The Death Valley Between 2 Mountaintops

Overlooking from one mountaintop in Huangzhan to another mountaintop, it looks so close. A big leap seems good enough.

Yet there is a V-shaped way. A deep valley to go down and up. Hard work.

Simple / house church doesn't mean moving the traditional church to home. Doing without the building is not simple church. It involves mentality, lifestyles & paradigm shifting.

There is so much to unpack, undo, unlearn, while strolling down the valley.

Leaving the mountaintop of traditional church involves a dying process - dying to some good things - the plentiful programs, the worship band, academic teaching, inspiring sermons... And it is absolutely uncomfortable to leave our comfort zone, for exploring the vast unknown horizon. Results seem far-reaching. Always leaves. No fruits. There will be much hesitation & doubts along the way. Many dark and cold nights.

I was stopped by rev. Chiu, a church & leadership expert, who asked about my church planting planning. When he knew that I was going to plant simple church network, he said, "It is not an easy job! I think it will take at least 5 years to bear fruit." 3 years are normal for planting traditional church. I replied him, "I prepare to use the rest of my life to do this."

When you envision its beauty, you put everything into it. A life.

Rev. Chiu told the class his conversation with Pastor Leung. Pastor Leung once was the senior pastor of one of the biggest Chinese churches in Richmond. He now leads a missionary agency. He called rev. Chiu, "Have you read the book 'The House That Changes The World'?" "I have read that book" he said. "There are so much beauties with house church... If I am going to start church again, I will go for house church!"

Jesus makes us envision the beauty of simple church. Jesus challenges us walking on water with him. So we step out WOW with Jesus, on the water of simple/house church, on the water of a new but ancient way of doing church.

As we climb up the other side of valley, we will see a life which meant to be purposeful, meant to be impactful to the needy world. We join God of the fatherless and the widows for sharing love and blessings. We are no club members or Sunday Christians. We live in and live out faith 24/7.

We are Jesus follower. His lover. His friend. Living in the realm of the His kingdom. So real and it's contagious. Reaching out the world & making it disciples of Jesus. Seeing ourselves, though weak and simple, in grace we could be strong & tough to do the greater things for His glory.

But before the top is reached, the vision is fulfilled, there is the "death valley." A need to put dead our familiar old wine, put dead the familiar old wineskin, put dead... A challenge to give up those good things. That we might we receive the new, the greater things.

The many seeds are produced only by a dying kernel of wheat. Christ's resurrection came only after his death on cross.

What did you sacrifice for Jesus? What will you give up for advancing His Kingdom?

On July 1st, I had $128.04 in my account, after payroll already. I wanted to give $200 pocket money for my wife who was about to leave for HK. But I didn't have it. I held till July 5th to borrow from my sister. Who else a pastor can ask for borrowing money except his sister? We have limited market. This is the second time. It was even worse few years ago when I only had $30 something. Who said God will miraculously drop you money every time you are in need?

Who wants to be insecure? Who wants his daily bread only given right at today? Do I feel bad? A little. At times, some self-pity. But for most of the time, we lack nothing. Our family is so blessed. We love each other so much. Our kids don't need fancy stuffs to keep them alive. They are super active & create their own games. We do give every financial adviser headache in planning something for us, out of almost nothing left.

Serving our Lord calls for some sacrifice, advancing His Kingdom requires giving something up. From time to time, people would commend us pastors or missionaries for giving up our profession or fortune to serve God. I remember one missionary responded to this commendation, "I never consider myself sacrifice anything. It was Jesus who did sacrifice everything."

Every line means sacrifice:

"Crucified.

Laid behind the stone.

You lived to die.

Rejected and alone.

Like a rose, trampled on the ground.

You took the fall

And thought of me

Above all" (the song "Above All")

Every time it sheds my tear when I sing it.

We are not sacrificing anything. We are investing something. Jesus made that sacrifice. So great. So thorough. So deep.

When you see Jesus in heaven, what will you say to Him?

Here is my picture. When I come before His throne, bow down at his feet, in the midst of his beauty & glory, I'll ask the Lamb to show me his hands. Not from doubt. But in awe, I long to touch his wound, I want to see its depth.

"Why do you love me so much, Lord?" I will ask.

Dear WOW friends,
I pray that you'll appreciate His love.
I pray that you appreciate it so much to pour out your life for Him.
I pray that while you give up something for His kingdom, you know it is nothing indeed.
And I pray that you'll dare to walk the V-shaped way for reaching that mountaintop.

P.S. :
Right before I got the money from my sister on July 6th, my bank account showed up a credit of $500 something that day. In fact, it was credited to us the day before when I made my request to her. It was the GST refund. He listened to my prayer on that day, "Can't you do something special, Lord! Give us today our daily bread." A manna. Thanks Lord!

As For Me & My House, We Will Serve The Lord

Home Alone.

You know you're now a different person.

A pound of blueberries & cherries. It now took me a week to finish. When my boys were there, they were done in 15 minutes.

When you have kids, life will be different. When kids are gone, life can't return to what's before, cause they leave in your heart a hole. Maybe only our grandsons can fill!

