Cut-and-paste faith, illuminate life
[Creating Worship with Hands] 2 The Story of "Little Candlelight Ministry"
"In complete darkness, even a small candle can bring great light." Dr. Connie Palm, founder and director of the ministry, explained the name "One Small Candle" origin.
Because in many places, people cannot own their own Bibles, and have never even heard or read God’s words. How great is the darkness! Connie hopes to use these colorful, beautiful and exquisite handicrafts to spread the word of God, like a small candlelight, one word at a time, one life at a time, shining light in the darkness.
Since 2005, nearly 100,000 handicrafts have been made by small candlelight. Through missionaries around the world, they have been delivered to Guatemala in Central America, Peru in South America, Russia and Romania in Europe, Cameroon in Africa, and more. There are China, Taiwan, India and the Philippines in Asia…. These handmade crosses, angels and other small gifts carry God’s words in English, Chinese, Spanish, Hindi and African Shona, lighting up the lives of nearly 100,000 people.
All of this is just God trying to fulfill a girl’s dream since childhood.
Put together the accessories and start work by candlelight
Connie has loved making things by herself since she was a child. It's just that her family is poor and there are no extra resources for her to develop her interest in making handicrafts.
Connie devoted her life to education and missionary work. She served as a professor at a Bible college and the principal of a Christian school. She and her husband, Dr. Edward Palm, pastored and taught in Taiwan for ten years. It was during her time at the Taiwan Pastoral Association that she started making handicrafts.
"In order to encourage children to come to Sunday school and reward them for memorizing scriptures, seventy to eighty small prizes need to be prepared every week." Connie recalled.
However, children quickly lose interest in these store-bought gadgets. Once, Connie put some handmade crosses that were not very exquisite but were sent by others into the prize box. Unexpectedly, these were the first ones to be picked out. She was surprised to find that children cherish handicrafts more.
After her husband passed away, Connie continued to serve in Taiwan until she returned to the United States in 2001. It happened that a friend gave me a large amount of handmade materials, including ribbons, yarn, etc. Not wanting to see resources go to waste, she shipped all the materials back to Florida, USA. God has already prepared time, materials, and interests for her. Why not put these accessories together and set up a handicraft gospel center?
She sent brochures to missionaries in various places, and orders came in one after another, ranging from hundreds to thousands. The production line of small candlelights has started. These arts and crafts are completely free, and missionaries do not even need to pay for postage.
Threading the needle and gathering helpers
From the beginning, every finished piece was done by Connie’s own hands. As orders increased, the "business" became increasingly prosperous, and soon exceeded the limit of one person's processing. She prayed fervently, asking God to send help.
When Sister Ding Yiqun, who meets at the Palm Beach Chinese Christian Church, learned that Mrs. Pang needed help, she organized a "handicraft fellowship". When she needed to catch up on work, she made an appointment with a group of sisters and gathered at home on Saturday to sew, package and work together. Complete order.
There are many sisters who know each other at Hobe Sound Bible Church near where Connie lives. When they know that Connie needs help, they spread the word by word of mouth and invite each other to come. Every Monday night at Connie's house, the sisters sit around the big dining table, cutting and pasting, chatting and sharing.
Qiuping from Palm Beach Church is skilled and careful, and craftsmanship is her passion. Before coming to the United States, she prayed that she would have the opportunity to serve God with this interest. After arriving in Florida in 2005, I met Mrs. Pang. As a result, Connie got the best helper, and Qiuping also realized her wish to serve God with her hands.
Little Candlelight's helpers come from all over, of all ages, and have their own strengths. Connie needs wisdom to assign tasks to each person according to their strengths. Mary is over ninety and can no longer hold scissors, but the job of applying tape is hers. Ruilian is the sister of one of Connie's helpers. She lives in Pennsylvania and is best at sewing crosses. There are even some semi-finished products on the car, so you can sew one or two stitches while waiting at the traffic light.
Connie has only three requirements for her helpers: a happy heart, an exquisite finished product, and prayer coverage. Because what they make with their hands is not just a piece of jewelry, but also a tool carrying God’s word. She encouraged her helpers: "Your fingerprints must touch every corner of the world."
▲Handmade gifts made by small candlelight ignite hope in the hearts of people all over the world, including Central America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Make good use of materials and get more out of them
All missionaries who receive small candlelight handicrafts praise the quality of each work. The color matching, overall design, workmanship, and packaging are all of a professional level. Unbelievably, most of the materials are recycled.
Just like the colorful wings of angels, they come from wallpaper samples; the Christmas scripture frames are made by cutting out old Christmas cards and pasting them; the landscape calendar from many years ago provides a vivid background for the scripture frames; promoting "God is love" , the shiny, round fish body is a used CD.
In addition to rewarding children for memorizing scriptures in children’s Sunday school, they also use Christmas frames to decorate church door lintels and window frames. Little Candlelight also made small velvet bags, containing scripture plaques, a bar of soap, and a bottle of lotion, and gave them to mothers in Bangladeshi hospitals who accompanied their children to see the doctor. In addition, these scriptures have also ignited hope in people's hearts in nursing homes for the elderly in Russia, orphanages in Romania, and even in impoverished mountainous areas in the United States.
Connie was greatly encouraged by the response she received from the mission field. People are willing to wait in long queues to receive handmade gifts delivered by missionaries on the streets and in parks; there are also grandfathers who go back and line up again to receive another gift for their grandmother at home.
