified!

        Today, the regions commonly known as the “Global South”—Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East—are home to more Christians than the “Global North,” which includes Europe, North America, and Oceania. By 2050, it is projected that more than 70 percent of the world’s Christians will live in the Global South. For this reason, scholars have also referred to them as “Majority World Christians.”

        In the past, missionaries were typically sent out from the Global North to other regions, with the Global South largely regarded as the mission field. Today, however, many places have begun sending out their own missionaries and are establishing a firm footing. Yet even as the Christian population grows and missionary momentum becomes increasingly evident, “Majority World Christians” still have not received due attention. Last September, I traveled to Dubai to attend the Majority World Christian Leadership Conference, where I heard two examples that gave me much to ponder.

         The Courage to Break the Flowerpot: An African leader used the metaphor of “the flowerpot and the seedling”: missionaries bring a seedling to a foreign land, often together with the culture and institutional structures of their home country, all contained within a flowerpot. In the early stages, this provides sufficient protection from wind and frost; but if the flowerpot is never broken away, the root system remains confined within its narrow space.

         At the appropriate time, the church must have the courage to break the flowerpot, allowing the roots to grow deeply into local soil and enabling indigenous life and theological expressions to unfold. At the Dubai conference, African leaders shared how they were no longer simply adopting European and American discourse, but were instead engaging in theological reflection drawn from their own history and trauma. This shift has led them to a realization: they are by no means merely supporting characters in someone else’s missionary history, but they can also be recipients of grace in God’s redemption story.

           From Cola to Koalas to Christ: Speaking of cross-continental collaboration, in 2023, the Korean church brought together leaders from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Someone proposed that an alliance between Korea and Latin America be called “KOLA,” a friendly name reminiscent of a soft drink. A co-worker asked with a laugh, “What about Asia?” And so the name was extended to “KOALA.” Amid the laughter, a Korean leader raised the point that missions should not be led by any single nation, and that its true beginning belongs to Christ; Africa, too, could not be left out. And so the collaboration was named COALA (Christ Over Asia, Latin America, Africa). This illustrates the need to correct our perspective on mission. Only when Christ is given first place can the various parties move beyond disputes over “who is greatest,” listen to one another, build one another up, and move toward the new paradigm of “polycentric mission.”

            The Role and Way Forward for the Hong Kong Church: The reconfiguration of global mission forces is not about competing for influence. Rather, it is about discerning what God is doing worldwide. In the new landscape of global missions, the Hong Kong church still possesses significant strengths: a solid theological foundation, rich missional experience, and a position at the intersection of international networks. Going forward, it can deepen its calling in four directions: first, reordering how mission work is evaluated; second, shifting focus from developed cities toward caring for remote, marginalized, and high-risk peoples and regions; third, integrating cross-disciplinary expertise to care for missionaries and mission fields; and fourth, leveraging its connective strengths to serve as a bridge between churches in different places. May the Hong Kong church be willing to walk humbly, eager to strengthen others, and faithful to what has been entrusted to it.

(This is an excerpt from the “Feature Article” of the Mission Journal of this year.)

        When a person is asked how they can affirm and establish their identity, for a disciple who earnestly follows Christ, the answer must inevitably be rooted in their relationship with the triune God. Yet compared with Islam, the Christian faith is generally not woven as deeply into every aspect of daily life. Islam, by contrast, strictly regulates life, encompassing language, community architecture, clothing, dietary restrictions, festivals, marriage systems, patterns of social interaction, funeral rites, and even ways of thinking and behavior. Therefore, when a Muslim leaves the Islamic faith, they lose not only their entire sense of identity but also the network that has supported their way of life.

        Edward Ayub, who was born into a Muslim family in Bangladesh, points out that within Muslim communities, discipleship is often more difficult than evangelism. What follows is a synthesis of the challenges and approaches he has identified, together with my own observations and understanding, in the hope that the NPAC family will pray more for ministry among Muslims.

