2012
ISSUE
4
《未得之地》
From the General Director All over Europe, a new generation of ethnic Chinese are growing up. This is a unique generation that speaks the local language and understands the culture of the country foreign to their parents but native to them. COCM has developed a second generation ministry to reach out to them with the good news of Jesus Christ. The PHAT (Praise Him All Together) ministry can be seen as one of the key building blocks of our second generation ministry. Like other COCM ministries, it has components of the 3Es (Evangelising, Equipping, Encouraging). The annual PHAT camp aims to evangelise second generation Chinese in the UK and to equip them to grow in Christ. We provide leadership training in February at the winter PHAT, and a training weekend prior to the summer PHAT camp, as well as other leadership training workshops at local church level to help prepare future leaders to serve. The PHAT ministry platform creates a unique opportunity for young Christians to be connected with friends in other places so they can fellowship and support one another throughout the year. We try to encourage these young people to learn about missions locally and globally by getting involved in mission outreach events, and we also build partnerships with local Chinese churches to help to nurture their youths.
INSIDE Arm-twisted into Submission? ~Ian Ma The Best Years Of My Life ~ Josh Shek PHAT Volunteers ~Angela Fung ~Brandon Wong ~Crystal Chan ~Graham Chau ~Rachel Lee
Born and raised in the UK, a large number of second generation Chinese are struggling between two cultures and experiencing something of an identity crisis. Many Chinese teenagers stop going to church with their parents because Chinese churches in general have limited resources and cannot adequately care for their needs as a unique group. They long for someone with keen understanding of their challenges and struggles to minister to them. We thank God that Rev. and Mrs Ian and Wai Ma and missionary trainee Josh Shek have come to join our team to take up the task of reaching the second generation Chinese in the UK. Ian was born in Hong Kong and went to USA for higher education. For more than 2 decades, Ian and Wai have been ministering to the young people in various churches in USA. Now they have responded to God’s call of serving the second generation youths in the UK and will leave their friends in USA to join COCM as missionary workers at the beginning of 2013. Josh was born and raised in the UK as a typical BBC (British Born Chinese). He had been actively involved in the PHAT ministry for many years before he decided to give up his professional career and devote himself wholeheartedly to the ministry of second generation Chinese. He has been serving with us since February 2012. Apart from our missionary workers, we also have a group of committed young volunteers as core members of our second generation ministry team. For years, our PHAT leaders have been recruited mainly through personal contacts and friendships. In the future, we plan to provide partnership and ministry opportunities to leaders from different local churches. Leadership training and ministry support will be offered through a network under the umbrella of COCM, in the form of training camps. “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-31) Let us bring the hope in the Lord to the second generation Chinese. Please pray with me that a generation of young Chinese will come to know Christ and to make Him known in Europe as well as the rest of the world.
Rev. Henry Lu
神恩澤僑胞 福音遍全歐
Reaching the Chinese to Reach Europe
1
《未得之地》
Encouraging
Arm-twisted into Submission?
Ian Ma
“It is God’s will that you work with our youths!” bellowed the pastor, finally. I couldn’t believe he actually said it. For a whole hour this godly man had tried to reason with me, flatter me, exhort me – all for one aim but to no avail. Just when I thought he would give up recruiting me to teach Junior Sunday School, he whipped out the ultimate “wild card”: God’s will. He did say it with a grin and, I believe, half-jokingly. But how does one bring oneself to say “No” to “God’s will”, especially posited by a man of the cloth? So, with that bit of arm-twisting, Pastor Simon Lee of the Chinese Lutheran Church of Honolulu coerced me into youth ministry.
Prophecy Fulfilled Four years prior to that incident I became a born-again believer after a classmate shared the gospel message with me. Soon after my conversion I bid farewell to my hometown of Hong Kong to attend university in the United States. God plugged me into the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on campus, where I blossomed as a Christian. I was so elated serving Him with and among university students that I longed to continue the ministry after graduation. But God had other plans. I met my wife Wai, a fellow Hong Kong native, who also studied Fine Arts at the University of Hawaii. To pursue her I decided to attend the same church she did, and ended up in the aforementioned conversation with her pastor.
Ian and Wai
That was twenty-six years ago. And that is how long I have worked with youths. First, it was Sunday School with two teenagers who couldn’t care less what I said, but who slowly warmed up to me and prompted me to attend the youth fellowship as an adult counselor. As time went on, my love for kids and passion for ministering to them intensified. I even recruited Wai to serve the youths with me. As much as I enjoyed my career as a graphic artist, I could not get enough of shepherding teenagers at church. With the encouragement of my mentors and affirmation by the Body of Christ I eventually discerned God’s calling for me to enter vocational
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youth ministry, and proceeded to receive further training at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary near Boston, Massachusetts.
