LINK-2013-issue1-E

2013

ISSUE

1

《未得之地》

2012 Annual Report INSIDE

From COCM Council Chairman

Next year Facing a Task Unfinished will mark a ~Rev. Henry Lu decade of serving the Chinese throughout Europe and in the UK since the dedication of the COCM Centre Sketches from Europe’s by the late Revd Dr John Stott. The focus then was the Bible College and today we can look mission field around Europe and see some of the alumni leading Chinese Churches as pastors, a vision ~The path of grace / Monica Li fulfilled. ~Teaching without boundaries / Lawrence Sin When it proved impossible to register the Bible School with the government, the ~A Chinese church in Eastern focus changed to opening the doors for conferences and discipleship training. Those who Europe / Simon Tam planned the facilities of the COCM Centre would be so encouraged to drop in during one ~The start of a long journey / of these gatherings of Chinese from Europe and the UK and encounter dedicated Short Josh Shek Term Mission teams from our Overseas Boards. The inevitable joy of meeting but also the in the gospel / Connie Yu ~Partner deeper dimension of family and brothers and sisters together tasting the presence of the Lord Jesus as the Holy Spirit energises the teaching of the Word of God, and the testimony 2012 COCM Ministry Overview of new Christians is palpable. God has done much more, as he always does, through the building at the COCM Centre than could have been anticipated at the memorable Coming and Going dedication service in 2003.

COCM Finance–a partnership As this year of the dragon draws towards ~James Lo its close, we thank God that the essential team to lead forward our mission to evangelise, equip and encourage the Chinese in Europe is for the most part in place. We still have some gaps in the back-up support team, but there too we have seen God clearly call some to offer sacrificial service. You will have read the testimonies of some those God has called to serve with COCM to head up the ministry to students, notably from PR China, and to second generation young people. You cannot have failed to perceive the maturity and experience of those who have joined the mission in recent months. We have high hopes for the growth of the Chinese Churches in Europe, the dark continent of the 21st Century facing its deepest crisis since the 1939-45 World War. Seeing that God is calling many to join the mission, we have unashamedly increased the budget for 2013. You might question this having looked at the financial report for 2012. But the council is persuaded that the essential support team at the COCM Centre needs to be in place, and that God will supply what is needed to pay adequately a growing staff of gifted and dedicated servants. All who join the mission serve sacrificially given their previous situation, although they would not say so. The coming year of the snake may prove to be one that stretches our faith and keeps us on our knees. We will all I hope be those who watch and pray and not allow our Enemy, who came into garden as a snake at the beginning of the world’s tribulations, to undermine our ministry by sowing seeds of doubt over the faithfulness of God to those who trust and obey his call to follow the Lord Jesus where he may lead them.

Please join us in prayer for God’s provision of every kind that as a mission we may be available to him to continue his marvellous work of salvation among the Chinese in Europe.

Rev.

神恩澤僑胞 福音遍全歐

John Wallis

Reaching the Chinese to Reach Europe

1

《未得之地》

Annual Report Facing a Task Unfinished

Rev.

For more than 60 years, COCM as a mission organisation has sent many missionaries, both young and old, into the mission fields of Europe. They imitate the example of Jesus Christ, living among the Chinese throughout Europe and serving them without fanfare.

Over the last decade, there has been an unprecedented change in the rise of new people groups for evangelism as well as shifting mission frontiers on the map of Europe. In response to such changes, COCM has reevaluated its mission strategy and focused its resources on the three priority groups of Mainland Chinese students, new immigrants to Europe, and Second Generation Chinese who speak the local language.

Over the past year, we have continued to send missionaries to share God’s love by living their lives among the Chinese Diaspora in less reached places within the UK and Europe. From early summer to late autumn, the COCM Gospel Team travelled to various university campuses to host evangelistic events to bring the gospel to Mainland Chinese students. We also organised large scale Mandarin Camps at COCM’s Mission Centre to share the good news of Jesus Christ with hundreds of seekers and believers during the Easter and Christmas holidays.

The COCM Volunteer Scheme was a huge success in 2012. We received many applications and even had to turn some of them down. Throughout the year, young volunteers have worked hand in hand with our staff at the mission centre, as well as accompanied our missionaries on their itinerant ministry journeys. For years I have been praying that God would raise young Christians to become future church leaders and missionaries and I am greatly encouraged by the wonderful response from young people all over the UK. Some of them are seriously seeking God’s guidance for fulltime ministry; others are serving in the leadership teams of their local churches and fellowships; and many of our young missionary workers are also taking up key roles in all areas of ministry. I thank God for the exciting movement of the younger generation rising up to become new leaders for Christ.

