Hong Kong Synod

Last month was filled with activities involving the Lutheran Church-Hong Kong Synod (LCHKS), which is one of the LCMS’s 30 international partner church organizations.

We were privileged to join the people of the LCHKS as they gathered together on Reformation Day last Saturday for a wonderful worship service and celebration of their 60th anniversary. LCMS missionaries arrived in Hong Kong in 1949, and the mission they started here has become the independent LCHKS, which is now made up of 8,700 members, 37 congregations, Concordia Seminary, and many kindergartens, primary and secondary schools.

One of those early missionaries was a remarkable woman by the name of Martha Boss. The LCHKS is producing a book about her life and legacy, and Megan and I were asked to help edit the English translation of the book.

Martha Boss reflected the love of Christ to the people of Hong Kong in many ways. During the time she worked here, Hong Kong was overwhelmed with refugees from mainland China, and she dedicated her life to caring for their physical and spiritual needs. She became a fixture at a tuberculosis quarantine camp in rural Hong Kong. She worked tirelessly to raise funds for the education of many local children. She founded the Hong Kong Lutheran Handicrafts Society, which trained refugees to produce and sell hand-made items, providing them with a way to make an income.

Martha’s work was continued by those she touched, and this small group has grown into one of Hong Kong’s largest service organizations, Hong Kong Lutheran Social Service (HKLSS). This extension of the LCHKS currently has over 40 service units spread throughout Hong Kong, providing many services, including: counseling, substance abuse rehabilitation, elderly care, youth centers, foster care, day care, and family life education. Martha Boss’s compassionate spirit and unbridled energy for the Gospel continues to provide inspiration for many of the HKLSS’s workers and volunteers.

Hong Kong’s early LCMS missionaries provided leadership and guidance for the early leaders of the LCHKS. Today, the relationship between our two church bodies is not a ‘leading-and-following’ relationship, but a ‘walking-together’ relationship. The most recent manifestation of this partnership is the arrival of three LCMS missionaries – Andrea Bolognini, Megan Birney, and Lynette Lierman. They serve at several churches and schools around Hong Kong, but their main focus is the Lutheran Tsang Shing Siu Leun School in Tuen Mun and its accompanying congregation, Holy Word.

Holy Word held a big outreach event in October. Agnes Chan, a well-known Christian speaker, came to the school to give a talk. We went along to get photos and video footage of the event. The school’s auditorium was packed with over 450 people as Agnes gave a strong witness to her Christian faith and how it has affected her family life. Most of the attendees were parents of the students, the majority of whom are not Christian.

Please pray for the people of the Lutheran Church-Hong Kong Synod, its churches, schools, and service organizations, that God would allow His life-giving love to shine through their lives, illuminating the people around them. Please pray also for the growing partnership between the LCHKS and LCMS missionaries, that together we might find the most effective way to use missionaries in the ministry here. Pray also for Andrea, Megan, and Lynette, that God would give them power, peace, and perseverance in their work, and that many people would be touched by their service.

Education

It’s been an eventful month here in Hong Kong, and the news centers around learning and education:

• A few weeks ago, we welcomed Megan Kincaid to our office here in Hong Kong. Actually, Megan will be my replacement in the role of communications specialist for the Asia region, so we’ll be working together for the next few months, and I’ll be training her in preparation for my departure at the end of December. We’re very happy to have Megan here in Hong Kong, and she’ll be a great asset to the Asia team. Please pray for Megan as she settles into life and work in Hong Kong.
• Coincidentally, Megan’s first day at the office also coincided with a learning experience of the not so happy kind. We had a break-in the night before, and they got away with four of our laptops, including mine. I’ve made a habit of making regular backups of my data, so this wouldn’t have been such a big deal….but they also stole my external hard drive. The lessons: 1) Don’t brag about Hong Kong as a shining example of safety anymore, and 2) Don’t store your computer and your backup hard drive in the same place!
• Last weekend was a double holiday weekend in Hong Kong – Thursday was China’s National Day (this year was the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China), and Saturday was Mid-Autumn Festival (see my blog post from last year). I had the opportunity to celebrate the holiday weekend in a unique way: by joining friends and coworkers on a service trip into mainland China. We were there to deliver scholarships for 20 middle- and high-school aged kids. In this part of China, the government provides only primary education, and many families are unable to afford putting their children through secondary school. We were able to spend some time getting to know these students through a variety of different activities, including visits to their homes, English activities, and a Mid-Autumn Festival party on the sandbar of the local river, complete with barbeque, fireworks, and Chinese lanterns. It was a great time of getting to know some new friends from very different backgrounds, while deepening relationships with friends and coworkers. You can see photos of the trip at my Flickr page.
• Last weekend’s scholarship trip is also a good segue into my plans for next year. As I mentioned above, in December I will be finishing up my two-year term as communications specialist for LCMS World Mission in Asia, but it appears that my time in Asia is not over just yet. I plan to return to Asia for a short time to work for CWEF (Concordia Welfare and Education Foundation), a Hong Kong-based non-profit that implements education projects (including many scholarships), as well as community health and development projects in China, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia. I’m considering a graduate degree program in international development (or something similar), and this experience will be good preparation and a chance to confirm if this is the direction I’m supposed to be heading. I’m scheduled to make a decision by the end of October about where in Asia and for how long I will work for CWEF. Your prayers in this regard would be greatly appreciated.
• This coming month, I’ll be working on several video projects and writing an article about the Lutheran Church in Korea for LCMS World Mission’s bi-monthly publication, Harvest News. Click on the link to subscribe. It’s free!

