Hokkien in New York City?

Recently, we received news from ministry friends in the USA.  Talking about God at work – We are so excited to see what God is doing!!!  Take a look at this update from friends:

Peace to you.   We thank God each time we think of you and your family.  Thank you for your partnership in the gospel.  Our goal this year is very simply to obey God – sow faithfully and leave the results to God.

What comes to your mind when you think of New York City?  Statue of Liberty, 9/11 memorial, gangs and crimes.   How about a community of 700,000 Fujianese (the Mandarin word for Hokkien) Chinese migrant workers? A few weeks ago a musical evangelism team reached out to these immigrants in NYC’s Chinatown.

The Sunday started out with two services in the morning mainly focusing on obeying God and training 600+ disciples.  About 60 persons came forward to dedicate their lives to Christ and commit to obey the Great Commission.

After a simple lunch all gathered to prepare for the Evangelistic Rally at 1:30 pm.  The worship hall was packed.  The majority were males ages 20-30, and were atheists.  After a powerful testimony of God’s goodness and a simple message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, an invitation was given to repent and follow Christ at all cost.  One after another they filled up all the spaces at the altar and on the aisles.  They came forward to receive Christ as Lord and Savior and to obey Him.   About 150 + made this decision in the three evangelistic meetings.

It was very interesting to have church worship at 1:30-3:00pm Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The church was packed to capacity!  These seekers have weekdays off, so the church adjusted its schedule to meet their needs.  We believe this Fujianese church will exceed 1,000 baptisms in 2014.  Glory to God.  God is certainly at work in this church to reach the Fujianese and train them to reach the 700,000 more in New York City and millions of Chinese Fujianese in the Diaspora.

None of us were expecting anything like this in New York City.  ‘However, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him”. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Pray for these partners in the Harvest as they have accepted the invitation to start small groups in the 65,000 Chinese Fujianese restaurants in USA. With comprehensive training and discipleship, they envision starting 100 new small groups ‘Café Church’ in the USA every year!

If you are interested in starting a small group in a Chinese restaurant in your city, please let us know and we’ll pass the word along.  You will receive 8 hours training on simply how to download applications and be a facilitator.  In 3 years, these partners expect to see these multiply into 1,000 Café Churches all over USA.  Amen!

God is at work worldwide to let the Hokkien people know that He loves them. Prayer Needed!!!

 

Open Hearts Among The Hokkien

Talking about hard work . . .  Starting new church work in an unengaged or unreached area is challenging.  Without a doubt, it takes a lot of work, patience and faith for seeds to be planted and watered and for lives to be transformed.  One of our newer Hokkien works on an island in SE Asia has many stories of God’s love and grace scattered throughout the island where these people live.

This new church group now meets in a rented house there on this small island of about 7,000 people with few believers.  The SE Asia ministry team took us to meet the landlady and her husband last year, and many people have been praying for them to come to know Christ.  When we visited the island, she came to worship and the next morning we also had breakfast together.  Her response was warm — but still seeking.  She was also touched by some of the music that we had used there on the island.  After returning to Taiwan we mailed a CD to her. Local workers followed up to encourage her. These workers are really like angels! They have two groups of people who travel out to the island every week to show love to these families and worship with them.  We have prayed for the landlady, her family and the ministry there in SE Asia.

Recently, we received word that the landlady’s teenage daughter had contracted Dengue Fever.  There is no medicine for Dengue Fever, and her illness was very serious.  The workers in SE Asia gave a lot of TLC to the family and prayed for her healing.  This is the news that we just received from our local workers.

Our landlady Ah Keow’s daughter who contracted Dengue fever is recovering at home now. Her case is a miracle as at one point her platelet count dropped to 2, she was bleeding and they wheeled her into the Intensive care unit and gave her a blood transfusion. Nobody could have survived in that condition, but because of the prayers of Pastors and Christians,  God healed her. The landlady was very grateful to us and to God, and she gave a testimony last Thursday in the worship service. Through this, her faith has been strengthened and we pray and hope that her family will decide to be baptized soon. When Hok Tek team comes to partner with us, we can pay the family a visit to encourage them in their faith.

GREAT NEWS!  Thanks for all your prayers for ministry among the Hokkien people.  Keep them coming . . .

Bringing It Home!!!!

COMMUNICATION is definitely a skill.  Let’s face it, all of us at times intend to express our thoughts and ideas, but we aren’t always successful.  AND the more we travel and move around, the more we realize how each area of our COUNTRY, or our WORLD has its own way of talking and expressing thoughts.  Sharing the story of Jesus is also true. OH, don’t get me wrong.

The TRUTH never changes, but understanding the culture and people whom we’re communicating with is ESSENTIAL in building relationships and sharing the precious truth of God’s grace and salvation.

June 2, 2014 was the Dragon Boat Festival. So Sunday, in our church community we used this opportunity to celebrate and have fun with those in our neighborhood.

Our building adjoins the local park, and is a great location to connect with our community. This now has become a regular occurrence — whatever the holiday, we plan a big celebration and all are invited.  This time the responsibility for planning fell on our small group . . . what a privilege and what fun.  This is just one of many ways to say “We Love You” in this culture —- that’s part of bringing it home, the indigenous way, to let people know that God loves us.  Download and click on the photo link below to join our journey.  Here is a brief overview of our special day. Sunday June 1, the Hok-tek Baptist Church in Kaohsiung, Taiwan celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival in the park in our community —- with fun and food for everyone. Here’s a run down for you

1. We began the day with a bicycle competition.
2. If you completed the bike track, you moved on to the ping pong ball blowing contest with a little flour for added fun.
3. If you were successful in blowing 5 balls you could move to the fish tank and see how many fish you could catch — it was timed!
4. Then a little handcraft was added for some cute sticky rice dumplings made from fabric by local workers . . .
5. THEN, time to eat — and what else?  Of course, Zhongzi Dumplings or sticky rice dumplings.  In Taiwanese, we say Bah-chang (the ch sounds like “tz”) — traditional for sure with drinks to cool everyone down on this HOT day!
6. AND then the big event — a drama of the story of Jonah and the Big Fish
7. Of course, we ended the time with awards for the winners.

Now that’s what we call bringing it home where the people can really connect!

A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!                                                                              Download and enjoy the journey in photos . .. DragonBoatFestival2014FINAL