Dear Brothers and Sisters, Peace to you in the Lord! 

This year, more than eleven churches from the East and West Coasts, and Texas will form ten teams to come to the Midwest for short-term mission. We profoundly give thanks to the Lord for them who offer money, effort, and time for the Lord. Paul says, ” Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season ” (2 Timothy 4:2).

Recall: One day in June 2020, when Pastor Ko had just diagnosed with stomach cancer and was about to begin treatment, the U.S. government had just lifted the “shelter-in-place” order in May, it was really an “out-of-season” year, so I told Pastor Ko: “Let’s not have short-term mission this year!” But Pastor Ko said on the other end of the phone, “There are still some churches ready to send mission teams this year,” I asked, “Which churches?” He gave me the name of three churches.  My heart was touched and said on the spot: “If they dare to come, we will go with them!” What came to my mind then was a slogan of the soldier: “Charge forward with your steel helmet!” and also what Queen Esther’s courageous remark, “If I perish, I perish!” (Esther 4:16).

Four teams came to the Midwest for a short-term mission last year.  This year as I took over the work of Pastor Ko to contact churches, I found out that due to the impact of the pandemic and less visas issued by the United States government, the number of congregations in churches has dropped sharply, and some of them even have no Chinese students.  Now my question is: Should we just be limited by the circumstances and hold ourselves back? Or should we boldly move forward and reclaim the gospel field that God has given us? Sometimes I think: Since the end of last year, most countries can no longer withstand the blow of economic depression and have reopened their borders although under the threat of new virus mutation, then should we, children of the light, be smarter than the children of this world? (Luke 16:8). Pastor Moses Yu once said, “We say we want to be fishers of man, but are we as enthusiastic as a businessman who is a fisher of money?” This year God has prepared ten short-term mission teams who have been ready to come, and from time to time they urges me to provide them itineraries.  This year is truly an “in season” year, let us put on the helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6:17), whether it is the Church in the Midwest, the fellowship, or the mission teams, and go out courageously and win the souls together!

Over the past two years, when I was hesitant whether to hold meetings in-person or online because all I heard was the disturbing news of “positive/negative reports”, but our coworker, Brother Qinglong Liang, had often encouraged me: “Do not think too much, just go out and share the gospel!” He was also the first one to resume the dinner-provided Bible study on Friday night Gospel Group at church.  For this reason, I have specifically asked him to share the message of this issue.  In preparation for the beginning of the school year in August and September, let us work together to go out and preach the gospel.

 

Preaching the Gospel Boldly with Reliance upon the Lord 

(by Brother Qinglong Liang)

Evangelism and discipleship is the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus to the children of God. Once a person has accepted Jesus as his/her personal Savior, he/she can begin to make disciples on others. From Paul’s epistles, we see that the Holy Spirit instructed him that we were in debt to the gospel, and woe to us if we do not preach the gospel, and that we should always preach the Word of God in season and out of season. On the positive side, we are all loved by God, His love compels us to love others. For the sake of loving God and loving people, we should preach the gospel and lead more people enter God’s Kingdom. In this way, the question for Christians in evangelism should not be whether to preach the gospel or when to preach, but how to better preach the gospel.

What are the challenges in evangelism? In my own experience, the main thing is lack of guts. We often dare not take the initiative to go to a public place alone and share the gospel with anyone we have met.  We always have a lot of concerns when come to evangelism, especially in the pandemic, for it can be an excuse to cover up our timidity of preaching the gospel. Thank the Lord, ever since I believed in the Lord, many pastors have encouraged me to preach the gospel boldly, and I began to have the opportunities sharing the gospel with others, and over time, the accumulation of experience has helped me to be able to preach the gospel everywhere I go without so much struggle.  However, when I closely examined my own mentality of evangelism, I found that deep down in my heart I still have struggles and timidity which made me lack of willingness and joy of sharing the gospel with others, yet being a preacher, I had to do it. Brothers and sisters, where are you now in regard to evangelism? Do you also have struggles? Do you also lack of courage?  What should we do? In Acts 4, Dr. Luke had given a clear reminder of how the disciples faced the challenges of evangelism: When Peter and John were arrested and intimidated for evangelizing, the disciples prayed to God together, and asked the Lord to let them speak the Word of God boldly.  Because of their prayers, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed the Word of God boldly.

Even though the world today has become more and more corrupted and against the gospel, but under most circumstances, we will not be arrested, beaten, or persecuted when sharing the gospel, especially in the relatively democratic countries.  In my own experience in the United States, never have I been beaten or intimidated when sharing the gospel with others, at the most people just show no interest or react with bad attitude. When we realize that it was our own timidity which has kept us from preaching the gospel boldly, we should pray to the Lord more fervently, confess our true situation to Him and asking Him for courage and go out in the power of the Lord. 

