find the way home

"InGedi" ministry serving cross-cultural homeless people

Interview/Zheng Qiongyu

▲Huang Guanglu (front right 1) and his colleagues at "Yin Gedi" serve diligently, hoping that homeless people can also have the joy, peace, and hope that come from God.

An adventure at a Christmas party at the end of 2001 led Brother Huang Guanglu (ordained as a pastor in 2010) to enter a field of service that he had never set foot in before - helping homeless people return to the embrace of Heavenly Father.

The adventure of Christmas party

On Christmas Eve of that year, Huang Guanglu, who had settled in Omaha, Nebraska, USA for many years with his family, worked as a nuclear energy engineer and devoted himself to many services in his spare time. He went to the local Christian homeless service organization - "Open the Door" Open Door Mission, participating in a party for the homeless. He was originally scheduled to play the flute that day, but when he was about to appear, he found that a children's choir had already appeared on stage and was setting up props for performing Christmas songs on the stage. A pastor from the "Open Doors" ministry regretfully informed him that due to the carelessness of his office staff, two performances were scheduled at the same time. Looking at the group of lovely children, Huang Guanglu said it didn't matter. He was willing to cancel the original program and ask the children's choir to perform without any worries.

Unexpectedly, just as he was enjoying the lively singing and dancing of the children in a relaxed manner, a team leader who brought the children suddenly announced to the congregation: Brother Huang Guanglu will deliver a message next. He was shocked: He had been a believer for more than 30 years and had never preached on stage. How could he sermon in English when he was supposed to perform the flute that night? How to adapt? When he was nervous and anxious, he remembered the album of gospel stories that an American missionary pastor gave him when he returned to Taiwan for a short-term mission in May of the same year to participate in the Workers' Gospel Fellowship and preached at Taipei Shuangyuan Hospital. The picture album was rich in text and pictures, and the content was clearly engraved in his mind. He could tell the contents based on his impressions.

Standing on the stage, facing more than a hundred homeless people, Huang Guanglu calmed down and recounted the miracle of Jesus healing a blind man outside Jericho as described in the gospel album. After preaching the message, he called the audience who were willing to believe in Jesus to come to the stage. Unexpectedly, more than a dozen homeless people came to the stage that night and prayed for a decision.

The next day, during his free time at work, he looked up the phone book according to the name of the church that the children's choir leader told him, hoping to call him personally to express his gratitude, but he couldn't find it anywhere. He asked "Open Doors" again, and the pastor on duty was also puzzled because he looked at the program schedule afterwards and it was clearly only Huang Guanglu's performance was scheduled. He didn't know why a children's choir suddenly appeared on the day of the event. Several pastors in the organization also said that they have served in Omaha for many years and should know the local church well, but no one knows where that church comes from.

The children's choir disappeared like a dream and never appeared again. However, Huang Guanglu, who was willing to obey God's leading and gave his first impromptu sermon in English that night, continued to be praised for his plain and touching preaching style. "Open Doors" invites people to preach God's good news to homeless people every month for more than eleven years.

Impact life with life

At first, he always went alone. Slowly, some American Christians whom they had never met took the initiative to join in the service. In order to promote the needs of the ministry, he and his colleagues established the ministry "En Gedi" to pray for, bear witness to and preach the gospel to the homeless sheltered by "Open Doors". At its peak, there were more than thirty co-workers, most of whom were white and volunteers. Huang Guanglu served as the ministry director. "Engedi" is mentioned many times in the Bible. It is a place where God is encountered and forgiven. He and his co-workers hope to help homeless people know God and experience God's unconditional love and forgiveness.

The co-workers involved in the ministry of "En Gedi" come from all walks of life such as lawyers, doctors, engineers, and housewives. Many co-workers have experienced broken pasts such as divorce, domestic violence, and imprisonment. Some have even been excluded from their original churches. Their painful experiences make them more compassionate when helping homeless people, and their life testimonies can also inspire homeless people more.

