chinese christian-chinese church         

Chinese homosexuality movement go a step further ,through the beauty selection, to promote the trend of homosexuality.

One called “Mr. Rainbow Chinese competition”, a male homosexual beauty contest, will be held on January 15^th. In addition, some gay groups also perform drama with the theme of sexual fantasies in Beijing.

In fact, homosexual groups not only promote that homosexuality is a intimate partner of heterosexuality, transgender and so on, but also promote sexual fantasies, sexual abuse and so on. They used to say ” why cannot?” as a Criticism of traditional family moral values.

Most of the gay groups claim they are social “small groups”. In fact, homosexuality is a huge movement in every place of the world. China’s gay community emulate the practice of Taiwan and the Western countries in order to “emerge” in the society, which is called “out of the closet”. They introduce the trend of homosexuality to strike for public acceptance through street demonstrations, publishment and so on.

Same as the western countries, chinese gay groups are also fight for legalization of same-sex marriage.

There are a few days before  the “Chinese Gospel Conference 2009″,  all registration procedures have been completed on December 18, the organizers, “Life Quarterly” reported the number of applicants exceeds 3,500.

“China’s Gospel Conference 2009″ is scheduled between December 26 and 30 held in Chicago. The theme for this year will continue  which have been concerned about in the past - “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified”

From Roland Emmerich,the director of “The Day After Tomorrow”,  John’Cusack, Amanda ‘ Pitt act as starring. According to Mayan prophecy,The  large-scale disaster film “2012″ of this century aroused the interest of people’s idea on the end of the world.

This movie let people know that everyone should change his attitude to life and  live base on “Tomorrow is the end”.Do not drag the words which should say today to tomorrow, including a simple sentence “I love you”,and should never avoid any difficult but to face it, including one’s own mistakes as “Love your neighbor as yourself” which is the Lord Jesus Christ has instructed to us.

Shepherding is very important in church. In the mainland of China, the number of Christians is growing rapidly while the workers of God don not increase in the same portion. As a result, lots of sheep are without shepherd. Besides, many works are not well trained so that they feel tensional and being challenged when they face social issue and the variety of church. These below are the conditions of the current shepherding of mainland of China.

The worker’s quality and number are not enough

The workers and adherent are out of proportion, so limited workers cannot fulfill all the Christians鈥� need. Some churches need this workers do variable works and make them extremely busy. Besides, some workers of God don not accept complete theology training, so they feel difficult to the shepherding. These two factors lead to the condition that the shepherding is not effective and the churches are weak.

Different groups of people have various needs and different shepherding according to different people is important.

Generally, the church works include praying, comforting, visiting, teaching, training and so on. However, all kinds of reasons lead the works to a humdrum mode—-just preaching on Sundays.

The main reason is that the mainland is lack of workers of God, besides the heavy works of pastors make them have decreasing time on shepherding and cannot deeply know their disciples’ condition. All the time, churches pay high attention to the preaching on Sundays and it tends to take the place of the shepherding. 

On the other hand, most of the shepherding are just the teaching of the pastors. This makes the real conditions and feelings of Christians cannot be considered.

The gap of background of Christians is growing, so in accordance with the different needs of different groups has become increasingly important for targeted shepherding.

For example, university Christians say the church life is lack of ethical and moral teachings, no special care and guidance shepherd them understand the biblical work ethic and principles. Now the secular trend in society hurt the believers especially the youth, so churches need urgently to shepherd this targeted group to set up solid spiritual nurture.

Besides, the church’s marriage counseling should not be overlooked. As divorce cases of Christians are growing, more and more pastors are deeply embarrassed. Many pastors are lack of training and do not know how to lead believers to face the crisis of divorce, so the result often end in divorce. When Christians divorce, it will bring about a crisis for the church. Mainland shepherd need to be strengthened and equipped and be more familiar with the Bible truth, and grasp the shepherding and counseling skills to guide the believers enjoy marriage which pleased the God.

“The Third World Mission Conference of Chinese Christian sisters” was held in Philippines.

The Purpose of this consecutive five-day conference is to encourage chinese christian sisiters to carry the baton for missionary.At the end of the meeting,chinese sisters are eager to respond to the call to dedicate missionary,the scene was very moving.

On Oct 5th,2009,The third choir of Cixi city of Zhejiang province held the performation in Hangzhou Bay church for communication between choirs.There were 12 choirs from different churches participated besides the Cixi choir.This communication improved the level of choirs.

The pictures below are the condition of the performance and the leaders of this performance.

September 30th, Earthquake has killed at least 1,100 people in the west of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Thousands of people were buried alive under the rubble.The Hong Kong World Vision H Director-General Zhao Huanming immediately rushed to the quake-hit Padang and pariaman inspect the situation of disaster and to assist in rescue work.