The gospel is the power of God, and all we need is to continue to share the full gospel, and the gospel itself will do the work of change and salvation in the hearts of those who hear it. When we see the power of the gospel, we will not allow the pandemic become a factor of hinderance for the spread of the gospel. Thank the Lord that He places us in different places where we can be good messengers of the gospel. How can we more effectively do evangelical work locally during the pandemic?

First of all, we should make it all possible to have in-person meetings.  I remembered when the pandemic first started, we have all switched to online meetings. Some gospel friends would join in the meeting without turning on the camera or having interaction, and leave the meeting after a short while. When time goes by, no gospel friends had come online joining the meetings anymore. This situation lasted for 7 months. Brothers and sisters of the gospel group in our church decided to resume the in-person gathering, and also began to provide meals, thank the Lord, since then, gospel friends started to come, many of them accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. I hope that brothers and sisters will soon begin the in-person evangelical meetings everywhere, for we have seen the importance of it to evangelism, and we believe that the Lord will surely let us experience His mighty power.

Second, we must continue to look for the lost lambs.  Although the pandemic has affected new people’s coming to our town, but there are still many gospel friends with whom we can continue to share the gospel on campus.  Though fewer people, but the willingness to respond to the gospel is high, after all, the pandemic had made everyone to think about the issue of life and death.  One easy place to contact people during the pandemic is at the supermarkets, especially the Asian supermarkets where we can ask the owners their restocking day, we can distribute the gospel tracks at the supermarket entrance during that time, and seize the opportunity to share the gospel with people.

Lastly, thanks be to the Lord, God has compelled many short-term mission teams come to the Midwest every year sharing the gospel.  The pandemic has not quenched their enthusiasm of sharing the gospel.  We have seen that God has led many people to believe into the Lord through the service of the mission teams, and some of them have quickly become good coworkers at their local church/fellowship. In order to better team up with the mission teams, we can prepare ourselves in the following ways. (1) you can set aside some time in advance or free up a few hours go with the team, while they are here, looking for gospel friends on campus, distributing invitation of evangelical meeting, or doing follow-ups once the mission team members led people to believe in the Lord or met people who are interested in the gospel; (2)   Find out the apartments where more Chinese students live in advance, better if you have their room numbers, so that you can go with the mission team members to visit these people, or knock on the door to find them.  With this method, we have found quite a few gospel friends each year. (3)  Make an appointment in advance with the gospel friends who have come to the church, tell them that there are Christians from other cities who would love to share their personal testimony of believing in Jesus with them, and accompany the short mission team members to visit these gospel friends. (4) For those campuses that do not have many Christians, brothers and sisters who are closer to these campuses can go a few days in advance to do invitation and evangelistic work, so that it is easier to invite them when there is a gospel evangelical meeting on the weekend. (5) Short-term mission teams only come for a short time once a year, but our spirit must be stirred up by their love for the Lord and willing to continue the evangelical work by visiting the nearby campuses regularly after mission teams left so the torch of the gospel continue to pass on, and even consider forming a short-term mission team of our own church to spread the gospel in the surrounding campuses.

When the Lord Jesus came to the world, he told his disciples that the crops were ripe, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. May the Lord help us to be one of the workers sent to harvest the crops, and together with the brothers and sisters in the church, to boldly preach the gospel of the Lord and save the lost souls.

  Future Meetings

(1) August Bible Camp (7/31-8/6) 

This time we’re going to study the Pentateuch. As we all know, the CWC Bible camp is a six- year study for the whole Bible, and we are starting a new cycle this August. The Pentateuch is a very valuable scripture, with a very thorough teaching on the history of Israel, the beautiful footsteps left by the patriarchs, and God’s establishment of the priestly kingdom, and there are many reminders for us to walk the way of heaven today. As of the deadline of June 15, nearly 90 brothers and sisters have signed up to participate. From June 1, they have begun to write designated special reports. Please pray for the participants that they can persevere through the preparation of homework, for the coworkers who will spend time reading the reports handed in by the participants, and for the speakers, Pastor William Sun and CWC coworkers in preparation of the messages. If you miss this deadline, please sign up for the August Discipleship Training, and I am sure you will surely receive the abundant teaching from the Lord.