The "Open Door" ministry requires the co-workers of "In-Gedi" to abide by three principles: 1. Preaching is consistent with biblical truth; 2. Full preparation for the meeting process; 3. The message can inspire and help the listeners' lives. Once, a co-worker from Yin Ji Di who led a women's gathering mentioned that she went to a nightclub to spend time and was approached by a strange man. However, she immediately stated that she was married and kept her distance from the man, and was not tempted. The co-workers originally wanted to use this experience to encourage female homeless people to stick to their emotional boundaries and not let strange men take advantage of them. However, the pastor of the "Open Doors" ministry immediately communicated with Huang Guanglu the next day and said that many of the women they took in had been abused by their families. Suffering from violence or alcohol, I was worried that the co-worker’s sharing would make female homeless people mistakenly believe that going to nightclubs was a common and safe behavior.

This incident gave him and his co-workers a deeper understanding that since the experiences of homeless people are often complex, serving them cannot be based on passion alone, but must always pray and ask for God's guidance and protection, so as not to allow the evil ones to take advantage of them.

Since many of the co-workers of "EnGedi" are still in the "recovery period" in their lives, in addition to serving the homeless with them, Huang Guanglu also often cares about their spiritual growth and helps them truly understand the love of Jesus. Through serving, the lives of co-workers were changed and healed. One of the co-workers later became a full-time pastor.

However, like many churches and institutions, the coordination among the co-workers of "En Gedi" has also caused conflicts due to different perceptions. Once he saw a female co-worker who was working very hard to pursue spiritual growth and had a great renewal in her life, so he assigned her to lead a small group in a women's meeting. Unexpectedly, other co-workers questioned why the female co-worker had not completely quit smoking. Qualified to take on important responsibilities. He patiently communicated with his co-workers, hoping that everyone would understand that everyone has a past. The servants used by God in the Bible are not perfect, but as long as they love God, are willing to be changed and used by God, and grow day by day, they are qualified to serve. god.

▲The brother with the tattoo on his arm (first from left) was originally a gang member. After being released from prison, he believed in the Lord and his life was completely renewed. He was accepted into the "En Gedi" ministry and shared his life testimony of trusting Jesus. He later established a heavy-duty motorcycle evangelistic group, leading brothers who had similar life experiences to him to drive motorcycles deep into the underworld in various places to preach God's salvation.

spiritual wanderer

When it comes to homeless people, most people tend to have stereotypes of people with low socio-economic status, poor education, and having never heard the gospel. In fact, these perceptions are not entirely correct.

From serving, Huang Guanglu was surprised to find that many homeless people had attended church meetings, had been baptized as Christians, and were even very proficient in the Bible, but their lives were stuck in a quagmire and they could not extricate themselves.

Why is this happening? He painfully recalled the parable of the prodigal son returning home in the Bible's Gospel of Luke, chapter 15.

After the younger son asked for a share of the family property, he left his father and traveled far away. Until he had spent all his money and was desperate, he returned home and begged his father to treat him as a hired worker and give him a bite of food. Unexpectedly, his father welcomed him home happily and put on his clothes. Good clothes, slaughter the fattened calf to celebrate his lost and found. The eldest son lives in his father's home and enjoys everything his father provides at all times. However, he is furious about the "luck" of the younger son and refuses to step into the house.

Huang Guanglu said sadly that neither son knew his father's love, nor did he love his father wholeheartedly or be considerate of his father's thoughts. Today, the church is still filled with many “spiritual vagabonds” who have believed in the Lord for many years, but whose lives have not been changed by the Lord’s love.

▲Co-workers En Gedi shared the gospel with homeless people and prayed for them. Only by changing their lives can homeless people rebuild their lives and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

He believed in the Lord at the age of seventeen and had been serving enthusiastically in the church. Due to a serious illness in 1998, he finally realized that he did not "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind" (see Luke Gospel 10:27).

At that time, Huang Guanglu, whose career, family, and service were all going well, was suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer. The doctor concluded that he might not survive for more than a year with 90%, but after a major operation that almost left him unable to wake up, he miraculously recovered. After recovering from the illness, he had a strange dream. Seeing his life that was bright on the surface but broken in reality, he couldn't help but burst into tears. He understood that he was actually like a prodigal son who had abandoned his heavenly Father.