Looking ahead, we hope to make more progress with follow-up work and discipleship training as we continue to carry out our Training Ministry through regular Bible Camps and other training courses. We plan to send out more experienced workers to partner with local churches and fellowship groups who need help in their training and pastoral ministries. We pray that God will call more mid-term and long-term missionary workers to join our team; who will devote their lives to living among the overseas Chinese scattered around Europe, and lead them to be followers of Christ.

In recent years, many Chinese churches and fellowships have come to COCM to request help from our missionary workers to support and strengthen their ministries in evangelising the local Chinese and equipping new believers. It is our desire to see existing local Chinese churches grow and mature in Christ so that they can become our partners in the gospel. We are also thankful for the many short-term mission teams coming from around the world to support and help our workers in the mission on the front line, and we shall never forget the countless individual supporters who have been faithfully providing for our needs behind the scene. May God raise more like-minded churches and fellowships to support our mission through prayer, provision and participation.

The vision of COCM is to see mature Chinese believers working together in Europe to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our mission is to first evangelise the Chinese in Europe, and then to encourage them to bring the gospel back to the local European people. I invite you to pray for our ministries of evangelising and equipping in the year to come. Facing the unfinished task God has entrusted to us, let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

1 2

Sketches from Europe’s mission field Sketch 1:

The path of grace

Since re-locating to Lancaster at the beginning of 2012, I have experienced God in new ways as my life and ministry took on a new dimension. As I drove up to Lancaster for the first time on the M1 and the M6 my thoughts drifted to those who had travelled this road before me, and I was reminded that God had always been good to me and that the new path I was embarking on would be full of grace.

Unable to find a house before the move, for 5 months I rented a room from a sister in the CCF on the other side of Lancaster from the university and the arrangement worked very well for both of us. I went back to Hong Kong for furlough from June till August. Upon return from Hong Kong I happened to visit a friend in Leeds, and was told that her neighbour had a house to rent in Lancaster! It was marvellous how God worked this out on my behalf!

The Lancaster CCF was founded in the 1970s. Indeed there are 2 girls in the Fellowship whose parents attended the CCF 30 years ago! For the past few years a couple from Preston have been running it. Every Friday they would bring food as well as their 2 young children to the meeting.

Their perseverance and dedication are so commendable.

Over 10 students have given their lives to the Lord throughout 2012 and the Fellowship has been growing in number. The COCM’s Gospel Team event on 19 October was a highlight as over 100 new students came to the

Sketch 2:

Place: Lancaster, England Missionary: Monica Li

meeting. Prior to this we had no idea how many students would come but on the night they just kept coming. It was indeed a very good platform to share the gospel and to let the new students know about the CCF. At the beginning of term we started a discipleship training class and following the Gospel Team event, a gospel class for new believers and those interested in knowing more. Please pray for us as we enter into 2013 that the Christians will grow in maturity and commitment and the nonbelievers will encounter Christ Himself.

The brothers and sisters from Lancaster CCF and COCM Gospel Team serving together for the gospel event in Lancaster University

Teaching without boundaries

The objective of COCM’s Theological Education

by Extension Course (TEE) is to equip believers with a deeper knowledge of the Bible and some basic theology by correspondence. It consists of seven courses, namely

Brothers and sisters attending TEE course in Dublin, Ireland

Places: England and Ireland Missionary: Lawrence Sin

Spiritual Growth, Biblical Hermeneutics, Church History, Old Testament Studies, New Testament Studies, Gospel Preaching, and Christian Doctrines. Students can take one course at a time and they can decide when to start. At the beginning of each course, students receive a course book, a reading book and a work book to facilitate their study.

They are expected to complete the work book after reading and understanding the course content. Although there is no time limit for students to complete the work book, those who are able to return the required coursework within a few months usually have much higher success rate in finishing the whole program.

Students benefit more when they can study in a group of 5 or more people in a church because we can arrange onsite training classes for them. In 2012, classes were held in different locations such as London, Swindon, Gillingham and more recently in Dublin. Students are more eager to learn in classes and grasp a good understanding of each

1 3

《未得之地》

Annual Report subject before completing the work book. It is anticipated that most students who have attended classes will be able to finish the whole TEE program and receive their TEE certificates. So far, four groups have already completed their attendance for all the classes since the TEE was revised to 7 courses this year. As quite a few churches have already shown interest in studying TEE in groups, we hope to offer training classes in more churches in the UK and Europe in 2013.