Beijing Fengtai Christian church was set up by the Beijing people’s government in 2004, on December 22, 2006, fengtai church begin to open.It located in south of yu quan ying, with a total construction area of 2390m2 7000m2 . The Hall of Fengtai church is designed by Beijing architectural institute .

The unique shape of this church looks like a Peacock, in order to reflect the good things to people, and it just like horns, spread the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ and tell people this is the way of life.

Hillsong - The Worship Collection

Hillsong Music which is the music ministry of Hillsong Church
had been on top in producing worship songs that popularly
singing in most of the churches around the world today.
I really love watching this worship album over and over
again and experience awesome worship in the Lord through
music. The album also comes with a Free Special Feature
DVD which includes the album documentary,Guitar/Drum
workshop, and conference and resources information.

THE SONGS:
1. Take It All - this worship song utters surrender everything to God.
2. I Believe - a song of declaration of faith in the Son of God
3. The Freedom We Know - it is indeed for freedom that set us free, so we dance with joy on this freedom we know.
4. For Who You Are - as Christians, we simply worship God because simply, He is God
5. You Alone Are God - an awesome worship song
6. Open My Eyes - a good song of prayer and submission to God’s Holy Presence
7. The Deep of Your Grace -it is by grace that we can stand up again to God
8. From the Inside Out -mercies of God is unfathomable. Even thousand times we fail Him, His mercy remains, if we truly seeking and ask God for forgiveness.
9. Found - a very deep inspiring awesome journey in God’s presence
10. More to See - this is a lively chorus song
11. Follow the Son - i love singing this song. A declaration of faith and surrender in following Jesus.
12. Adonai highest praise is due to our God
13. Higher/I Believe in You - a nice lively worship song
14. Oceans Will Part - an awesome song of how worthy and majestic is our God, that even oceans will part by His Words alone.
15. None but Jesus - a song of surrender and submission
16. At the Cross_ - a declaration of the essence of the cross, on what Jesus have done on the cross.
17. Mighty to Save_ - this is a great great song declaring the compassion of God to save us, His people
18. How Great Is Our God_ - this is an awesome worship song. Singing this song makes me realize all the wonders that God has done.

Hillsong - The Worship Collection

Through this communication, students and teachers of Hong Kong chunji seminary have a further understanding about the status of christians in mainland .

Dean WangZhenRen held the meeting,he said, “when we are gradually away from the childhood”, but we are growing up from the childhood. Nowadays,children are lovely, happy, we gratitude for this, We also know there are many unhappy children, we should care and love them.

YeHuan is an actress in taiwan. She play part in many TV series.
Because her father is cancer-like and she Also bear mortgage,she was under so much pressure that could not see the hope for life.
She says that it is the faith that gave her strength,she is able to come over this low ebb,so she decided to be baptized and have a new life in Jesus Christ.

Telling the grace of God 12 fellowship of Beijing GuWashi church Shared the testimony jointly
The contents of testimony include the military career, study , marriage in christ, pray etc.

On Pentecost, May 31, Taiwan and 213 countries held the 2009 Global Day of Prayers in unison. Christians from the 19 counties and cities of Taiwan held prayer meetings for Taiwan in their respective areas. In Taipei metropolitan area, 700 pastors, market place representatives, and prayer intercessors gathered on the 84th floor of Taipei 101, the world’s highest point to pray for the transformation of Taiwan country and the churches.
In the three-hour long prayer meeting, Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship (FGBMF) President Guo-San Tsang led the worship, then Rev. Nathanel Chou-shen Chu delivered a sermon on “Transformation and Prayer”, in which he emphasized that God is already working on transforming Taiwan, “The atmosphere in recent years has been like an airplane that is about to go onto the run-way, for example, the population of Christians in Taipei has already exceeded 10%.”
However, at this moment of possessing this land as inheritance, Chou referred to the Bible, that it is important to not be like the spies who gave a bad report after spying on Canaan or like the tribe of Israel that stopped before entering Canaan Land because it felt that everything is sufficient or complete.
He emphasized that if we do not all gain inheritance then it is not complete; not one church, coworker should be missing, “whether it is a Taiwanese-speaking church or a Mandarin-speaking church, we have to move forward together in one heart.”
Then, Rev. Chung-chien Shia (James), secretary-general of Chinese Christian Evangelistic Association, gave an introduction to “Taipei’s History and Horizon”, followed by representing pastors from North, South, East, and West to bless and pray for Taipei metropolitan city.
An important emphasis in the prayer topics was the 228 Incident, which was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan that began on Feb. 27, 1947 when a woman was killed by a policeman for selling smuggled cigarettes on the streets of the capital, followed by the Kuomingtang’s White Terror period, in which tens of thousands of innocent Taiwanese intellectuals and mainlanders were killed.
“This historical wound has been used frequently today by politicians, as if that at every election it will be torn apart again,” said Shia. He prayed that God’s love can be poured down to Taipei metropolitan city, comforting and healing the cracks and holes between men.

