Touching heartbeat linkage

【Campus】Special report of the 4th "European Campus Ministry" seminar

Picture/Liao Meihui

The 4th "Europe Campus Ministry" (ECM) seminar was held in mid-March 2017 at Ruoge Church in New Jersey. A total of 75 people from 12 states in North America attended this seminar. The largest number of people ever. The farthest among them is missionary She Ming'en from Germany, the youngest is She Ming'en's son "Xiao Guozi" (four years old), and the oldest is ECM founder "post-80s" (after 80 years old) Teacher Fan Dasheng. The second most senior person is the 77-year-old Pastor Li Xiuquan, the speaker of this conference and the president of CARE International. Reverend Lee devoted himself to serving God right after graduating from college, and has been serving God for fifty-five years now. He is one of the earliest pioneers of the Taiwan Campus Evangelical Fellowship, flying from the West Coast to the East Coast of the United States. The three-day and two-night seminar was compact but warm, efficient and full of laughter.

From vision sharing, conference information, workshop reports, strategy group discussions, missionary sharing, suggestions and prospects, to one of the climaxes of the seminar - Pastor Luke Zhang's sending ceremony, there are endless stories to tell and listen to in the meeting testimony. Through this seminar, participants’ aspirations for missions were once again stirred up—towards God, they are willing to pray back to the original inspiration in their hearts; to missions, they are willing to be more committed and move further from heartbeat to action; to ECM, the churches We are willing to further cooperate and link up with European campus ministries.

▲The farthest person in the audience was Missionary She Mingen from Germany, who shared the current situation of student ministry in East Germany.

Elder Ding Tonggan experienced God step by step

Elder Ding Tonggan, Chairman of the ECM Board of Directors, first said at the first evening meeting that this year 2017 coincides with the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Reformation. Four years ago, God reminded the ECM directors through Pastor Wang Yongxin: “From the perspective of Christian history, Germany is a very strategic place. It is not only the birthplace of Protestantism, but also the birthplace of new theology, so establishing a church is a top priority.”

▲At the sending ceremony of Pastor Luke Zhang, many pastors and all the attendees prayed and blessed Pastor Zhang’s family.

Therefore, starting in 2013, the vision of ECM has been extended from establishing fellowship to establishing churches, because the church is the driving force and guarantee for the implementation of the Great Commission. If it continues to stay in the fellowship stage, there will be no pastor and high mobility. Sexuality will create a crisis in which the fellowship cannot last.

The vision Elder Ding received four years ago leads to heartbeat, and action starts from heartbeat, and action is the implementation of the vision. He said that EMC has been on the road of grace since its establishment. In the past twelve years, in twelve fellowships in East Germany and West Germany, a total of 305 students have been baptized and converted to Christ, and their lives have been changed. For more than ten years, I have experienced God step by step and witnessed God’s wonderful guidance and provision along the way. All of this is prepared by God and deserves joy and thanksgiving.

▲Elder Ding Tonggan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ECM: "Since four years ago, ECM's vision has extended from fellowship to church establishment."

Pastor Li Xiuquan’s touching, heart-warming, and connected feelings

Pastor Li Xiuquan was one of the first leaders in Taiwan to participate in campus gospel fellowship ministry. At the beginning of 1995, the fifty-five-year-old Pastor Li and his wife Lin Jingzhi changed careers, from pastors of pastoral churches to missionaries. They left their comfortable and stable life in Boston, USA, and went to the remote rural areas of northern Thailand to carry out "cross-cultural missionary work". Pastor Li, who once served as the Director-General of the World Chinese Blessed Center and has always cared about missions, said that missionary work will definitely encounter many difficulties, but he saw that ECM co-workers face challenges together and seriously, and respect each other. , willing to live a simple life, which gave him great encouragement and encouragement.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Moving, Heart-moving, Connected.” On the first night, Pastor Li Xiuquan reminded straight to the point: “Moving must start with prayer.” “Prayer is not a program, not a job, not optional. No. Prayer, any ministry, doesn’t even have to be talked about!”

Pastor Li further used the proverb "It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice" to illustrate that "a clever woman" is a worker, "rice" is prayer, and "cooking" is ministry. Pastor Li emphasized that God values workers more than work. The most important thing is the "smart woman". What ECM ministry is looking for is the "smart woman", but without prayer, the ministry cannot be accomplished.

▲Pastor Li Xiuquan (second from right) took a group photo with Pastor Luke Zhang and his family after the commissioning ceremony.