Having served as a TEE teacher for the past year, I have the impression that most believers in Europe are eager to grow spiritually with the knowledge of God’s

Sketch 3:

A Chinese church in Eastern Europe

Bucharest is typical of the mission field in Eastern Europe. The local Chinese population is between 10,000 and 15,000 and they come from different provinces in China with Mandarin as the main language. Most of them work in trading, retail or wholesale and a minority work in the restaurant trade. In the beginning of the 1990s COCM started to send workers to Romania to do church planting. The Bethlehem Chinese Christian Church in Romania, situated in the capital, was founded on 9th April 2000, and a couple was assigned to pastor the church there. There have been changes over the years but COCM has continued to send different workers to support the church’s pastoral ministry until this day.

Currently on average there are around 110 people worshipping on Sundays, most of whom are adults. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of young people and newlyweds, which h a s b ro u g h t a n e w v i t a l i t y to the church. Ministry wise, the congregation is built up spiritually through regular Bible Study classes (2 for adults, 1 for Missonary couple Simon and young people), choir, prayer Lydia Tam

Sketch 4:

Place: Bucharest, Romania Missionary: Simon Tam

With brothers and sisters in Romania

meeting, talks on special topics and devotional meetings.

The church regularly visits the traders in the market and shares the gospel with them, especially during holiday seasons.

In the past year the church’s growth has not been very steady. Brothers and sisters are faced with a weak economy and the pressures of everyday life. The leadership team also had some run-ins with one another, but they learned to work together and have grown a bit in the process. As for the church building, this is still in progress because of complicated application procedures in Romania. Brothers and sisters are hoping to have a suitable long-term pastor to shepherd them. Please remember them in your prayers.

The start of a long journey

Joining COCM has been a great experience. The people here are passionate about going out to meet people and telling them about Jesus. The community itself is one big loving family; eating, praying, and going through the good and the bad together. The presence this community has in everyone’s life here is profound, yet somehow very

1 4

Word. TEE can be instrumental in motivating laymen and church leaders to acquire Biblical and theological knowledge so they will be better equipped for their ministries. It is flexible (start and finish at any time), modular (one course at a time), convenient (study in classes at church or by correspondence), and at a reasonable price. In the long-run, we hope to provide multiple levels of training for laymen and church leaders.

Please pray for the development of our TEE curriculum so it can used to build up more laymen and future church leaders in Europe.

Place: Bristol, England Missionary: Josh Shek

ordinary.

As soon as I had settled into COCM my first few projects working in the Second Generation ministry began taking shape. In February we rallied church and youth leaders from across the country for a weekend of fellowship and to share the vision of what COCM is trying

Josh with some of the youth from Bristol Chinese Christian Church

to do through PHAT. Then in August we once again held our annual PHAT Camp in Pioneer Centre, Shropshire.

From the 6th to the 10th of August, we welcomed over 140 youths, supported by more than 40 volunteers, from all across the UK for a week of worship and ministry. I thank God that through his message for them, many young people made a decision to follow Christ and many more were encouraged in their discipleship to Jesus.

Sketch 5:

In autumn I had the privilege of helping out in a number of smaller events and face some new challenges.

In the last weekend of August, I was asked by Calvary Chinese Christian Church to speak to their youths at the church’s annual retreat in Brighton. It was the first time I had been invited to support an event outside of PHAT or one of my home churches. Although the retreat was only 2 days long, the experience of speaking at and helping at an event by myself was for me a big challenge and carried some trepidation. Thank God, the camp went well and the chance to speak was a learning opportunity I highly valued.

I’ve also been back most weekends to serve the Youth Group in Bristol Chinese Christian Church. The teens there are mainly BBCs from a very similar background to mine, and more recently we’ve also has some Mandarin speaking youths join us. Through serving them over the past year I’ve been blessed to watch them continue to grow, and have enjoyed spend time with them through Bible Studies and discussions. The stable, week-in-weekout nature of these regular gatherings stands in sharp contrast to the short, intense conferences, but they prove no less a challenging and rewarding ministry.

