Testimony…
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Born in Hong Kong in 1951 in Cixi, Zhejiang, I am a fourth-generation evangelist in my family who spent the first 14 years of my life on a godly seminary campus. My parents, who were teachers in seminary and middle school, bent their knees together in prayer every day. The school rules are very strict, no smoking, drinking, dancing, playing mahjong, playing cards, or watching movies. However, life is quite westernized, because the school’s headquarters are in the United States.
Another point is that Hong Kong is a Cantonese-speaking city, but most of the aunts and mothers-in-law in the school speak Mandarin. So I had to understand Mandarin since I was a child. My parents are English teachers. His father didn’t talk much, he was well-dressed, and his students called him the king of hygiene. Chopsticks must be used at home, and the ice cream outside is only allowed to eat from the dairy company and Anyuan, and nothing else is clean. The family is not wealthy, but they must have a monthly budget to buy special fruits, and in any case, they also teach piano to our children.
When we were nine years old, our Sunday school teacher, my father’s student, taught us John 3 and told us to go home and receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. And when he came home, he did the same. Very simple, with no dramatic change. It was mid-October 1960. But I started reading the Bible and participating in youth fellowships on campus. Listening to the devotional ministry every week, I often watched her cry, and I knew that my relationship with God was a struggle.
At the age of fourteen, in August 1965, he attended two summer parties. Tearful confession and repentance in the first camp. In the second meeting, now known as the Hong Kong English Soul Training Association, he gave himself into the hands of the Lord, and the next morning after the meeting, he offered himself to the Lord and served the Lord full-time. At that time, I didn’t know anything about ministry, I just wanted to be a missionary in Africa, and I didn’t know anything else.
Fourteen years passed in peace. God showed me the godliness of the elders around me and cultivated a simple faith. The primary school is in the neighboring Pui Dao Primary School, which is a Chinese school, but the English teacher is very good. The middle school is an English school, but the Chinese teacher is very good. Xi piano at the same time. I can say that I never wanted to get ahead in society and do something. Loving God and serving God is the way to go in life, and I don’t know what else to do.
Three weeks after the dedication, my family arrived in the United States. My father was already studying theology at Wheaton, and I completed the 10th and 11th-year classes in that Chicago suburb, which was equal to the first and second years of high school. In the past two years, I have enjoyed the love of American believers and learned to live in American society. Every Saturday morning, go to the laundry to do your laundry. Although he has been learning piano since he was a child, in those two years, he received the most important piano lessons of his life in that town. That black teacher gave me some principles that I still use and use in other subjects as well!
In 1967, my father accepted the invitation of the Chinese Church in Philadelphia to pastor. It was a church supported by six major denominations. I completed my final year of high school in Philadelphia, a public high school with boys, mostly Jews. There were not many church members, and I began to reach out to the second generation of Peranakan teenagers. Every Saturday I would help my father type and make a Sunday weekly. During my three years of middle school in the United States, I worked part-time work, sometimes as a delivery boy, sometimes as a supermarket helper, and sometimes as a child tutor at a Salvation Army camp. My horizons in life began to expand. It is not clear how the giving will be fulfilled, but there is a great distance between the church and society.
He began college in 1968 and attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It was the age of the hippies, and young people protested against everything with adults, full of ideals, against the Vietnam War, against the military industry and the government. The campus was like a revolution all day long. There was also a hippie among the teachers. At that time, there were Chinese students from Westminster Theological Seminary in the Philadelphia Bible study class, who taught us inductive Bible study, and at the same time gave us some theological and apologetic knowledge. They later founded the Chinese Theological Research Institute in Hong Kong.
At that time, I realized that formal theological training was necessary to serve God and that the humanities were the best preparation. Therefore, when I major in history, I am studying the history of Western philosophy. Graduated in 1971. During my college years, I read Dr. Zhang Lisheng’s “Critique of Humanism” and Xue Hua’s “Rational Avoidance”, which laid a very important foundation for apologetics. Apologetics and theology have taught me that the simple faith I experienced as a child can stand the test of reason! But the most important thing is to prepare for the discipline of Bible study. Since 1968, he has participated in the summer meetings of the Messenger of Christ Society and has participated in various aspects of ministry.
In the summer of 1971, Pastor Wang Yongxin sent me to the Philippines for a short mission. At that time, the term short-term mission had not yet been invented! There for fifty-nine days, the first evangelistic meeting in my life, the first outdoor sermon. For the first time, he led a Bible study in a stock market. Make unforgettable memories. In the fall of 1971, he entered Westminster Theological Seminary. The Reformed theology he received was a lifelong backup, but he didn’t know how to preach in the Chinese church at that time.