       Many Muslims, after openly professing faith in Christ, immediately face hostility and persecution from their parents and relatives. As a result, they often adopt a double way of life: “living like a Muslim among Muslims and like a Christian among Christians.” Yet such a way of life can easily lead them to retain former behaviors and customs that are immoral or inconsistent with the truth. When Muslims attack the Christian faith, they may neither dare nor be able to defend it. This attempt to have a foot in both camps leaves considerable room for them to return to Islam eventually. One new Muslim-background believer told me that he hopes to study biblical truth diligently and openly profess his faith to his family within three years. May God protect and uphold him!

       Whether Muslim-background believers should retain certain aspects of a Muslim way of life is highly controversial in ministry among Muslims. Even missionaries on the field disagree over questions such as whether they should wear headscarves, veils or burqas (long robes), and whether they should enter mosques and pray together with Muslims. As for how to walk alongside Muslim-background believers as they replace Islamic cultural practices with expressions of the Christian faith, this presents an enormous challenge for missionaries. Yet, it is an issue that must be faced. May the Lord protect Christ’s ambassadors who share the gospel with Muslims, giving them the courage to make clear the pressures people may face after coming to faith, while at the same time communicating the peace that comes from the presence of the Lord Christ and the eternal hope in Him.

        One Muslim-background believer remarked that, in seeking to lead Muslims to faith in Christ, we must also care for their practical needs, because they may be ostracized and forced to leave their own community. Many missionaries therefore seek to create employment opportunities for them: on the one hand, many are genuinely poor; on the other, such opportunities can also provide a means of reaching those who have not yet believed. Moreover, because Muslim-background believers understand their own culture more deeply, they can become valuable co-workers. Ayub cautions, however, that we must never hold out material prosperity, security or future opportunities before Muslim-background believers as enticements that might give rise to wrong motives for believing, thereby leading them away from the true hope of the gospel. As we care for and walk alongside them, we must also guard against people professing faith merely for personal gain. May the Lord grant wisdom and a discerning spirit to those who share the gospel.

        “One measure of labor for one measure of harvest” has its truth, but it does not fully sum up life. We may work hard, yet we may not see results right away. We may plan carefully, yet we cannot always control the outcome. A job we thought was secure yesterday may change today because of new policy, the economy, or company restructuring. Someone we have poured our hearts into nurturing may suddenly decide to leave. A project in which we have invested much may not develop as expected. So we cannot help but ask: If the future is so uncertain, what is the point of working hard today?

         Ecclesiastes states plainly that we do not know what will happen in the future, nor can we understand all that God does. Yet because we cannot control the future, we must learn to live faithfully before God today. Since we do not know what trouble may come, we should not keep storing up things simply to protect ourselves. Nor should we place all our hopes on a single plan. “Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1–2)

          The Teacher urges us to be generous. He also teaches us to use wisdom in how we distribute what we have. This may look like taking on a task no one expects much from. It may mean continuing to study and prepare ourselves even when the future looks unclear. For the church, it means continuing to support missions, plant churches, care for the community, and shepherd those in need. These efforts may not bring quick results. They may not win the applause from others right away. Yet, even in uncertainty, we can still do good, give of ourselves, choose to do what is right, and move forward in the wisdom of God.

          Many people resort to “wait a little longer” to hide the fear within them. They want to wait until circumstances are stable, resources are sufficient, and success seems certain before they are willing to act. “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” (Ecclesiastes 11:4) The Teacher points out that if a farmer keeps waiting until everything is ready and the weather is perfectly favorable, he will miss the opportunity both to sow and to reap.

         Of course, walking by faith does not mean ignoring consequences, nor does seeking God’s will exclude thinking and planning. It is simply that if we refuse to take a step until there is no risk at all, we will simply remain where we are. So the Teacher encourages us: “Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” (Ecclesiastes 11:6) Morning and evening point to different times and opportunities. God can use our work in His own timing. We may not understand how many things happen, but we know that God’s work does not cease because of our lack of understanding.

         If you are facing an uncertain road ahead, setbacks at work, or a ministry in which you see no results, you can pray about tomorrow and prepare for the future; but first, faithfully do what God has entrusted to you today. As for the final outcome, the response of others, and what the future holds, entrust them to God. The future may be beyond our control, but our Lord remains sovereign even in turbulent, shifting times.