Partner in the gospel

Leicester Chinese Christian church is devoted to spreading the gospel in the city of Leicester. Each year there are about 1,000 Chinese students who come to study at the two universities in Leicester. Leicester Chinese church saw the need of this potential mission field, and began partnering with COCM to do student’s ministry in 2010. As a result, COCM sent me to support the church’s Mandarin congregation through preaching and by starting a Mandarin speaking student’s fellowship.

At first I went to Leicester for one long weekend per month. As the ministry began to develop I slowly increased my time there and now I have been going there two to three weekends a month. Our Mandarin speaking student’s fellowship only had a couple of students initially, but, praise the Lord, after many prayers with brothers and sisters from the church, as well as rounds of visitation to the students, God has brought more and more students to us. They all come with open hearts and a hunger to know Jesus. As they grow, leaders begin to emerge from among the students, and they are eager to share their newfound faith with their friends. Their change and growth have often filled my heart with thanksgiving. I too have learned a lot from serving the students and the Mandarin

Place: Leicester, England Missionary: Connie Yu

Connie with sisters from Leicester Mandarin Student Fellowship

congregation. I thank God for allowing me to experience the sweetness of co-working with Him, the patience of waiting upon Him, and the awareness of being sensitive to His heart in the busyness of ministry.

Please pray for me as I continue to serve in Leicester Chinese church. May the Lord give me wisdom and strength to know how to care for the students. Please also pray for the students that they would find their true identity in Christ, and may Leicester Chinese church be a spiritual home in which they would feel a true sense of belonging.

1 5

《未得之地》

Annual Report Link Editorial

2012 COCM Ministry Overview April 2012

Priceless Treasure – 2012 COCM Mandarin Easter Camp

T h e ‘ P r i c e l e s s Tre a s u re ’ E a s t e r camp was once again aimed at new believers with the goal of helping them to be rooted in the faith.

June 2012

As our sins were nailed to the cross we found freedom beneath the cross.

We were awed by this Priceless Treasure and were deeply grateful.

Short-term mission team members from North A m e r i c a were deeply touched by the student campers’ love and longing for the Lord.

Serving from a place of rest – 2012 COCM Staff Retreat Our Staff team from the UK and Europe gathered under one roof for this year ’s staff retreat with the theme “Serving from a place of rest”.

Some of our staff brought their children to the retreat too and our younger staff members thoroughly enjoyed playing with them. May the children grow in God’s grace and come to follow Christ in the future.

June and September 2012

COCM Bible Camps

Two Bible camps were held this year at the end of June and the beginning of September. We studied the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament and the Book of Job in the Old Testament respectively.

1 6

It was a rare opportunity for the whole staff team to worship and to take holy communion together. We all treasured the time we had together.

The highlight of each Bible camp was the sketch that each group performed based on what they had learnt. Students gave their all and fully displayed their talents.

In between classes we also played games and quickly bonded as brothers and sisters in God’s big family. See how much we enjoyed ourselves!

August 2012

Praising Him All Together and Leadership Camp Rev Ian Ma from Chinese Christian Church in Somerset New Jersey was the main speaker. His sense of humour and heartfelt messages endeared him to all the campers.

August – November 2012

Local churches and fellowships partnered closely with us in handing out tracts prior to the meeting, preparing the food and setting up the meeting venue, and, more importantly, in shouldering the follow up work afterwards.

COCM Volunteers In 2010 COCM implemented the volunteer scheme. Soon after that many young students applied to be part of our volunteer team. Together with our Centre staff, we made one big, loving family.

December 2012

Prior to the main PHAT camp a leaders’ training camp was held.

This provided an opportunity not just for the leaders to get to know one another but also to serve each other in humility.

Gospel Team itinerant ministry on university campuses

This year the Gospel Team visited 15 university campuses in the UK and France to hold evangelistic events with the themes ”The Pursuit of True Love” and “My Future is not a Dream”.

year-round 2012

PHAT Camp this year was re-located to Pioneer Centre to accommodate more people. Around 200 young people attended the camp.

They also work as a team to help with the maintenance of the centre facilities, doing jobs such as housekeeping, ministry support to camps held at the mission centre and preparing meals on weekdays.

Tu n i n g t h e a u d i o v i s u a l equipment and running a last m i n u t e re h e a r s a l b e f o re t h e evangelistic meeting.

We incorporated music and drama in the presentation of the gospel message. Our team members were not professional actors but they still wore their brightest smi l e s t o t e l l of God’s love through their sketches.