Career Ministry! I have never had much of an affinity for academics, so imagine my joy when I finally finished school in 1993 and was paid to do ministry! My first church was the Chinese Bible Church of Greater Lowell, where I had served as an intern while in seminary. I loved the congregation and its young people, and was given ample opportunity to develop as a leader. I also made a good deal of mistakes – as any young and inexperienced minister would – but was always met by mercy and grace. After six happy years there I received a call from the Chinese Christian Church in Somerset, New Jersey, to serve as its youth pastor. My stint in New Jersey has lasted seventeen years. The greatest joy in this endeavor has been watching and being allowed to play a part in the lives of saints who pass through the children’s ministry, youth ministry, and university student’s ministry, all the way even to adult leadership in the church. Needless to say, serving in the same parish for the long-haul has given me a valuable and distinctive perspective on ministry and Christian community. The church has also inspired me to get involved in the Great Commission. I was given freedom to take young people on short-term mission trips every year to various parts of the world. Not only are the youths given the opportunity to serve the downtrodden, but the crosscultural experience and hands-on training invariably impact their own lives and career choices. I always tell short-term missionaries to not limit their involvement in missions to a few weeks each year, but to seek God’s calling, perhaps, for them to enter long-term service. Of course, I never expected I would one day expound on this teaching by way of example.
do it.” His words stabbed me like a knife, for I realized I was setting up for myself a life of complacency, having it dotted intermittently with mission trips to assuage my guilt. In America, Chinese churches often have more than one pastor to care for the sheep. I personally know plenty of colleagues who are trained to serve among the Englishspeaking second- and third-generations. This is not the case in the United Kingdom. Countless churches lack the resources to properly nurture the adults, let alone the young people. The result is a mass exodus of the second-generation out of the Chinese Church. Many of the young Christian leaders I met 14 years ago became so disheartened they have left not just their churches, but Jesus Christ as well. When I asked God, “Why don’t You do something?” I sensed Him saying back to me, “Why don’t YOU do something?” The “Macedonian Call” came in overdrive in 2008, ten years after my first mission trip to the United Kingdom. The Rev. Henry Lu – who, incidentally, is not Macedonian – paid me a personal visit. He explained to me that my name popped into his head when he prayed for the second-generation ministry at COCM. This was good enough – at least for him – to regard it as “divine appointment”. He then asked me to prayerfully consider serving with COCM as a long-term missionary in the United Kingdom.
The Call to the UK The “Macedonian Call” to the United Kingdom first came to me in the summer of 1998, when I brought a short-term team to serve with COCM. When I asked the Rev. KamHung Ho why he left the United States for England, he confided in me that he could have chosen a life of ease and comfort as a minister in the USA, but opted to come to a land where Chinese churches faced a short supply of shepherds. “It is hard,” he said, “but somebody’s gotta
2012 PHAT Camp
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《未得之地》
Encouraging
Struggle and Surrender Once upon a time I was young, adventurous, earned little, and had little. At a moment’s notice I could pull up the tent pegs and go wherever God was leading me. When I sang the hymn, “I Surrender All,” I would lift my hands high and really mean it. Then I got comfortable. Church became routine and ministry was more “work” than service. I bought a house. I got accustomed to “my way of life”. I accumulated treasures on earth. When I sang “I Surrender All” I noticed my arms had become heavy and sluggish.
Ian and Wai with the Rev. & Mrs. Simon & Wai-Ling Lee from the Chinese Lutheran Church of Honolulu
Indeed, I understood how the Lord had put me together – my personality, gifting, and experiences – would make me a good fit with the mission field Pastor Lu described. But questions filled my doubtridden heart: What would my wife and I do with our house? What about our jobs? What would happen with the ministry at our home church? How would we adjust to a new way of life? How would we raise the funds needed? We struggled with the decision for four years, until we learned Pastor Lu’s family – as well as countless missionaries at COCM and elsewhere – struggled with the same, exact issues, yet surrendered unwaveringly to do the Lord’s work. They believed what Jesus said – to not worry about our lives but to “seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.” To make a long story short, with arms high and heart abandoned, Wai and I finally said to Him, “May Your will be done.”
Ian and his short-term mission team in Scunthorpe UK with Rev. Kam Ho (middle row, first from left) at a local college in 2011
Doing God’s Will I can still vividly hear Pastor Lee’s words to me, “It is God’s will that you work with our youths!” Did my beloved pastor realize then it was really a word of prophecy? I have come to understand those words were spoken not only as a mandate to me to serve at the Honolulu church, or uttered in regards to my vocation. They reverberate within me as a confirmation of the call to minister to the Chinese youths in the UK. God’s will for me.