During the gathering, brother Tsang invited Ogilvy Group Taiwan CEO Dr. Joseph Pai to represent the family members of White Terror victims to pray for forgiveness in the spirit and former legislator Joanna Lei to represent the Taiwan government in a prayer of repentance.
Pai said that only the light of the glorious cross can illuminate the darkest and most painful corners in man’s hearts.

“Not only 228, White Terror, but in every household, may the Lord pour down his spirit of forgiveness,” prayed CEO of Ogilvy Taiwan.

Jesus said: “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them”

Popular Taiwan film celebrity and television show host Chien-chou Chen (Charles), also known as Blackie is dark-skinned, 190 cm tall, compassionate, and eager to help character are all very familiar to most people.

Several days ago, Blackie appeared at the “I Wish’ press conference held in Bay Area, California. While speaking to numerous North American Chinese media, he shared honestly his experience of believing in the Lord, and stated that faith has completely changed his values.

In 2002, when he first began to join World Vision, said Chen, he was not a Christian for several years later, but until he met a Christian celebrity, who is also his current girl friend ‘Fan Fan’ – Christine Fan.

“Fan Fan is God’s greatest gift to me,” he said.

Blackie confessed that when he first became a Christian he only held onto the very simple thought, which is hoping to go to heaven together with the loved ones.

At that time, he didn’t have the habit of reading the Bible. There was one time when his girl friend Fan Fan had to leave Taiwan for a period of time for work and his home is under remodeling, so without a place to live he stayed at Fan Fan’s home together with Fan’s mother.

Fan’s mother is a devout Christian and a deacon at a church. After finished watching Korean drama at 9:30 p.m., she would announce that “It is Bible time.” Then, she and Blackie would read the Bible by taking turns after each comma. In the beginning, he really felt uncomfortable, but he slowly got to know many stories in the Bible. Then, he started to like the bible and began a true faith.

“I really love the Lord! What I regret the most is that I didn’t come to know the Lord earlier! Faith completely changed my values. Now, I am not afraid to face anything, because I know that there is a God who really loves me, He will help me, guide me, and make my cup of blessings overflow,” shared the Taiwanese pop-star.

Luke Leung translated this article.

Facing a tough job market, more young college graduates are deciding to serve in the mission field – at least for short-term, reports a mission-sending agency.

“The job market for missionaries has never been brighter,” says Hubert Harriman, president of World Gospel Mission.

Harriman reports that the Indiana-based agency’s VIA (Volunteers In Action) program for 19- to 29-year-olds has seen a boost in the number of participants. Young adult Christians who have had an interest in serving in the mission field got the push they needed from the slow job market to commit to short-term mission trips.

According to the U.S. Labor Department’s monthly job report, the unemployment rate hit 9.4 percent in May – the highest rate in more than a quarter-century. Some 345,000 jobs were lost that month.

During commencement ceremonies this spring, many speakers directly addressed the dismal job market facing graduates. As of May, less than 20 percent of the Class of 2009 had a full-time job line up – down from about 50 percent two years ago, according ABC News.

“Many who have contemplated missions now find themselves facing uncertain days in their own career and this crisis seems to be used by God to nudge some to a call He had given them years ago,” said Todd Eckhardt, who has been in charge of WGM missionary recruitment for the past nine years, to The Christian Post.

He says WGM has seen an “upturn” in both full-time missionaries and volunteer short-termers.

Through WGM’s volunteer program, twenty-something adults learn how to raise financial support from their network of friends and family members. Then they are enrolled in a course on cultural adaptation, spiritual preparation, and ministry training at the agency’s headquarters in Marion, Ind.

While overseas, VIA participants work directly with missionaries and nationals to have a true taste of a cross-cultural missions experience.

“For college students who are just starting to exercise their call, the VIA program is a perfect fit,” Harriman says.

Some college students can even use their overseas experience with the VIA program to earn college credit or to complete an internship or practicum. Many colleges, WGM noted, require or strongly encourage a cross-cultural experience, which the VIA program can provide.

WGM is an international mission-sending organization founded in 1910. The organization now has 300 missionaries and support staff serving in more than 17 countries on six continents.