(photos from scholarship trip)

Korea

Early last month, I traveled to Seoul, South Korea to meet with fellow LCMS missionaries Patrick and Jennifer O’Neal, a few pastors and leaders of the Lutheran Church in Korea (LCK), and two groups of short-term LCMS missionaries who had come to serve at several of the LCK’s English language outreach programs. I had come to take video footage of some of these activities and interview various people, for the purpose of producing a short video for the web and writing an article for LCMS World Mission’s newsletter, Harvest.

It was a really encouraging week; it never gets old to see how Christians in the U.S. can partner with Christians in Asia to bring more people into a relationship with Jesus. It was also a pleasure to meet and interact with the people of the LCK, a vibrant church body with big goals for spreading the Gospel on the Korean peninsula and even into other countries. In general, the state of Christianity in Korea is unlike any other place in Asia. 25% of Korea’s population is Christian, which is substantially larger than most Asian countries. Per capita, there are more Christian missionaries being sent overseas from Korea than from the U.S. The influence is obvious. Looking out across Seoul at night, neon crosses dot the landscape. Riding on the bus or walking down the street, I noticed a lot more people wearing crosses. It was comforting to once again be in a place where being Christian felt ‘normal’.

Check out opportunities for short-term missionary service: http://www.lcms.org?2870

See a video produced by the LCK: http://lck.kr/lck_info/info_eng.wmv

Hallelujah

It was the last day of my trip to Korea, a Sunday. I stepped into the taxi and gave the driver the name card with directions for Seoul’s International Lutheran Church. He nodded as he handed the card back, and I immediately recognized him from the day before. He had ribbed me about my mini-mart lunch of pre-made sandwich and Gatorade. “Your lunch?”, he had asked with a smirk. I smiled at the irony as I finished off my mini-mart breakfast of cookies and iced coffee and said, “You drove me to Insadong yesterday, yeah?” He saw my breakfast and said, “In a hurry again?” We laughed and started chatting as best we could with his limited English and my non-existent Korean. His name was Mr. Jung, and he was from a smaller city in central South Korea. He asked me how I liked living in Hong Kong, and what did I think of Seoul?

As we neared the church, he asked, “Is it Sunday?” (I guess the days can run together when you’re a taxi driver). When I said yes, he immediately started into what I can only guess was the Lord’s Prayer. He finished with a quiet but cheerful “Hallelujah.” I echoed, and we had officially bonded.

It’s cool how God brings people into our lives to tell us the words we need to hear at the right time, even if it’s in the most simple and unexpected of ways. This taxi driver had just preached the sermon I needed, and I wasn’t even at church yet. Mr. Jung reminded me that sometimes it’s important to let go of everything, remember what God has done for us in Jesus, and just say “Hallelujah.” Praise God. Even when we don’t really feel like it. Especially when we don’t really feel like it.

Pray

• Thanksgiving for a successful trip to Korea, and prayers that the resulting article and video would lead more people to support the mission partnership of the LCK and the LCMS in South Korea, either through prayers, financial gifts, or missionary service.
• Thanksgiving for the arrival of three new long-term missionaries in Hong Kong (Andrea, Megan, and Lynette). They will serve in several English centers connected to schools of the Lutheran Church – Hong Kong Synod. Pray that God would bless this new mission partnership and that he would give the new missionaries peace, strength, and joy in their work.
• For blessings on the upcoming arrival to Hong Kong of Megan Kincaid, my replacement as communications specialist for the Asia region. Megan and I will work together for a few months before my term is over in December.