        The Children’s Ministry and Mission Department jointly organised a parent-child mission exposure trip during Easter this year. Seven families in total (13 children from K3 to F1 and 13 parents) traveled together to Bangkok, Thailand, to visit missionary Sui-lun Lee and his family. The parent-child mission exposure trip had two purposes. In terms of mission exposure, it allowed whole families to learn together about the needs of the mission field, experience the life of missionaries and support the development of their local ministry. In terms of parent-child relationships, it sought to build positive and healthy family relationships through family interaction and sharing, as well as sincere communication.

          Renewal 1: A New Experience: Most of these seven families had traveled to Thailand before, but this was their first time going there to serve. Taking children on a mission exposure trip was by no means easy. The parents led by example and joined their children in a variety of activities—learning Thai together; going to a hot and humid market to buy groceries in Thai; cooking in a hot and cramped kitchen; visiting villages to play stall games with the villagers and distribute leaflets… As families, drenched in sweat, they experienced together the hardships faced by missionaries. During the trip, the children were no longer being served. Instead, they learned to take care of their own responsibilities. Without domestic helpers to assist them, the parents had to personally bathe their children and take care of their daily routines. At the market, one child saw a stall selling a whole pig’s head and curiously asked the missionary uncle about it. They then learned that pig heads are used by local people as offerings to deities when praying for blessings. The children’s curiosity also encouraged us to learn more about the needs of the mission field in Thailand.

         Renewal 2: A New Discovery: The sharing sessions held in the evenings focused mainly on interaction between parents and children. Families learned to listen and respond to one another, while also encouraging one another through the sharing of different families. When the parents shared the “new” things they had discovered about their children, one mother, who had arrived a day later than the rest of us, said that she had discovered how proactive and enthusiastic her daughter was in reaching out and building relationships with the other children, even though she had joined the group a day late. I asked the child, “How do you feel when your mother appreciates you in this way?” Smiling, she replied, “Very satisfied,” because what she had done had been noticed and appreciated. Life in Hong Kong moves at a relentless pace. What parents “notice” about their children is so often limited to homework, dictations, tests and examinations, and grades. We seldom “notice” their growth and breakthroughs. More than their academic results, our children need us to notice their growth.

         Renewal 3: A New Relationship: One important purpose of the parent-child mission exposure trip was to enable our children to become friends with the missionaries’ children. On the mission field, the children whom missionaries’ children come into contact with are mostly local children, and they seldom have friends who share their own language and cultural background. We encouraged the children on our mission exposure team to take the initiative to talk and play with the missionaries’ children, and through these activities they developed very good relationships. When the missionaries returned to Hong Kong for furlough in July, their eldest daughter joined our children for a week of summer activities and was even invited to stay overnight with one of our families. They had a wonderful time together. Although they may not be able to maintain these relationships as they grow older, at least they have created beautiful childhood memories. In this way, by “playing alongside” them, we can also support missionary families.

        Time carries me back to a noon in March 2010. Sunlight streamed onto the bed where Dad was lying. The wrinkles on his face and the signs of illness could be clearly seen. A voice within me said, “He doesn’t have much time left in this world.” During that period, Dad was frequently in and out of hospital because of pneumonia and other illnesses. Each hospital admission was like an alarm, reminding me: Would he be discharged from the hospital this time?

       Apart from the pain of having to part with him, I was even more concerned that Dad had left the Lord when he was young because of the bad witness of others. There was a river separating his heart from Jesus. He said to me, “Pastors are all frauds, and now you’ve joined their ranks too!” I had no answer for him. As I write this, the Heavenly Father reminds me that Dad had been hurt in church when he was young. He has also reminded me to be careful in shepherding others, so that no one will be left with a scar on their heart because of me.