According to WenHui Daily,there is a bronze mirror of Eastern Han Dynasty discoverd in  Xuzhou province.People find 18 words about evangelical Christian.
This discovery complete the history of Christianity was introduced into China in Eastern Han Dynasty.

Hong Kong singer Jade, run the whole gamut of human experience， and ultimately determined to not to strive for money or fame , but serve God with heart, sing with the gift from God, tell all people God is love.

Earlier this year,she won “Top Ten Golden Hit Award” and finally get to say “thank God,” Give all glory to God. 
 

As more and more overseas Chinese use English as their primary language, Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE) urged for everyone to pray for the English Task Force (EFT), which is an English ministry serving the second-generations.

Last month, ministers from various places gathered in Toronto to explore the different strategies to develop EFT. They’ve invited many English-speaking pastors in Toronto to get to know ETF and garnered the feedbacks from them, according to CCCOWE.

From June 27-30, the ministers convened to discuss about and pray for the details of the 8th CCCOWE English gathering, and they urged that all ministers and coworkers and believers to pray for this as a top priority.

In CCCOWE’s statement, it introduced that whether the overseas Chinese remain overseas until the end of their lives or return to their homeland after establishments, the main form of language used by the 1.5 generation or the second-generations are slowly shifting to the common language used indigenously. These overseas Chinese will slowly not use Chinese as their primary form of community, so the importance of the English ministry is becoming more apparent.

Furthermore, as the 1.5 generations or the second-generation Chinese become more assimilated to the local culture, the overseas Chinese churches that purely speak “Chinese” will have difficulties meeting their needs. Not only do the overseas-born Chinese (OBC) and the first-generation seniors have difficulties communicating with each other, but because of the differences of the way that they were educated in their family, society, or schools, and the change in thought as a result of different cultures, they also faces the crisis of their self-identity.

Beginning from former general-secretary of CCCOWE John Kao, the seriousness of the above problems was discovered. As the current overseas Chinese population resides mainly in English-speaking regions, CCCOWE’s second-generation English ministry EFT was started. Continuing to meet this growing need, the current general-secretary Morley Lee is actively pushing to develop the English ministry department.

At the 7th CCCOWE gathering held in 2006 in Macau, it was the first time for the conference since its inception in 1974 to have a Parallel English Track, which provided the English-speaking Chinese brothers and sisters an environment where they can communicate at ease. Until now, CCCOWE center continues to persist in pushing for the development of the ETF ministry among the English-speaking second-generation Chinese ministers from all age groups around the world who approves of the CCCOWE movement.

World renowned Biblical scholar Rev. Dr. Chris J. H. Wright hosted two seminars, in which he delivered a very important message to the Chinese churches in Hong Kong and in the world, at the mega-church EFCC Yan Food Church in Hong Kong on June 13th.

Wright, the international director of Langham Partnership International, preached his messages with the theme of “The Mission of God – Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative”, and Dr. Philemon Choi, the chairman of Hong Kong Langham Foundation, interpreted Wright’s message into Chinese.

Wright led the participants to see “The Mission of God” from the Bible. He said that Christians typically confirm our understanding of “Mission” with the Bible, but there is a need to surpass such kind of understanding, “Bible is a recording of God’s Mission.”

“The entire Bible wants to reveal God’s purpose of wanting to achieve the goal of the salvation of the entire human kind through God’s citizens,” said Wright, who is the chair of the Lausanne Theology Working Group which is involved in preparing for the third major congress in Cape Town for October 2010, and the designated Bible expositor for CCCOWE 2011.

He expressed that “Mission” is often times understood as activities related to proselytizing. While the work of evangelizing belongs to a part of “Mission”, but its origin comes from “God’s Mission.” In another words, the meaning of “Mission” is not limited to meaning just doing missions or other evangelizing activities, but is referring to what the entire Bible points to, which is “God’s Mission.”

Wright said that it is necessary to set the “Mission” as the center to interpreting the Bible. Beginning from God’s creation, till the fall of man, till the salvation through Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and till the new heavens and new earth as recorded in the book of Revelations, the entire Bible centers on “Mission” as the core.

Through the entire seminar, he spoke of the Mission of God that extends to the mission of the Israelites, who are God’s chosen people, of the mission of Jesus Christ that extends to the mission of the church, and of how God’s mission penetrates through the entire Bible and the history of salvation.

Dr. Patrick Fung, international director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) International, responded to Wright’s speech from the perspective of missions. He said that average people emphasize on the Biblical basics of missions, but Wright reminds that the mission ministries should turn back to the Bible’s mission.

“We often times think that we should do missions; however, in reality, it is not that we are doing it, but it is God who has been, is, and will continue to do, so we must make this as our focus,” said Fung.