Ian with some young people at COCM Essentials Camp in 2002
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The Best Years Of My Life It was the last morning of the conference. All the volunteers and staff had gathered to share their stories and thoughts on the camp so far. “I think some of you are ready for vocational ministry” the pastor shared, not realising the response his observation would stir in me. He continued and by the time he had finished speaking, a conviction had set in. One thought ran through my mind:
Josh Shek
Later that day I began sharing what I was going through with my mentors and pastors. I can still remember speaking to Pastor Bert and finding it difficult to explain how I was feeling. “I know, it’s like you feel you don’t know how to help these people… but you gotta do something.” He’d got it right. I had no idea what it was that I was being called to do, I just knew I had to go and do it. Over the next few weeks I shared with more mentors and pastors. Encouraged by their support and prayers, I finally felt that joining COCM would be a good start. Even though I didn’t know where I would eventually end up or where all my funding would come from, I felt this was at least a start to the “something” I should be doing.
“I have to do more, I have to do more…”
A Better Future This part of my journey had begun a few years back when I started university. Every summer I would help out at this youth conference. At first it was just sitting in with the small groups and helping out with worship, but with each passing year, the more involved I found myself. After graduating, God opened a way for me to join a prominent defence firm on their graduate training programme. I was a budding engineer, making my way quickly up the ladder. My future with the company was bright. I was set to attain my Charter and reach management level before my 30’s. I was no where near the best, but I was on track to be well looked after. “I think I could get used to this”, I would tell myself. It was then on the last morning of this conference, as Pastor Philip shared, that I was faced with a choice. I could either stay in defence and look forward to a stable career and good money, or give it all up and go into ministry. Not as straightforward a choice as it sounds. On one hand I firmly believed God had blessed me with the job I had and the life I could see ahead of me. On the other hand I couldn’t ignore this conviction to “do more”.
Josh's family
My parents supported me, albeit with some hesitation. The very real possibility that I might not be able to support them financially in the future and the fact that I was letting go of all that they had invested into me through university was not an easy thing to sacrifice. They too were faced with a choice, and I realised that my decision would affect the people around me a lot more than I had first thought. In the end they still graciously gave me their blessing to begin exploring a future in ministry. So in November 2011 I explained to my manager what I had decided. A couple of months later I had handed in my notice and began to say goodbye to my colleagues and my fledgling career.
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《未得之地》
Encouraging
Josh and Henry
Complex Problems In February 2012, I joined COCM as a Missionary Trainee. I found myself plunged into a very different world from that which I had just jumped out of. There was Josh serving the second generation in no nine-to-five France routine. I wasn’t in a job that I had been trained to do and had spent years preparing for in education. Engineering, in comparison, came naturally to me. I understood the mechanics and workings of the projects I was dealing with before. But now I was faced with something altogether unpredictable. People. For years now I had been trying to apply what I was learning at work to my service in the church. I had slowly become very good at organising camps and dealing with finances. Until now, I found that I was able to serve using the talents God had given me so far. Now though, I had to pick up a whole new set of skills and learn how to care for people… as people. Not just as conference members, but as people in search of their creator and a deeper meaning to life. Practical problems were easy to solve, but in the face of problems without an obvious answer or explanation I found myself at a loss. Even now, I still struggle with knowing how to listen to and care for those God has placed around me. I’m only at the start of the very long road of learning what it really means to weep with those who weep and serve the poor and the needy. In trying to help others, I’ve also found how much I need help myself. In seeing other people’s brokenness, I’m confronted with the areas in my life that I still need to let go of and allow God to change. Josh with the youths at PHAT Camp
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Pay It Forward I can still remember when I was going to youth conferences and serving in church as a young Christian. I remember how much of an impact these experiences had on me and how thankful I was to the people that counselled me and taught me God’s word. Now, I find myself in a situation where I can at least try to do something in return. Even if right now all I know is how to set the chairs and plan the programme, I’ll use whatever gifts God will give me to pay this debt forward. When I first told my colleagues what I was going to do back in November last year, I remember some of them said: “Josh, what are you doing with your life? What about your career?” I wonder what life would have been like to have made the other choice and spend the best years of my life in pursuit of a career and a life of comfort. But given the same choice all over again, I think I would still choose the life I have now. I still do not know exactly what God has called me into or what lies ahead, but I do know that in everything he asks us to give him the best of ourselves. For me, the best years of my life are now. And so I’ll continue to learn from and follow a God who promises his best plan for me.
PHAT Volunteers Angela Fung From: Bristol
The highlight of PHAT this year was meeting my small group. At first I thought it would be a challenge to co-lead the youngest group, but I believe God wanted me to rediscover the basics of his love for each and every one of us, but also to have fun and to trust that he will do great things. During PHAT I encountered campers who thought about leading but it seemed something held them back. I was unsure before, but God tells us to cast away our anxieties and depend on Him. He gave me the strength, the words to say and the heart to care for each member. I’m thankful for this experience and wish to continue serving Him faithfully. God makes no mistakes, if He calls you, He has great plans for you.