Connie discovered that God placed a desire for beauty and color in everyone's heart. "In areas where supplies are scarce, people don't have anything beautiful, delicate, or colorful. Families have to share all resources. They share space, food, and clothes. Very few people have an item that belongs only to them." She recalled. explain.
It is not difficult to imagine how popular these bright and elegant works of art will be. Everyone kept saying thank you and smiling brightly when receiving the gift. It can be seen that they are curious about this new thing and can't put it down. God’s words are also brought into homes and into people’s lives.
Service Transformation, Continue to Shine
After Dr. Pang Connie returned to the United States from Taiwan, in addition to continuing her teaching service, she also spent a lot of time writing Bible stories in International English (composed of 1,500 basic English words) and accompanying teaching manuals. The purpose is to learn about God and faith through learning English. These pamphlets include "Is God Really My Father?" "(Is God Really My Father?), "101 Stories of the Bible" (101 Stories of the Bible), "Waiting for Wonder", etc.
Connie's expertise in teaching and answering questions, her insights in applying the Bible to life's issues, and her writing experience are in urgent need of many churches and mission fields. Why did she "not do her job" and choose to invest her time, energy, and enthusiasm in making handicrafts, a thing that people think of as just a hobby or hobby?
"If the decision was up to me, my first choice would be to serve in the mission field." Connie answered after thinking about it. "We have to rely on the strength given by God to serve. If I have the physical strength, I will definitely go to the missionary front line."
However, Connie knew very well that her health no longer allowed her to devote herself to pastoral care and training as usual. After praying for a while and taking inventory of the resources at hand, it became increasingly clear that God had opened another window for her, a ministry that she could currently carry physically and mentally.
When Little Candlelight was founded, Connie often asked God: "Is this really what You want me to do?" "Is this kind of ministry meaningful?" "What difference can these small handicrafts really make?"
Through the inconspicuous "small candlelight", everyone is blessed, whether they are helping or receiving artworks. She was unable to personally preach on the front lines of the field, but the light of a small candle carried God's words to shine on various continents and many islands around the world. By changing her service path, God satisfied her desire to make finished products with her own hands since she was a child.
▲If you are interested in handicrafts made by small candlelight and want to use them in various holy works,
Welcome to contact: Dr. Connie Palm, One Small Candle Dr. Connie Palm conniekpalm@aol.com
Extremely demanding, glorifying God’s name
All the arts and crafts produced are free, and all the helpers are volunteers, but Connie's requirements for quality are absolutely professional and there is no room for compromise.
Orders came from all over the world and in all kinds of languages. Most of them were provided by missionaries and then transferred by Connie. Even if it was just one or two verses or four or five lines of text, Connie had to proofread and proofread again and again, not allowing any mistakes.
However, when the order was about to be completed, Connie discovered that the source of the scripture was wrong. Do I need to redo the entire order? How much paper, time, and effort will it take? "My least favorite thing is 'almost'!" This is Connie's ironclad rule. She corrected the scriptures and made the entire order from scratch herself.
Each piece of art is not large in size, but it often requires several steps and several hands to assemble. Regardless of printing, cutting, pasting or packaging, Connie has the same high requirements for every process and every hand - the most beautiful, exquisite and best work.
Why are the requirements so high? After all, most of these artworks are sent to third world countries, desolate and remote places. "This is for God!" Connie said firmly. "The quality of each piece of handiwork reflects the Christian testimony and also reflects the name of God."
▲Most of the small candlelight materials are recycled, such as: the colorful wings of angels are from wallpaper samples; Christmas scripture frame decorations are made by cutting out old Christmas cards and pasting them; promoting "God is love", shiny and round little The fish body is a used CD.
Respect life, love others and God
When Connie went to Taiwan for the first time as a missionary in 1989, she participated in a community flower arrangement class and gave English classes to these ladies after class, and thus got to know Xiaofang. When her one-year term was over, Connie wrote a short message to Xiaofang before returning to the United States, and posted the letter on beautiful paper to commemorate the friendship during this period.
When Connie was about to leave Taiwan in 2001, Xiaofang visited her again. During the conversation, Xiaofang opened her purse and took out a page of letter paper. Connie was surprised to find that this was a text message she wrote to Xiaofang eleven years ago. She kept it all these years.
This scene impressed Connie deeply. She realized that when you call someone's name with love, see her specialness, say words of affirmation and praise to her, and let her know: "I value you"; this kind of intention can touch people's hearts and will be cherished.
Connie also has such respect for life, leading her helpers to cut and paste each piece of art reverently.
▲In a tribe in Zimbabwe, North Africa, people hold Shona scripture cards printed by small candlelight. The scripture comes from John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
These handmade products will carry their care for souls and be sent to the ends of the earth, conveying the message of God’s love for the world, and letting the recipients feel that someone values me and someone loves me.
God's Word carries power and never returns void. No one knows what wonderful things the Holy Spirit will do in people's hearts.
Connie often took out a photo sent by the missionary from Zimbabwe and looked at the faces and the small candlelight works in her hands. Under the broad blue sky of Africa, a large group of people, men and women, old and young, gathered in front of two or three huts. What they hold in their hands is the Shona language scripture card printed by small candlelight and used by the tribe. Under the sunshine, the scripture cards are colorful and the faces are smiling brightly.
This verse comes from John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
Connie said that in the future in heaven, even if only one person can ignite their thirst for the truth and find the true God through a scripture card made by a small candlelight, all the hard work will be worth it.
For her, cutting and pasting are ways of worship; every handmade product is a temple of worship.
Journalist profile
Lin Minwen devotes herself to literary ministry and focuses on writing and editing.