The deepest influence of Westminster theology on me is that since Christians are sinners who have found grace, they should always repent. Also, the church on earth is valued by God. God is Lord in every aspect of our lives. The Bible is our supreme standard. Van Terre’s apologetic theology is something I will never forget. In 1970 and 1973, he participated in the Student Mission Conference of the American Campus Fellowship, which was held at the University of Illinois. Hearing Pastor Stothe’s first-class expositional sermons broadened my ministry horizons. As for the path of ministry, it is still unclear.
Married in 1972, children were born in 1974 and 1978. In 1975-76, I studied for a master’s degree in theology, mainly to give myself a chance to test whether or not to study for a doctorate. In 1975-76, I went to a Chinese church next to Yale University, but Brother Zhang Bangheng of the Seminary Student Scholarship Committee advised me that if I could, I should study for the kingdom of God. As a result, I listened to his persuasion and studied Chinese history and church history at Temple University for four years from 1976 to 1980.
He spent his weekends in the church, spending the first two years as a youth at an elders’ church in New York’s Chinatown, and the third year as pastor at a newly established Chinese church in Princeton. At this stage, God allowed me to practice preaching and learn some lessons—youth preaching should be Xi obedience! I didn’t learn it well at the time. In those years, it was very hard, and I took my children long distances every weekend, either to New York or to Princeton. There are still several years of part-time work to support the family. My love for the church began to develop.
In 1979, when I was about to graduate, considering the Chinese church, the organization had a lot of needs and many invitations. However, he felt the need for ministry training, so he applied to join the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), a denomination with a strong emphasis on missions and church planting. They sent me to New York to plant a church. I learned a lot from my debriefing in the church in the southern United States. The American church knows how to accept newcomers from outside.
In the past six years, 1980-85, I began to learn Xi about broken lives, and began to find that seminary was not practical enough. Knowing that he couldn’t preach personally, he went to learn the Blessing Preaching Method. After a few years, there were more than 60 people in the church. 1986-89 I served at the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church, mainly looking for church-planting ministers among the Chinese. God didn’t give us new co-workers, so I left my job in 1989, and in the days after June Fourth, I founded China Outlook with three brothers, Chen Jimin, Liu Shaoping, and Mak Yupei.
The original goal of China Vision was to participate in the evangelistic work of Chinese scholars in North America. 1989-92 We explored the needs of Chinese mainland student workers in North America and visited various places for evangelistic work. In 1992-95, we supported two mainland scholars to pursue seminary studies. Today they are all well-known preachers. I was at the Chicago Chinatown Pastoral Society. It’s been a challenging time. Mainland scholars have ideals and strong thinking abilities, and they should learn theology in a short period. After mainland scholars come to Christ, they do not necessarily melt into the inherent Chinese church.
The Chinese church has had a tradition for many years, and newcomers, whether they are preachers or scholars, have to learn Xi adapt. I went on a journey with a few seminarians and preachers. In the crowd, under a thousand pairs of eyes, I struggled with the inferiority complex, the helplessness in myself. A deep sense of insecurity. Later, the Lord helped me to overcome, and I had no special experience, except that Jesus loved me, and I knew that it was enough because the Bible told me. From 1994-97, I was in charge of the China Ministry at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton University, and I also taught several courses in several seminaries, such as Asian History, Chinese Christian History, Gospel, and Chinese Intellectuals. Chicago is an opportunity to gain insight into the ways of American evangelical senior leaders. I saw that foreigners love Chinese very much, but not all of them are wise. During those years, my ministry focus shifted from pastoral to apologetics for the Chinese church. In February 1993, I wrote this burden before God.
In the summer of 1997, Uchiko accepted an invitation from a Christian bank in California, and we moved to Rosewood. Life has taken another big turn. Located on the Pacific Coast, Southern California is a young society with easy contact with Asia. There are many Chinese churches, such as the headquarters of overseas Chinese Christianity. On the church side, we joined the ministry of Holy Congregation in the West District, a simple, united church that has been preaching the gospel to college students for more than 20 years. At this stage, China Outlook revised our work objectives to concentrate on theology and apologetics, to maintain the biblical faith foundation of the Chinese church by publishing books and conducting short-term theological lectures.
God opened the door to Southeast Asia, and I often traveled to Singapore, Malaysia, etc. to attend classes. The Lord also allowed me to engage in theological education among Chinese scholars. Seeing the next generation of leaders rise, they feel a great responsibility, and they expect a lot from our generation.
At this stage, I deeply feel that life is short, what can I do for the Lord in my lifetime? What kind of legacy of faith can I leave to the next generation? Can the godliness I experienced as a child be passed on? The humanistic philosophy I learned in college is now influencing the Chinese theological community, and how should I respond? May the Lord be gracious and let me be faithful to the end.