Only Jesus – COCM Christmas Family Camp and Year-End Student Camp

Pastor Stephen Yu prayed for those willing to respond to God’s calling into full-time ministry.

Group photo of Student Camp

1 7

Coming and Going ．Brother Joshua Shek joined COCM as a Missionary Trainee in February 2012. His ministry will focus on Second Generation Chinese. ．Sister Faye Lee became a COCM Mission Partner in September 2012. She will be involved in our Training Ministry and Church Support. ．Sister Min Yin joined COCM as a Missionary Trainee in October 2012. She will be involved with our Student Ministry and Literature Ministry. ．Sister Shuok Boi Lim joined the COCM Finance Team in December 2012. ．Missionary Monica Li was relocated from the COCM Mission Centre in Milton Keynes to Lancaster In January 2012. Her main responsibility is ministry to university students in the Lancaster area. ．Missionary couple Lei Lei and Ida Li left COCM in September 2012 and returned to China.

COCM Finance–a partnership

James Lo - treasurer

COCM finance is going through a challenging time. Our recent account for the first nine month of 2012 shows that we have suffered a deficit of £99,000. If the present trend continues, we could record a deficit of £132,000 in 2012. In the last three years, although our expenditure has been kept under control, our income trend is not encouraging. Forecast for 2012 shows that income will be almost 17% lower than previous year. To maintain our commitment, we need to ask you to pray with us that God will provide. And we can trust that He will provide! £'000

HEADQUARTERS General Director: Rev Henry Lu 2 Padstow Avenue, Fishermead, Milton Keynes, MK6 2ES, UK Tel：+44-(0)1908-234-100 Fax：+44-(0)1908-234-200 E-mail：cocm@cocm.org.uk Web Site：www.cocm.org.uk

HONG KONG OFFICE Rev Tang Chi-Ming Room 522, Metro Centre II, 21 Lam Hing Street, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel：+852-2549-5288 Fax：+852-2549-5155 E-mail：cocmhk@cocm.org.hk Web Site：www.cocm.org.hk Chairman: Rev Cham Nai-Bun

MALAYSIA OFFICE Mr David Liew Unit 697-2-2, Desa Kiara, Jalan Damansara, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel：+60-(0)3-7722-3670 E-mail：davidckliew@gmail.com cocmmsia@gmail.com Web Site：www.cocmsea.org Chairman：Mr Bryan Lee

SINGAPORE OFFICE Chairman：Professor Hanry Yu 420 North Bridge Road #05-07 North Bridge Centre Singapore 188727 Tel：+65-6338-6283 E-mail：cocmspore@gmail.com Web Site：www.cocm.org.uk

USA BOARD Chairman：Rev Daniel Chan 1960 Silas Deane Hwy, 2nd Floor, Rocky Hill, CT 06067, USA Tel：+1-860-257-3896 E-mail：info@cocmusa.org Web Site：www.cocmusa.org

CANADA VANCOUVER BOARD Chairman: Rev. Benedict Chan P.O. Box 32528, Richmond, B.C. V6X 3S1 CANADA Tel：+1-778-591-0109 E-mail：revbchan@yahoo.ca Web Site：www.cocmcanada.org

1200

www.cocm.org.uk

1000 800

Income

600

expenditure

400

Editorial Committee：

200 0

Published by the: Chinese Overseas Christian Mission.

Registered Charity No.232651 No.1135892 Company No.7106567

Rev. Henry Lu．Ling Lu．Min Yin． Yu-Mei Wu

2010

Subscription

COCM Link is a quarterly publication reporting on the work among Chinese in the UK and Continental Europe. It is free upon request.

Please provide us with the following information Church name or your name; Address/Postcode; Telephone/Mobile; E-mail address; The number of copies of COCM Link in Chinese or in English; Ways of delivery: paper copy by post or PDF format by e-mail You are welcome to view current and past issues of COCM Link on the website: www.cocm.org.uk

2011

Please return the

subscription information to By post: COCM, 2 Padstow Avenue, Fishermead Milton Keynes, MK6 2ES, UK By telephone: +44 (0)1908 234 100 By fax: +44 (0)1908 234 200 By e-mail: Min Yin minyin@cocm.org.uk (Please write “COCM Link subscription” in the subject header of your email)

2012 forecast

Donations

Translator：Monica Li．Connie Yu

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.)