       Thanks be to Jesus, who gradually healed Dad’s wounds. On many Tuesdays, my regular day off, I accompanied him to his medical appointments. We chatted, joked and made each other laugh. Sometimes we quarreled, and I would apologize to him: “Dad, my attitude wasn’t good. I’m sorry!” He would always respond with a smile. Afternoon tea after his medical appointments—a cup of hot milk tea and a sandwich—was Dad’s favourite time. Gradually, the Heavenly Father allowed him to see that his daughter was not the kind of “fraud” he had imagined, and slowly opened his closed heart.

       Then, at noon that day in March 2010, I asked Dad with trepidation, “Dad, when the day comes for you to pass away, would you like to see me again?” I struggled within myself, as I was worried that he might think I was cursing him. To my surprise, he replied, “I want to see you again!” I immediately said, “Then you need to believe in Jesus, so that we can meet again one day in our heavenly home.” To my surprise, Dad replied, “Sure. I believe in Jesus!” I could hardly believe it. I immediately asked the sister in Christ who had come with me to enter the room. I confirmed Dad’s decision with him once more and briefly shared the gospel. With the sister as a witness, Dad repeated after me, sentence by sentence, a prayer of repentance and commitment to Christ. After the prayer, his face relaxed. I believe the peace of the Lord had entered his heart.

       Three months later, on June 7, Dad went to be with the Lord after suffering from acute pneumonia. Although my family and I were deeply saddened and reluctant to part with him, the Lord’s promise became our hope: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” I firmly believe that one day I will see Dad again in our heavenly home.

       The Heavenly Father is the all-knowing God (John 21:17). In March 2010, He reminded me that Dad did not have much time left, but I did not know that he had only three more months. If I had resisted the Heavenly Father’s prompting at that time and had not shared the gospel with Dad, I dare not imagine what the outcome might have been.

       Recently, I heard a brother share: “Sharing the gospel with our family is like seeing a large truck about to hit them. You would pull them out of the way without hesitation because you love their lives.” Yet, the gospel concerns not only peace in this life, but eternal life. Therefore, sharing the gospel with our family is not a responsibility or a burden, but an expression of love and hope, because we genuinely long for our family members to know the Lord and receive the grace of eternal life.

        Recently, I read an article by Rev. John Piper. Throughout his life, he has continually exhorted people to desire God. In this particular article, however, he spoke about the greatest enemy of this generation’s desire for God. He pointed out that today, that enemy is not obvious poison, but “apple pie”—not a feast openly laid out by Satan, but people lingering again and again at the table of the world; not clearly labeled pornographic or violent videos, but people being drawn away every waking hour by meaningless, trivial things (such as all kinds of short online videos); not being corrupted by blatant evil, but indulging in worldly pleasures until death… All these things replace our desire for God, causing our hearts to wither and our souls to slowly die.

        If the desire of a Christian’s life is not to gain the Lord, we will inevitably be drawn to all kinds of dazzling things in the world. We will then turn our desire toward the world’s “apple pie.” If we forget that God is all we need, we will allow various greedy desires in our hearts to control our lives. They entice us to strive for things that cannot satisfy us. As a result, our lives dry up, we become indifferent to spiritual matters, and our zeal for serving the Lord gradually grows cold.

       The Lord said, “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him” (John 8:29). When the Lord lived on earth, He faced all kinds of hardships, even having “no place to lay His head.” Yet He was always satisfied because He had the presence of the Father. How did He experience the Father’s presence? It is because He always did what pleased the Father.

       Our desire for the Lord is not just an emotional inclination. It is also a firm commitment in life. Whatever stage of life we are in, whatever circumstances we face, and whatever choices we make, whether in our work or in our rest, everything is done to please the Lord! Such a person seeks to gain the Lord. Therefore, when Paul faced all kinds of suffering as he followed the Lord, he did not ask the Lord to take away the suffering. He only asked the Lord for one thing: whether by life or by death, may Christ always be exalted in my body!

       When our lives are comfortable and free from trouble, we can give thanks. But if we insist on comfort and enjoyment, wanting no trouble and refusing to pay a price, and therefore reject the Lord’s will for our lives and service, we will lose the very Lord who can truly satisfy our souls.