Here I am. Home alone.

Only "when will you come to us daddy... I miss you daddy..." can warm my missing heart.

Let's talk about kids in simple/house church. Why not start with this:

4 days ago, when I was driving somewhere near Westminster Hwy & Lynas. A Chinese family of 4 crossing road. The father was very happy with his little girl & far left behind. The mom walked with her boy, aged about 5. He walked 4-5 feet ahead of mom. While they crossed, the light was already red. One car turned left. Mom rushed to grab his hand, while the second car got real close to him. Luckily nothing bad happened. So familiar in Richmond. With a scenario like this, do we expect a pedestrian come out from nowhere & grab the little boy's hand? Who has such responsibility? Too easy, ah?!

Of course the mom! The boy is too small. They need parent to guide him on crossroad. I think no one will disagree on this. Now when come to faith, not many christian parents guide & teach their children's walk of faith. They simply ask a pedestrian to hold their little hands on the parents' behalf. The pedestrian is called "church." Strange enough, not many think there is a problem. What do the parents do? They don't walk, wishing this kind pedestrian to do the good job of bringing their kids to the other side. Ironic. Yet a reality.

Parents don't walk the faith, & follow Jesus. Just consign their kids to church & expect church can teach their kids in a godly manner. Unrealistic. Kids are the best detectives to find out religiousness & hypocrisies. When they do, faith becomes a game. They drop out! There ain't right with churches as well. We create program after program to attract children, hoping we then get their parents' membership. Pragmatic church growth.

However the biblical mandate is to start from parents(Deut6:1-9). We have to be trained to follow Jesus ourselves first. And we bring our kids to Christ. With our modeling & parental guidance, we then can bring them up as Jesus follower. There is no short cut, no consignment. In fact, whether people were qualified as leaders in early house churches depends not so much on gifts but on the family education of their kids (1 Tim 3:4, 5, 12). So much off track nowadays.

What to do with kids in simple/house church?

Parental apprenticeship.

A parent should have the primary responsibility to train kids spiritually. No short cut, no consignment, no more pedestrian. We train parent, everyone, to follow & obey Jesus, be His disciples, model our faith, and then our kids have the focus to follow. No more dependence on program. Tackle the core - parent.

Inter-generational meeting.

"They (kids) have the same Holy Spirit, and they are as much a part of the meeting as the adults. If they can read, they'll read some Scriptures, or they may pray with someone or choose a song... We may have the younger ones in a separate room with someone older supervising them during Bible discussion time. But as soon as they are old enough - to comprehend, they participate. Once they are old enough to read, they can participate (with adults)." - Felicity Dale.

Don't underestimate kids.

I was praying overnight. Caleb woke up to piss. OK, he found me praying & I told him why: "I prayed for the world." From then on, he urged me to let him in. "Come on! How can he stay overnight? He will ruin my night..." I thought. But when I realized it is wrong to put out his passion to pray, I let him pray with me for one hour at mid-night. I never lead other to pray for an hour. I don't know how... But somehow the Spirit led us, as we sang, praised, prayed for Africa, our communities, his friends, his school... One hour done.

Joshua was so excited to know Caleb doing this with dad. He wanted to join me. So this time with Joshua. Amazingly, this guy really is a pray warrior. He followed me to raised up both hands to sing, to praise and to pray for Asian countries... he even bind Satan in the name of Jesus - the next day his nose was hit by a tennis ball & bleed a lot, he now knows being a warrior one has to pay a price to fight Satan! Kids are just wonderful!

From time to time, we as a family including Philip prayer walk our community & bless our neighborhood. A friend of mine after she herself was trained in street evangelism, she even brought her daughter (7) to go with her. Though the first time was not intentional, the little girl is fired up & wants to share gospel with friends.

This is parental apprenticeship. This is kids-in-simple-church. Kids will catch fish for Jesus. Kids could be the star-reachers for His Kingdom. (see the starfish in the photo). We value kids.

In fact we have a lot to learn from kids when coming together. They humble us.

I can hold myself pretty nicely. I am a pastor. Speak well, talk well, present well... well well well well well. People naturally think I am spiritual. My true spirituality reveals at home. In fact I was scared when knowing I am going to open my house as a simple church soon. My weakness will then be exposed. No place to hide.

When Caleb is not sitting well or not focus in Bible time, very often I will be upset. I raise my voice & he cries. When he cries, I am even more upset. In fact one time the Spirit warned me that I was too strict in teaching them Bible. This would make them lost interest in God. I simply repented. I felt so sorry. I felt so bad.

How many times, kids help me see I am so impatient, so self-seeking, so rude... The place where I find myself desperate for grace is my family, with my kids. So much to learn. But this is how we grow. Kids expose our real self. Kids humble us to the grace of Jesus.

In a house church, adults & kids learn together from our success & failures in following Jesus. We are only His disciples.

I love Caleb, Joshua, Philip. My sons. I really do. They are my life.

I am so sorry for the mistakes I made as a father, but I am learning.

