by Pastor Cheng Kim Meng
Riding on the success of Christmas Magic in Taipei back in 2013, Gateway Entertainment is bringing this famed gospel-illusion production to Kaohsiung and Taichung in November this year. Senior Pastor Lawrence and Nina, our Gateway Entertainment colleagues and I took a trip to Taiwan to work out the show’s details.
During this whirlwind four-day trip, I was blessed to see how the Senior Pastors of Taiwan expressed their gratitude to our Senior Pastor for his early years of selfless giving and dedicated commitment to Taiwan, especially in the establishment of the Bible School (牧者训练中心) to train and equip pastors in the early cell church system. They testified that this training has brought about great unity among the churches there, and has helped churches strengthen their foundation.
Taipei
We met with the Senior Pastors of the city, Peter Yang (楊寧亞), Chow Shen Chu (周神助), Brian Liu (刘群茂) and others, at Taipei Truth Lutheran Church. Senior Pastor Lawrence shared about the formation of an Asian Family Alliance and invited key pastors to step up and defend marriage and family. Currently, about 20 key leaders from seven Asian countries are coming to Singapore in May 2016 to form this alliance.
Senior Pastor Lawrence also shared about our G12 journey. He told the pastors that three years ago, God prompted him to form 1,728 cells in FCBC, and through this process, our church has now grown deeper in God and stronger as a family. He said, “This is beyond just methods, techniques or strategies, but about forming men in the spirit of G12, to become fishers of men in fulfilling our destiny as a church in our nation and in God’s Kingdom.”
One revelation God gave me in Taipei is women are truly His secret weapons. We dined and fellowshipped with a group of successful businesswomen and entrepreneurs. Through our interactions, we learned from one another on being His salt and light in the marketplace. We also told them about our plans to present Christmas Magic and they were excited and looked forward to possible partnerships and collaborations in Taiwan and in Asia.
Taichung
We visited Tunghai University, which is the first Christian university in Taiwan. It offers a complete and holistic education, stretching from Kindergarten to doctorate programmes. Its campus was beautiful, and homed the Luce Memorial Chapel, which was designed by master architects I. M. Pei and C. K. Chen. We met up with the leaders of the university, including Professor Wang (王偉華教授), Professor Tong (童元方教授), Pastor Li (李貽峻牧师) and their coworkers. This Christmas, they invited us to partner them in their community festival.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1) We were heartened to know that Taichung’s pastors meet weekly for prayers and they’ve also been organised into six groups for coaching and development. Senior Pastors Du Ming Da (杜明達) and Xiao Xiang Xiu (蕭祥修) are two of the coaches. We were glad to see their good efforts in working together as one family and we thank God for the privilege to serve them through Christmas Magic in November this year.
Kaohsiung
We were well received at one of the combined prayer meetings held at Bread of Life Christian Church, Spring of Life, Feng-Shan. Senior Pastor Lawrence delivered a message on fulfilling God’s destiny. The pastors were very spontaneous in their response and showed firm commitment to each of the shows.
The Senior Pastor of the hosting church told Senior Pastor Lawrence that he feels like an FCBC member residing in Taiwan as he’s been faithfully listening to our sermons online. I could see great joy on his face when Senior Pastor Lawrence shed much light on the implementation of G12. I believe our G12 journey will be a great blessing to the Taiwan churches and we look forward to serving them in a fresh way.
Summary
This year is a particularly significant year for Senior Pastor Lawrence as it marks his 40th year of ministry. To him, this past 40 years has merely been preparation for his service to the nations, which begins now. His word for Taiwan during this trip is prophetic: “Do not dwell in your past successes or failures, but lead your church to grow deep and strong to fulfill God’s destiny.” God is about to do a new thing through His churches in Taiwan. I can sense Senior Pastor Lawrence’s deep commitment to the success of Taiwan’s pastors and churches. He will continue to serve them with love and dedication. God bless Taiwan!