I was born as a middle child in a family whose father is the eldest son of his family. With grandpa died when my dad was a young adult, he picked up the father’s responsibility to raise and look after all his mom and 5 younger brothers and sisters. In his family concept, the eldest child has the responsibility to look after the younger ones. Thus he gave my eldest sister, who is only one year older than me, great responsibility to look after her two younger sisters. Since I was small, I was told that I have to listen to my elder sister. She was the one in-charge when dad and mom were not around in the house. I listened and obeyed. As my elder sister had come to Canada for her university study, though I preferred to stay in Hong Kong, dad placed me on the same path of education. I reluctantly obeyed, leaving a group of good friends in Hong Kong and left for Canada. And only God knows that it was in Canada that I came to know and accept Christ.
I am a good child who seldom argues with my parents and behaves according to their teachings. Likewise as a child of God, ever since I was a Christian, I followed God’s teaching as preached by my pastor and youth counselors. In Hebrews 10:25, it says, “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’’ I have never stopped worshipping God at church on Sundays since I became a Christian. This act was not easy to follow when you are the only Christian in the family and new to a place where you are not familiar to any Christian churches around you. This was the situation I was in when I graduated from Canada and returned to Hong Kong. I knew nothing about Christian churches in Hong Kong and all my Christian friends were either still studying in Canada or they lived very far from me. Yet I cling on to God’s teaching and walked myself into a Christian church that was close to home, and worshipped there every Sunday. It was a big church and after worshipping there for a year, I still could not feel belonged. But I kept worshipping there, and I told myself worship is for God not for myself. God knows my need. After a year, through a Christian friend at work, she introduced me to her church and there I found a “home” and started my church life in Hong Kong.
As I got settled in that church, I thought as a church family member I should also contribute to the church family through serving. As I was pondering which ministry I can serve, I prayed and God showed me that I have passion working with children. I love children. They always attract my attention. Whenever I see a family, my focus will automatically turn to the children not the adults, especially the little ones. I see God’s lively and pure creation in them. And every time I see those “terrible twos and horrible threes”, my face lifted up. Thus I enrolled myself into a Children’s Ministry Sunday School Teacher training and have been serving in Children’s Ministry since then.
As I came to RHCCC in 2003, God provided me the opportunity to serve as a Sunday School Teacher. As the ministry grew, I was invited to be a team leader, then a lay-leader. While I was content and serving faithfully as a lay leader, God called me into full-time ministry in Children’s Ministry. Back then, I have already committed to serve our young generation but I had never imagined myself to be a pastor. To me, pastor needs to have visions but I don’t. God knows my needs. He then started to give me visions in my prayers: pictures of little cadets being trained up to be warriors for Christ; multi-generational church where grandparents, parents, big brothers and big sisters worshipping God together and serving each other with the little ones. As God kept revealing these visions to me, I was excited. And in 2012, as He called me to “Come with me”, I obeyed and followed His calling.
In RHCCC, though we have a team of staff in our Children’s Ministry serving together, to be a children pastor of a church with over 500 children from 3M (Cantonese, English and Mandarin) congregations is an insurmountable call for me. But God promises me that it is not me but He will work through me. I trust, obey and follow for I know who holds my future. 1 Samuel 15:22b says, “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” My life purpose is to glorify my Lord, and my life direction is to follow Him. I am trusting and obeying His guidance to live a life of SIGNIFICANCE in His kingdom.
(Hymns of Life #283)
I know who holds the future, and I know He holds hand;
With God things don’t just happen everything by Him is planned.
So as I face tomorrow with its problems large and small,
I trust the God of miracles, give to Him my all.
(the author is YLD pastor of RHCCC)