"Dad not one you love me. You love me just like God love me" - Love Joshua.

"...I know that you will love me forever" - Love Caleb.

Thanks God it is still not too late.

Thanks Jesus for your grace.

Help me to love my kids in the way you love them...

Help me to bring them up as your followers...

Let our house serve you...

We will serve you, Lord. My sons will serve you. My sons' sons will serve you... Amen.

Melt The Ice & Let It Flow

It's almost 4 weeks since my last update. Not because of the summer fun. But lots of works to do. Even after they were done. My mind just could not think, my heart not feel. I need time.

Kids & Aden just went to HK. Home alone. And I can gather myself a bit.

2 hours ago, I prayed. My heart was heavy:

I was praying for a whole bunch of neighborhood kids & youth, while they were gathering on the grassland outside my townhouse. A new religion from Iran called Baha'i Faith actively penetrates into our 250 unit townhouse complex. Through 2 active UBC students & a few youth & a connection in our community, they organize events targeting adults & kids. I talked to them last week during the "children festival" organized by them in our complex. They will be holding a 2-week children summer class from 1:00-3:00pm every day. Where? On our grassland. All these on my grassland!

A spiritual warfare is waging. Satan is advancing. I am praying hard to hold the line, to break out. But where's my comrades? Where's your army, Lord? I fight hard to keep up my spirit. Still my heart is heavy in this fun fun summertime.

To what people compare institutional church in terms of outreaching the needy world: Ice. If water is the gospel message, water can exist as both solid and liquid form. "Come to our church & hear our special speakers"- the attractional model of church is like ice, a frozen solid existence. The gospel message is then made restricted at a certain time in a certain place.

How many people, nowadays, love to go to church? Even Christians, some, only go monthly or yearly. I never met one single non-Christian friend who was passionate enough to initiate going to church! So to attract them, we create program after program, event after event. A few do come, while most choose to stay at home. We are exhausted, while they come & go.

We beg, "Come ! Come! Come" when Jesus commands His church, "Go! Go! Go!"

Most institutional churches are solid, are ice. Frozen in time & space. Waiting for the rabbit. What if we don't wait for the rabbit? what if we melt the ice? What if we hold meetings like the Baha'i youth outdoor on the grassland in any townhouse complex? What if we even go out into the home in which these non-believers choose to stay? What if we do not ask them to come to church but go to their home to hold discovery groups or start simple church? We are then melting the ice. The resulting water - the Good News of the Kingdom - will seep into every crack of our society.

We shall saturate every sector, every language group, every subculture group of society with the Good News. Students, yuppies, the elderly, club kids, the party-party, as well as people from different nationalities, the poor and the single parent family then have easy access to the gospel message & the love of God.

Simple church is the melted ice. It will flow through cities & nations & touch the world with Jesus' love. Because it exists anywhere, anytime, like flowing liquid. It meets people at where they are. It is Jesus' "Go Go Go"

Aden is my love. Love words come easier for me while ocean apart. She really is. But apart from this, she is a good soldier of Christ. My comrade. She is really reaching out to many women in our community.

A friend of us has 3 little daughters. The last 2 are baby twins. They are so beautiful. They are mixed. Twins can keep mom terribly busy. Like breast feeding. Use some imagination. Plus a little sister of six only. You simply want to die. Going to church?! How? For what? In the noisy nursery room. No way. We pray for our girl friend. Try our best to care. Take the little sister to carnival that mom has a break. Share some good Asian food. Lots of chatting.

Aden knows all the struggles to take care of 3 kids. Together with a Korean friend who is a Christian, Aden initiates to her girl friend that they can start a small discovery group in her house. In her house, she still could take care of the twins when needed. And I could take care of my boys & her little girl, plus the two boys of our Korean friend in my house. A simple church(early form) in her house. A kindergarten in mine. What a team!

Her response is Yes. Isn't it wonderful? How almost impossible for her to attend a conventional church! Now she can seek God in her home, with the twins around, if she likes, even while breast feeding. Why not?

Even more wonderful. She told Aden there was another lady of great need lives in her apartment. Her neighbor has a autistic son (autism). Mild. The boy is in fact the classmate of my oldest son, Caleb. His mom is really struggling to raise a son of autism. Even worse the school had just cut budget that the special attention arrangement to her son no longer existed. She was sad. She was down. Now our girl friend even initiates her to join once the group is formed. A non-believer brings a non-believing friend. Isn't it wonderful? We go to where the need is. The gospel will explode. No one can restrict. The water will flow...

A Japanese lady also wants to join... That is another amazing story!

But for the gospel message to saturate our city, we need army of God. Not just one couple. We need faithful, teachable, risk-taker, Kingdom dreamer.

More than anything else, the Jesus lover. Loving Jesus to see more of Him in their lives. To give more even all for Jesus. To see Jesus loved & worshiped by more people, more ethnic groups, all generations. Loving Jesus to saying Yes Yes Yes. Loving Jesus to dare Go Go Go.

Pray with me to see this army of God will appear soon. Pray for such simple churches to flood the city with His mercy & love.