“Today, we use the English word “Mission” upon our ministries, but in times of crisis and troubles we only have “mission” without “God’s Mission”, focusing only on our own strategies, numbers, performances, and results; but God’s mission isn’t only numbers, but it is to make all tribes, all people, and all nations to come under the name of God and to confess that God is the Lord.”

Rev. Dr. Carter Yu, president of China Graduate Theological Seminary (CGTS), said that Wright gave an important message and the key to unlocking the Biblical narratives, enabling a deeper understanding of the Bible, God, personal life, and the world.

“Dr. Wright told us that we cannot only have missions, for God himself has a mission, and the word of the Bible itself has the guidance towards mission”, said Yu. “When a man lives, he has a mission; if a man does not have a mission, then he is incomplete. Mission is the core of man, and that only by living out the mission can it count as living.”

“The Mission of God – Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative” was sponsored by Langham Foundation Ltd, co-sponsored by Chinese Co-ordination of World Evangelism (CCCOWE), Hong Kong Church Renewal Movement, EFCC Yan Fook Church, and Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

Wright will returned to Hong Kong again in September to give lectures on topics of Old Testament Ethics and church and market places, and various other relevant subjects.

Possibly the first-ever made-in-Hong Kong Gospel album which features an all-star cast will be released this month with the aim of sharing the best of HK musicians with the rest of the world.

According to its latest press release, the album titled “The Chimes” Henry and Roger Chung can be called the “HK’s Buena Vista Social Club”, which features the gospel as the main ingredient combined with music genres such as jazz, bossa nova, R&B, blues, folk, flamenco, and hip-hop, etc. All of the songs are written by the Chung brothers, Henry and Roger.

“The Chimes is musically colorful, superbly skilled, and radiates a sense of maturity. It’s a production all Hong Kong people can be proud of,” said Fung Lai Chi, acclaimed music critic.

Roger (lead vocal) has studied Piano and Vocal at the Peabody Music Conservatory in the US, and was the grand winner (solo performance) of the Hong Kong Association of Christian Music Ministry (ACM) competition in 2007. Henry is the premier blues harmonica player and bandleader in Hong Kong and Asia and was voted one of the top 40 Hong Kong musicians by Time Out HK Magazine and one of Washington’s top jazz and blues musicians by Washington Post.

The guest vocalists include Grammy nominee Howard McCrary, and HK vocalists Mimi Lo, Mimi Tang, A-dAY, Marsha Yuan, and Eternity Girls. The star-studded instrumentalists include Ted Lo, Eugene Pao, Barry Chung, Roel A. Garcia, Joey Villanueva, Anthony Fernandes, Sylvain Gagnon, Tommy Ho, Jezrael Lucero, Rayvaughn Convington, Bob Mocarsky, Raymond Au and Fok Sei Kit. The CD is mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Studio, NYC.

All of the CD’s proceeds will be donated for charitable purposes. The CD is due out in July 2009 and is available at all major record stores and Christian bookstores.

For more information, go to http://www.hkchimes.com

How does someone who is a current events commentator, Cultural Research Regeneration Society (CRRS) President, an overseas Chinese Christian look at “China’s Political Climate”?

In the last ten or more years, Dr. Thomas In-sing Leung has traveled to China numerous times; in China, he has written suggestions letters to and conversed with the top government officials, probed into the development of human rights, and participated in disaster relief work, poverty alleviation, and education, etc.

On June 27th, the fellowship of brothers from North Richmond Alliance Church in Vancouver, Canada, invited Dr. Leung to share his observation of the change in China during this past decade at the seminar titled “China’s Political Climate”, which is the second of a three-series seminar on the Breathe of Christian Life.

Leung began by sharing how he used to be very “anti-communist” in the past, where he would participate in protests and rallies, but after believing in the Lord, he was completely changed by God’s love. He realized that non-stop criticisms of the Chinese government cannot help the 1.3 billion souls find rest nor can it save men’s souls.

Only Christ’s Love Can Heal the Wounded Souls

When China’s economy was soaring in the 90s, the people showed their greed because of money, and showed no remorse over such kind of depraved image. Leung acknowledged deeply that to save China, we must first save her culture and her soul.

In the modern history of China, numerous wars and oppressions occurred. “China is a nation that has been deeply wounded. Only Jesus Christ can heal her, because He also went through tremendous sufferings but revealed the power of resurrection. Through Christ’s love, the wounds from the past can become a new strength,” said Leung.

At that time, God challenged Leung to learn to sacrifice himself like Christ, using unconditional love to love this nation, but what about the government?