"Prayer is the root of missions, and missions is the fruit of prayer." Pastor Li went on to say that prayer and inspiration must be closely connected. The starting point of our life, life, service, and all inspiration starts from prayer, and we must return to the foundation. , returning to the relationship with God, returning to the original move, will lead to action, and then lead to beautiful linkage.

"Heartbeats produce actions, and actions are testimony. If you don't do it deliberately, doing it deliberately will be very tiring and will not last long. Living it out means that the Word has become flesh." "Grace" and "righteousness" are two important words in the Bible, Pastor Li A reminder, don’t be a Christian who forgets “grace” and neglects “righteousness”. "Don't let your actions off the stage destroy the testimony on the stage; don't let your life from Monday to Saturday destroy the grace on Sunday." The Bible is not a mirror that looks at demons, but a mirror that looks at yourself. The spiritual life of a Christian is like building a house. You cannot see it until there is a test. Once the flood comes, you will know whether the foundation is solid.

"What Christians fear most is to waver in discouragement and pride. Any ministry must not rely on just one or two people, but on a team." "The one who sows, the other reaps." When we reap, Don’t forget how much time others spent praying to achieve today’s harvest. Pastor Li encouraged all co-workers involved in ECM not to regard the work in their hands as "little things". By accumulating all the "little things", they can do "big things" for God. This is also the power of "linkage" - for a common goal, regardless of each other, working together to form a powerful force.

Yu Guoliang, the editor of this magazine’s outreach unit, interviewed Pastor Li twice. After the seminar, the author also talked with Pastor Li several times. He said that he was very grateful to see the enthusiastic response to God’s word and mission from the brothers and sisters who participated in the seminar. Pastor Li Xiuquan is a spiritual elder who has dedicated his life to God and is respected by others. He serves as this speaker, which is the best gift God has given to ECM.

Endless stories to tell and endless testimonies to listen to

In the ice-breaking game on the first night, the co-host gave each person a piece of wool and asked everyone to fold it into a shape and explain the meaning of the shape. Among the many shapes, the author was most impressed by the broken nails by She Mingen, which reminded me of the crucifixion of Jesus. Mingen explained that the meaning of this nail was "to 'nail' myself to Germany." When I heard this sentence, tears almost burst into my eyes. This young missionary whom I met for the first time came from a Christian family in Taiwan. He could have chosen to stay in the United States to preach, but he chose to "crucify" himself and his family in Germany. How can people not admire him?

Mingen shared that international students in Germany are under great pressure. Almost all students who participated in the fellowship successfully graduated, but almost half of the students who did not participate in the fellowship failed to graduate. I think this is not a coincidence but the amazing grace of God. Ming En witnessed that after being baptized, the students got up at 6:30 every morning to pray, practice spirituality, and share for a year. Hearing such testimonies really makes the old Christians in North America feel happy for these children, and also makes the lukewarm Christians feel ashamed.

"Short-term missions are preparations for mid-term and long-term missions." In the afternoon group discussion, most people chose "How to participate in short-term and mid-term missions." This topic was hosted by Sister Gao Rushan and Teacher Qian Zhiyu. In fact, brothers and sisters who are willing to come to the ECM seminar have already been selected by God in the first place. Their common characteristic is that they are burdened with missionary work. Some have retired or are about to retire and are seeking how to be used by God in the second half of their lives.

Teacher Qian said that ECM is an open platform, a channel and a connecting platform for many churches and pastoral staff in North America to invest in European campus work. She is very grateful that in the past ten years, more than 40 churches have joined ECM, and more than 100 pastors have supported ECM. She emphasized that missions do not distinguish between front and rear, and ECM needs more churches and brothers and sisters who are willing to support missionary work in prayer or financially.

▲After the commissioning ceremony, all ECM directors took a group photo with Pastor Luke Zhang and his family.

Sister Gao Rushan emphasized that each co-worker coming to Dedong has a different mission and work, which can be divided into two major items: "training" and "accompanying". Gifts or even teachings are not the most important, the most important thing is "love for children." Gao Rushan said that we don't call them "students", we call them "children" because we treat them as family members. "The characteristic of ECM is the gospel of family love, and the teachings must be lived to count." The author observed that this The "Sister Gao" whom students call "Sister Gao" who usually smiles and laughs, had a serious expression when she said this.

One of the highlights of this seminar was the sending ceremony of Pastor Luke Zhang. Pastor Li Xiuquan’s encouragement to Pastor Luke is to “ask the Lord for four things”:

1. Feel the Lord’s presence; 2. Enjoy the Lord’s presence; 3. Witness the Lord’s presence; 4. Preach the Lord’s presence.