Huang Guanglu recognized God's love again, and from then on, God also placed the burden of bringing people home in his heart.

Although many wanderers know that God exists, they never truly open their hearts. To them, God’s love is only biblical knowledge and other people’s experiences, and has nothing to do with them. They mistakenly believe that if believers cannot keep their words and deeds and live a perfect life, they will be rejected by God. However, personal life problems cannot be changed overnight, which leads them to further misunderstand that God will definitely not want to accept them, and they can only be strangers to God in this life.

Huang Guanglu served a middle-aged white man who was a doctor. He eventually lost the achievements he had accumulated in the first half of his life due to drug addiction. He also met an originally outstanding artist who gave up the motivation to continue working hard because he lost hope in life and lived a life of self-exile.

Leading homeless people to rebuild their living order, in addition to helping them get rid of bad habits, providing temporary shelter, rebuilding good habits, and assisting in finding jobs, the most fundamental way is to help them truly understand the love of Jesus and rekindle their good hope in life. .

▲The black man on the right believed in the Lord during the "En Gedi" gospel sermon, his life was completely changed, and he joined as a co-worker. A woman saw the change in his life, trusted Jesus, and married him. After the marriage, the two reunited with the man's long-lost son. In the picture is Brother Huang (first from left) and his family.

Have the mind of Christ

Many homeless people are accustomed to wandering around and have no fixed place to live. Only when the weather is freezing or the heat is unbearable, they reluctantly go to homeless shelters for a while. The co-workers of "Yin Ge Di" have only met many homeless people once, so they cherish every opportunity to preach and share.

Huang Guanglu was most moved by what happened to one girl. The girl, a former street prostitute, found out she was pregnant when she was shot by a stray bullet during a gang shootout and was sent to the hospital. She was later referred to Open Doors for asylum. Open Doors taught her biblical truths, arranged for her to work as a cleaner at a nearby hotel, and helped her save money. When the girl got her first income earned legitimately with her own hands, she couldn't help but kneel down and shed tears of gratitude and joy. She couldn't help herself for a long time.

Many homeless people often emit an unpleasant odor because they haven't changed clothes, washed or smoked for a long time, but he always responds to their hugs sincerely. Even though he needs to wash his clothes and body immediately after returning home, he knows that when he has the heart of Christ and is willing to serve these "sheep outside the fold" who are despised by the world with faith, God will keep him safe and sound. .

There are homeless people in every area. Taking the United States as an example, it is estimated that about 3.5 million people sleep on the streets every night! Huang Guanglu encouraged brothers and sisters who were moved to join the volunteer team and contact homeless shelters in various places to bring the love of Jesus and the hope of life to the homeless.

The causes of homelessness are complicated and often involve drug abuse, mental illness, domestic violence and other issues. The problem is not solved in a day and requires professional social workers to deal with it. There was a time when a co-worker of "InGedi" used his own money to help the person he served rent a house out of love, but in the end he found that the person's needs were like a bottomless pit that could not be filled. Therefore, he specifically reminded us to strictly abide by the regulations of the homeless shelter and the set scope of service, and never cross the line due to temporary compassion, leading to the dilemma of unsustainable love. Some brothers and sisters may not have the courage to step into cross-cultural and cross-ethnic ministry because they are worried about their lack of English proficiency. Huang Guanglu said from personal experience that the English of the first generation Chinese Americans cannot be compared with that of the locals, but as long as they are sincere, to the point, and meet their needs, they can touch the hearts of homeless people. If he had not had the courage to obey God’s arrangement and share information publicly in English at the Christmas party that year, he might not have had the chance to be used by God to establish the “En-Gedi” ministry. I really hope that this article will touch more people to help wandering souls find their way home, live in the temple of God all their lives, and never wander again.

Journalist profile

Zheng Qiongyu, from Taiwan, settled in Northern California with her husband and son, enjoying a simple and ordinary home life. I like reading, traveling and camping on weekdays.