Inspired by God, Leung willingly gave up a high-paying job to begin the Cultural Research Regeneration Society, hoping that through Christ’s love this people nation can be healed. Without a doubt, after many years of hard-work, he saw China changing one step at a time. Among the changes, the most exciting change is the Chinese government’s loosing of its policies towards Christianity when it saw the unconditional love of Christians.

From Religious Antagonism to Respecting Religious Faith

China has always held a cautious attitude towards religion, for it fears of the cohesive nature of religion in uniting the people together, which can form a force that can topple the government. Such examples can be seen from the collapse of Northern European countries, which was initiated from and called for by the church.

The pro-adoption ministry of Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, recently opened a six-story “healing home” for special needs orphans in China and received prominent coverage from a number of Chinese media outlets.

“The day after the grand opening, the morning news and the evening news covered it with stories,” exclaimed Mary Beth on Friday.

“God is so good. I can’t even tell you how wonderful it has been. Definitely bittersweet at times, but beauty is going to rise from our personal tragedy,” she added, referring to the death of one of her daughters last year.

Maria’s Big House, named in honor of the Chapman’s youngest daughter, officially opened this past Thursday in the presence of national and local government officials.

The 60,000 square foot building, located in Luoyang, China, will be dedicated to saving the lives of special needs orphans in China and has so far transitioned in 40 children with room for about 90 more, according to a report by Mary Beth on Friday.

Most of the children will transition in groups from the state-run Luoyang city orphanage, which takes care of nearly 700 children from all around the Henan province, where Luoyang is located. With a population of approximately six million, the Henan province is one of the poorest provinces in all of China.

According to Show Hope, the ministry co-founded by the Chapmans in 2003, the children that Maria’s Big House of Hope will be taking in – all five years old or younger – are among the most ill of Luoyang’s orphans and also include those from other areas who are in desperate need for further medical care, which the facility has been equipped to provide.

At full capacity, Maria’s Big House of Hope will have 190 nurses and nannies on staff and 128 beds available.

The building has a floor for children who have been through surgery, recovered, and awaiting adoption; two floors for children with long-term chronic care who are not healthy enough to survive on their own or in the state-run orphanage; a floor dedicated to hospice care for children who are terminally ill; a floor for children coming in from all over China to stay before and after surgery; and a floor for long-term staff and visiting medical physicians.

The fourth floor also offers an intensive care area, emergency room, and isolation room.

“We are truly getting to see God-sized impact,” commented Nick Lyndon, Show Hope’s director of Communications and Ministry Initiatives, two days after an open house celebrating the grand opening of Maria’s Big House of Hope.

“Our Open House … was just more evidence of what an incredible thing God is doing,” he reported.

Mary Beth expressed similar sentiments when she and her team from Tennessee witnessed last week’s grand opening.

“We really felt the spirit of God there as we stood there in front of Maria’s Big House and dedicated it back to Him and in honor of Maria, who was a special needs orphan herself,” Mary Beth reflected the day after the grand opening.

Possibly the first-ever made-in-Hong Kong Gospel album which features an all-star cast will be released this month with the aim of sharing the best of HK musicians with the rest of the world.

According to its latest press release, the album titled “The Chimes” Henry and Roger Chung can be called the “HK’s Buena Vista Social Club”, which features the gospel as the main ingredient combined with music genres such as jazz, bossa nova, R&B, blues, folk, flamenco, and hip-hop, etc. All of the songs are written by the Chung brothers, Henry and Roger.

Roger and Henry Chung recently spoke with The Gospel Herald about their faith and the album.

1. Can you share with us how you two came to faith in Christ?

Henry: We’re one of the lucky ones. Roger and I grew up in a Christian family. We started going to church with our family at a very tender age. We grew up in the church family. In a way, we were lucky because we were exposed to God early on. But our faith in Christ grew with time. Now we’re more faithful than ever. Hallelujah!

Roger: When you actually grew up in the church since birth, there’re many questions that you would not be afraid to voice out… and it’s really because of the constant challenges and doubts that I had for this religion that get me thinking more and more about the teachings of the Bible. And when I get to understand the more and more, my faith grows.

2. What inspired you to write and compose this gospel album?

Henry: We wanted to do something different from the Canto-Gospel out there in the market. We wanted to explore different genres of music and involved the creme of the crop of HK musicians. We believe music is God’s gift to humanity and we shall give the best to God in return.We want to re-introduce Gospel music from its bare roots to Hong Kong listeners.

Roger: 1. Thomas A Dorsey, the father of Gospel Music, who was a former blues artist and coined the first ever gospel tune “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” in the 1930s when his beloved wife passed away. 2. ACM in Hong Kong who was really the pioneer of Canto-CCM back in the 1980s. 3. The Bible who told us to “sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.” (Psalm 33:3)

3. In addition to the market in Hong Kong, will you consider reaching the market in China? (Which would mean you will need to produce an album in Mandarin)

Henry: We have 2 songs in Mandarin in “The Chimes.” Yes, we’d love to reach more people with our songs and touch more people’s hearts.