Pastor Luke Zhang once studied in Germany, and Germany is like his second hometown. After praying together as a family, we decided not to wait until our son graduated from high school before leaving the United States, but now, right now, this year, and we couldn’t delay it any longer. Pastor Luke Zhang decided that he could no longer remain “moved” and must respond to the urgent call for European campus ministry with “action.”

Pastor Luke Zhang delivered a speech at the commissioning ceremony. In 1992, he heard the call from Pastor Rao Xiaoji, the former director general of the Taiwan Campus Fellowship, to study theology in Germany. He just learned from Pastor Li Xiuquan’s sharing that Pastor Rao Xiaoji and Pastor Li Xiuquan has a deep friendship and is a lifelong friend. "From Pastor Rao's call in Germany 25 years ago to Pastor Li sending me back to Germany 25 years later, it seems like a coincidence, but it contains God's infinite blessing and selection."

Pastor Zhang said frankly that in the face of a serious worker shortage on European campuses, cultivating preachers has a long way to go and it has become an urgent matter! More and more Chinese students continue to flock to major campuses in Europe. Chinese students studying in Germany already account for the largest number of foreign students in the country, reaching more than 10%. "I am fifty-six years old this year. The training of workers is the 'top priority' at the moment. If I don't go now, when will I stay?"

▲"I am fifty-six years old this year, and the training of workers is currently the "top priority." If I don't go now, when will I stay?" Pastor Luke Zhang said urgently.

Seize today's opportunities

"From Germany to Europe, from fellowships to churches, we will cultivate local missionary workers." This is the vision of ECM. Missions and pioneering are still the original intention. In the future, we must establish conferences and maintain equal emphasis on pioneering and pastoral care. Pastor Zhang Weizhong, director of ECM Workshop, said: All ministries will encounter difficulties, but we believe that no difficulty can separate us from God’s love. Because what binds us together is not the ministry, but the children God loves.

Mr. Zheng Weiti, Director General of ECM, has a famous saying from the Bible: "How could you have known that you were given the position of queen not for this opportunity?" (Esther 4:14) May God put the feeling of letting go in the heart of every Christian. , can be turned into action like Teacher Zheng Weiti and all other ECM co-workers. Each church is willing to link up with ECM and seize the current opportunities, not just for the ministry of their own church, but to witness the love of God.

In 2005, "European Campus Ministry" originated from three elders, Fan Dasheng, Qian Zhiyu, and Lu Xiaopei, whose combined age is over 200 years old. Now, due to their health, the three elders can no longer run around as they used to. Among the front-line students in Germany, the Chinese returnee ministry was born because of this. As Elder Fan Dasheng said, "No matter what, the pace of the gospel cannot be stopped!"

▲Elder Fan Dasheng, founder of ECM: "No matter what, the pace of the gospel cannot stop!"

Over the past twelve years, the gospel seeds sown by ECM have spread like dandelions in East Germany, West Germany, Europe, and even China. I firmly believe that God will continue to use ECM to allow the gospel to spread and bear fruit in Europe.

▲ ECM Director Gao Rushan: "The characteristic of ECM is the gospel of family love, and the teachings must be lived out before they count." (Gao Rushan, on the left, ECM founder Qian Zhiyu, in the middle, and ECM colleague Xu Jingfen, on the right)

postscript

"European Campus Ministry" once had a beautiful encounter with "Kingdom of God" magazine. In 2006, Elder Fan Dasheng and Teacher Qian Zhiyu were invited by the founder of this magazine, Teacher Gao Lili, to share the missionary vision of Dedong at the KRC camp. On that day, Teacher Gao Lili asked Sister Gao Rushan from the Holy Church in Flushing, New York, to send rice dumplings and kimchi to the camp to add food to everyone. Sister Gao Rushan originally planned to return on the same day, but unexpectedly stayed at the camp due to bad weather. This gave her the opportunity to hear Dedong’s missionary vision.

In January 2007, Gao Rushan responded to God’s call and asked the Lord to expand the boundaries of her spiritual life. God then opened the door to missionary work, and she has embarked on the missionary road to Dedong ever since. For the past ten years, Gao Rushan has stayed in Dedong for half a year to accompany her students, and has established a friendship with many Dedong students as teachers, friends and brothers!

Journalist profile

Liao Meihui, from Taiwan, has a son and a daughter with her husband Wang Zhiyuan. Certified Montessori teacher, children’s Sunday school teacher at Ruoge Church in New Jersey, part-time student at North American Chinese Evangelical Theological Seminary, and special correspondent for Kingdom of God magazine. Calling: Teacher and literary work.