Brandon Wong From: Coventry It has been an amazing experience serving in PHAT camp as a leader this year. I feel that this year, I have learnt so much more from leading than I could have ever imagined. The way the youths share their lives with you, the way you see them connect and trust the Lord through just a few days, it truly is an incredible and humbling experience. Each year, we see God touch more and more people’s lives, to be a part of their story, giving rise to their own personal testimonies; God really is a God of miracles! But God’s love and grace is not just a thing for PHAT, it’s a thing for life, so I just pray and hope that the youths will continue to keep that flame for God lit, to keep running this race with endurance, and not to grow weary, but to fly on wings like eagles, remembering Him at all times. May all the glory and honour be given back to God!
Crystal Chan From: Guildford
Writing this reminds me how much I miss PHAT camp! This year’s camp was my third time taking part and I loved it! Having said that, every year as I anticipate stepping foot into this wonderful youth camp, I would always feel very inadequate. I am not a “BBC” and do not have much experience in youth ministry as I mostly serve among university students. But God’s grace is always sufficient and every year I get to experience Him in a very special way. This year as I came to COCM for the Leaders’ weekend, I was feeling very nervous. The other leaders made me feel so welcome and I thank God for His love that brought us all together. It was also my privilege to be part of the logistics team this year and serve alongside those who have such passion for God in youth ministry and have worked so hard in preparation for the camp. And of course ultimately it is our Heavenly Father who made it all happened. Glory be to God alone!
Crystal Chan (middle) with members from the Short Term Mission Team
When I found out that three of the girls from my small group last year had become group leaders this year, I was overjoyed! They all are currently serving in their youth groups and just love sharing God’s love with other people. Although PHAT Camp 2012 has ended, it is wonderful to see how the youths are so encouraging towards one another, especially to those who are moving away from home for university. I pray that all those starting or returning to university this September will quickly settle in their new environment and continue to praise Him all together!
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Graham Chau From: London
My first encounter with PHAT was back when I was a camper as a teenager. It was one of the first places where I truly experienced God’s love. As a result of such a wonderful gain, in 2010 I decided to become a leader at PHAT camp as a way of giving back and allowing others to share in what I have experienced. The one thing that I valued the most during PHAT 2012 is spending time with the youths. Even meal times became a time for fellowship. I really enjoyed sharing and getting to know the people I was serving. I came away from PHAT camp being deeply encouraged by the youths’ dedication and commitment to Christ. Serving at PHAT camp has taught me that it is better to give than to receive. I serve knowing that Christ had served me first, and I thank God for giving the opportunity to serve at PHAT camp.
Graham Chau (front row, second from right) with his small group
Rachel Lee From: Manchester
I have grown so much in Him from this experience, and have definitely learnt what it means to serve with humility and unity with the whole leadership team. The support and encouragement we gave one another was just overwhelming – I feel so blessed to have been able to serve with such willing hearts, knowing that everything we did, we did it for our Almighty God. One thing I personally took away from the camp was to be our true selves in front of God. As Christians we fall short of God’s glory, but the most important thing to remember is that God forgives us and we shouldn’t turn away from Him! He is always there, ready to accept us with open arms, no matter what we’ve done or been through. God definitely worked within the youths during PHAT 2012, to see them responding back to God and growing deeper in their relationships with Him, was such a blessing; and to be used by God as a servant for Him, was just as big a blessing. With His love and His strength, we can definitely soar on wings like eagles!
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Rachel Lee (middle row, second from left) with her small group
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I hope we remember that PHAT is not just for 5 days, so let’s Praise Him All Together and soar on wings like eagles to reach Higher Heights!
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PHAT Camp 2012 Higher Heights exceeded my expectations. From being a first time camper last year, to a first time leader this year was such a big step – but God definitely provided and prepared my heart for serving Him and the youths during the 5 days of PHAT.
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Yu-Mei Wu
God called us to serve in Europe, and we are thankful for the financial support from individuals and churches around the world over the years. The vast majority of people living in Europe have yet to accept the Gospel, hence we ask humbly for you to work with us. If you are moved to support us financially, please get in touch. Donations from UK By Cheque Cheques made payable to “COCM” may be sent to: COCM, 2 Padstow Avenue, Fishermead, Milton Keynes MK6 2ES By Bank Transfer or Standing Order Please contact COCM Headquarters for detailed information. Donations from overseas Please contact Your local COCM offices / boards or COCM Headquarters (Please see the contact information at the right-hand column on the back page.)