Roger: We will not stop writing in Mandarin. When we think that a song will work better with Mandarin, we will write it in Mandarin. We wanna spread the good news to Chinese-speaking communities all around the world!

4. In addition to the influence that your music will have on your listeners, how do you think your lives can influence others in your same profession among the Chinese-speaking world?

Pastor Fengbingcheng,the author of <<You zi yin>>, Preach a Sermon in Brooklyn Chinese Christian church last weekend. He lead audiences to know the relationship between science and faith to eliminate their misunderstanding.
Let them know that christian is not “anti-science” and guide audiences understand that it is God create everything in the universe, and the salvation of Jesus Christ.

According to China Christian Council/Three Self Patriotic Movement Protestant Church website, close to 50 representatives of different denominations from Korea visited the CCC/TSPM headquarters in Shanghai on July 1.

The National TSPM Presbyter Xian-Wei Fu, CCC President Gao Feng, and CCC General Secretary Pao-Ping Quan received the guests, and they held a seminar titled “China Korea Church Exchange Seminar.”

After mutual introductions and meeting each other, they’ve proceeded with the pre-arranged meeting agenda, where both parties had 10 representatives who each gave a 15 minute speech on several topics.

According to the report, both parties proceeded with an exchange on the “Principles of Three Self.” Elder Xian-Wei Fu spoke first with the topic of “The Purpose of Three Self Patriotic Movement Committee and the Principles of Three Self”, where he explained the principles of Three Self, and the TSPM’s fruits in five different aspects within the past numerous years.

Fu said that the church in China is still very young, is a growing church, but has vision and is filled with vitality; he hopes that overseas churches can respect China to independently manage and setup the churches and welcomes them to have a friendly exchange and sharing.

Addressing this point, Korea World Mission Association General Secretary Rev. Seung-Sam Kang, the report wrote, responded with the speech titled “China-Korea Christianity Exchange that Impacts Religious Policies”, where he said that the Korean churches support the Three Self Principles, and they are also following the principles.

Afterwards, Rev. Gao Feng spoke on the topic of “The Present Situation of China’s Church”, where he spoke of the relationship between CCC and TSPM, or lianghui, and the present development situation that China’s Protestant Churches face. In response, Chongshin University & Theological Seminary Dr. Jungwoo Kim delivered the speech titled “Present Situation of Christianity in Korea and Future Hopes.”

Then, Rev. Pao-Ping Quan spoke on the topic of “China-Korea Church Relations”, where he expressed that China’s church is developing rapidly and the development space is very good. Even though China and Korea are neighbors and as the idiom says that “Close Neighbors is Better than Distant Relatives”, the current Three Self Principles has not been understood by some church coworkers in Korea, said Quan, so he hopes that through exchanges the future friendly relations and partnership of both country’s churches can be build on a solid foundation. Rev. Jeong-Ho Oh responded correspondingly.

Continuing on with other topics of discussion, National TSPM Vice Presbyter and Jiangsu Province Christian Council President each spoke the topics of “Ministering of City Churches” and “Church Serving the Society”, and two representative from Korea’s side each gave a response.

In the rapidly changing society, marriage values are obscured and family problems are worsening under the current phenomenon of cohabitation, pre-marital sex, divorce, same-sex marriage, and etc.

To address such social phenomenon, close to 300 Christian married couples once again wore their wedding gowns and suits, held onto their children’s hands, and proclaimed their commitment to hold on and be loyal to the marriage policy that was set by God since creation “one man one woman, one heart one love, one husband one wife, one life one century.” Before their relatives and friends, they once again gave their wedding vows, “Whether in riches or in poverty, in health or in sickness, in joy or in pain” and the promise that they will accept, tolerate, remain loyal until death.

On July 11th, the “1111 Holy Marriage Husband and Wife Testimony Conference” took place at the Asiaworld-Expo in Hong Kong. Seeing the growing social problems as a result of the worsening of marriage and families issues, organizing committee chair Rev. Wong said that the purpose and the hopes of this conference is that the message of respecting marriage and loving your family can be rekindled through the action of Christians making a recommitment to their weddings.

In addition to the 300 recommitted “newly-weds”, their relatives, friends, and children also participated, so around 3,000 people together witnessed this “marriage of a century” from within the churches of Hong Kong.
Reporter Luke Leung translated the report.  From www.gospelherald.net

Christian relief groups were among some of the first organizations to respond to Taiwan’s Typhoon Morakot and remain active in helping in the aftermath of the disaster.