        A brother developed various health issues and prayed for the Lord’s healing. However, his condition did not change. Then he realized that the goal of life is to please the Lord rather than to be free from sickness, So, he knew he had to learn to submit. Through joyful submission, he experienced the Lord’s delight in him! He also bore a wonderful testimony among his relatives and friends. A sister suffered a relapse of an old illness and had to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Yet she realized that God was pleased when she used her remaining energy to care for other friends with disabilities. Later, she led a wheelchair-bound fortune-teller to faith in Christ. God intends for us to be a blessing to others in this world. No matter what situation we are in, if our greatest desire is to wholeheartedly please the Lord, our souls will be satisfied, and others will see the Lord in us.

        The trip from Hong Kong to the 10th Chinese Congress on World Evangelization (CCOWE) in Kuching involved a connection flight in Kuala Lumpur. As the first flight prepared to land, we encountered severe weather. There was strong turbulence and the plane had to circle in the air before diverting to Penang, where it refueled and then flew back to Kuala Lumpur. During the return trip, the original flight to Hong Kong was canceled as Typhoon Signal No.8 was expected to be hoisted. The flight resumed the next morning, but the plane again had to circle before arriving in Hong Kong. When the plane entered the spiral rain bands of the typhoon, it jolted up and down so much so that I felt as if I was taking a pirate ship ride. When I reached Hong Kong, my luggage also did not arrive on the same flight. Although this journey was filled with delays, it gave me more time to reflect on the content of the congress.

       What is CCCOWE? In a pastor’s sharing article dated January 30, 1983, Rev. Philip Teng used five Chinese expressions ending with the character for “movement” or “action” (動) to explain the meaning of CCCOWE. According to Rev. Teng, CCCOWE is basically an evangelism “movement” (「運動」) raised up by the Lord among Chinese churches worldwide. It urges churches everywhere to strive for the Great Commission and faithfully respond to the Lord’s mandate before He returns.

       This vision came from the “stirring” (「感動」) of the Holy Spirit: The idea of holding the first CCOWE 50 years ago gradually took shape during the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, where more than 70 Chinese church leaders received this vision together during morning prayer meetings. Rev. Teng was one of the initiators. He also served as Chairman of the first congress and read out the 1976 CCOWE Declaration on behalf of all participants. Rev. Teng pointed out that when someone stands up and makes a call and instantly sparks worldwide resonance and response, it is clear evidence of the Holy Spirit’s stirring.

       CCCOWE is about “taking action” (「行動」). This is why the CCCOWE holds seminars and meetings with the aim of giving rise to practical gospel ministry. Rev. Teng said clearly that the congress itself has limited impact. What truly matters is whether participants return to their churches and earnestly put the gospel mission into practice! The 10th congress this year was attended by about 1,700 Chinese church leaders from more than 50 regions across five continents. Fifteen percent of the participants were under 35. During the five-day congress, participants listened together, discerned the times, interacted face-to-face, and prayed together. However, if the stirring is restricted to the meeting venue without follow-up action, this large gathering will become no more than a fireworks extravaganza.

        CCCOWE also means “mobilization“(「推動」). Churches already engaged in gospel ministry join together and encourage other churches to begin as well. The hope is that Chinese churches will embrace the Great Commission anew in the Lord’s grace, experience renewal, and, under His blessing, perhaps even bring about a “shockwave” (「震動」) of revival across Chinese churches.

        In addition to the above five expressions related to “movement” or “action,” allow me to add two more. CCCOWE is about “flowing“(「流動」). Half a century is not a long time in the history of the church. However, if a congress is held merely as a matter of routine for a long time, it can gradually lose its sense of purpose and forward momentum. May the participants and Chinese churches remain mobile, flowing channels to spread the vision outward.

        CCCOWE is also about “interconnection“(「連動」). In this congress, newly acquainted friends and old friends, young people and senior leaders temporarily laid aside their titles, seniority, viewpoints, and language preferences to humbly seek unity. Such fellowship in walking together is precisely the testimony that the church today must cherish.