World Vision, the world’s largest Christian humanitarian group, is providing emergency relief and rehabilitation support to hundreds of families affected by the catastrophic typhoon.

“The most pressing needs now are providing shelter, food, and clean water for those who have had to evacuate their homes,” says Hank Du, executive director for World Vision in Taiwan. “We also want to make sure the children are secure and have a safe place where they are cared for.”

Ministry workers have been helping victims since Sunday, the day after the typhoon hit Taiwan. They have provided emergency assistance to 700 people in shelters, distributing food and cleaning supplies, and some 684 relief kits containing flashlights, radios, raincoats, gloves, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and towels.

Staffs were able to respond quickly because some had been working in the affected areas for years, and pre-positioned supplies allowed for a quick response.

Typhoon Morakot, the worst typhoon to hit Taiwan in half a century, hit the island’s southern and eastern areas on Aug. 7 and 8. It dumped more than 80 inches of rain on the island and stranded thousands of villagers in mountainous areas in the south. Over 21,000 villagers were rescued to safety.

President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday he estimates more than 500 people have died because of the typhoon. The official death toll, however, is 123.

Most of the deaths are in Shiao Lin village, which lost more than half of its population. Some 380 people are thought to have died in Shiao Lin, due to landslides from the surrounding mountains.

“Many of the affected live in remote areas, and the roads are in bad condition. Highways and bridges are flooded and blocked by mudslides, fallen trees, and other large debris,” said Wesley Chen, Taiwan’s southern area manager for World Vision. “For those who can’t reach shelters, we are working to find ways to bring aid to them.”

On Saturday, Taiwan’s president offered his first apology for the slow response after coming under heavy criticism from the public for his handling of the crisis. Among the criticism is the government’s refusal to accept foreign aid earlier this week. It told world donors to just send money instead.

But on Saturday, an official said the government on Friday had asked Japan, the United States and European countries for large equipments such as helicopters and mobile homes.

The National Council of Churches Taiwan (NCCT) confirmed its decision during a board meeting on August 3rd for Chinese church leaders to visit Taiwan from November 13~19 in an attempt to boost dialogue between Taiwanese and Chinese church leaders and display Taiwan’s religious diversity and freedoms for all to see.

The NCCT invited National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China, China Christian Council, and leaders from other church organizations in China to visit Taiwan and attend the “Christian Church and Society Development Forum” slated for November 13~14.

As a member of NCCT, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) also welcomed Chinese church leaders to visit PCT headquarters and urged them to be unafraid of government intimidation or demonization, lest it should prevent them from visiting, said PCT General Secretary Andrew Chang.

According to reports, a forum had been planned for Christian churches from both countries as early as 2007, but changes in leadership among Chinese church organizations had delayed it from taking place until former NCCT Chairman and Taiwan Methodist Church Bishop Enoch C.H. Kuey visited Shanghai last year and confirmed the theme and dates of the forum. The forum will be hosted by Taiwan Methodist Church in partnership with NCCT.

Visiting delegates from China will include church leaders from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Tianjin, and more. On Taiwan’s side, delegates participating in the forum will include leaders from PCT, Episcopal Church Taiwan, Taiwan Lutheran Church, Taiwan Theological College and Seminary, Tainan Theological College and Seminary, World Vision, and Garden of Hope Foundation.

The forum’s theme will be city churches and the spiritual needs of contemporary society and topics of discussion will include a Christian analysis on social services, theological education, changes in modern society, how the church should reach out to seniors, church organizations and their outreach ministries, church history, and equipping the laity.

Besides attending the forum, Chinese church leaders will visit house churches in Taipei, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taiwan Seminary, Garden of Hope Foundation, Good TV Christian broadcasting corporation, World Vision Taiwan, and other evangelical organizations. They will also visit famous tourist attractions in Taiwan, including Sun Moon Lake, Tamsui harbor, National Palace Museum, and more.

“Having this Christian forum take place in Taiwan is better than having it take place in China,” said Andrew Chang. He thinks it’s a good thing for church leaders in China to come to Taiwan and witness the development and progress of churches here and he hopes they can also visit the PCT General Assembly headquarter offices when they come.

Singer Tsai Chin has launched a new album recently,called “Love is like a song”.She put all her feeling during this year into this song. A song called “prayer” of this album has been the relief for the victims of flood on August 8.

When you listen to Tsai Chin’s songs now, you will find not only gentle but also hope.

She says it is the faith which made her life changed.

The Spring of Praise worship is very popular among the churches of New York.The Spring of Praise worship is very popular among the churches of New York.