(2) August Discipleship Training (8/7-13) 

” Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season!” Are we ready to serve now that the situation is starting to improve and the doors of countries are gradually reopened, and the students, visiting scholars, and elders who come to visit relatives are returning to the United States one after another?　 August Discipleship Training Camp is a great opportunity to better equip Christians before the beginning of Fall semester.  Some have asked me “Why not schedule the Discipleship Training before the Bible Camp that I can be eligible to attend the Bible camp after the Discipleship Camp?” Actually, this was a thoughtful arrangement by Pastor Ko many years ago, because most summer classes would not be over until early August, and every school would be closed for summer vacation in the second week of August, and after that the churches would start busy for the coming of new students, etc.  With all these reasons, the timing for August Discipleship Training is best for all who can come in preparation for the challenges of the new semester.  

Thank be to the Lord, Pastor Kuang-FuYang and Pastor King Tai Tie will be the speakers. Their introduction was in the previous newsletter, please refer to it for yourself. The topics they will be sharing include: “the Essence of the Christian Faith”, “Personal Evangelism Training”, “Daniel-the one with excellent spirit”, and so on.  Even I, an old Christian who had been trained in seminary and preached, am very much looking forward to how they would share these topics. Hope that you will not miss the opportunity of our life-long pursue of learning endeavor, otherwise it may truly be ” the last shall be first, and the first last  The registration form has been posted on the CWC website, please download the form and register online, please also prepare yourself, and pray for the brothers and sisters you have invited to the meeting. Please Click Here for details and registration form.  

(3)  August & September Short-term Missions. 

 In 2020 and 2021, while facing many difficulties during the pandemic, we still sent out short-term mission  teams in August and September (3 in 2020, 4 in 2021), which not only inspired many local churches, but also bore a lot of fruit. This year the Lord has shown us the effect of “ a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  Up to now, we have been contacted by eleven churches from Northern California, Southern California, Texas, North Carolina, New Jersey, and they have actively prepared to send short-term mission teams to share the gospel in the vast field of the Midwest. We are deeply thankful to God for this. As in the past, we will send out mission teams in August and September.  August teams will be during one week after the discipleship training camp and the beginning of Fall semester from August 19 to 28.  September teams will be five days after Labor Day from September 9 to 18. In August we will go to “near” states such as: Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, etc., and in September we will go to “farther” states such as Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Louisiana, etc. If your church or fellowship would like to work with the mission teams in your area, please contact us as soon as possible. Now these churches have been actively training the team members since “the crops are white for harvest, … he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. “.  Please remember the holistic needs of the short-term mission team members in your prayers.

 

Remembering Pastor Ko

1. During the May Training and June Youth Camps, many brothers and sisters often stop at Pastor Ko’s Ministry Memorial Garden. But since May, the construction was behind schedule due to the injury of one American coworker and another’s wife was in the hospital, plus the impact of world-wide shipping delay of building materials.   Not only out of stock, the price of some materials, e.g., Gazebo, have gone up a lot which is way exceeding our initial budget of $30,000.  Since March, the offering received from brothers and sisters designated for “Memorial/Love Fund” is about $40,000. The board of directors had approved that unless brothers and sisters specifically indicated that his/her offering is for the “Memorial Garden”, the balance from “Memorial/Love Fund “will be transferred to Mrs. Ko as Love Fund. Any additional needs for the memorial garden will be disbursed from the CWC construction fund. Therefore, please designate your offering to “Memorial Garden”. Please also pray that this project will go well, and be completed before the coming of the short-term mission teams.
2. Ways You Can Participate
   In the previous two newsletters, we mentioned that you can write an article remembering God’s servant and sharing about his impact on your life. So far, not many articles have been received via CWC website, so I have personally invited some church leaders and brothers and sisters who knew Pastor Ko well to contribute their articles, and I hope that this commemorative collection of essays will be valuable that we all may be encouraged by the example of God’s servant from his beautiful footsteps of serving and pursuing the Lord. For this reason, we have extended the deadline to end of July.

• • You may write an article with photos if you have any, upload it on the CWC’s website, or send it to the Editor-in-Chief pastorkobook@gmail.com. Deadline is the end of June.  we will publish a collection of essays in memory of Pastor Ko and distribute it to brothers and sisters in the Winter Conference.
  • Or if you have photos taken with Pastor Ko, you may also upload them on the CWC’s website to share.
  • A Memorial Service will be held on one of the afternoons during this year’s Winter Conference (Dec. 22-26), so please set aside a time to attend. 

Sunday Online Bible Reading & Prayer Meeting 

Please attend the online Bible reading and prayer meeting every Sunday at 6:30pm (Central Time) via Zoom that we may be equipped for God’s kingdom, the account number is: 8110999917, password: 737903. In order to follow with the progress of the Bible Camp, we are currently studying Book of Exodus, we especially encourage those brothers and sisters who plan to attend August Camp to join this meeting every week.

 

Prayer Requests 

1. For Meetings

• • August Bible Camp: Pray for those who have registered to complete the designated report this month that they may see the essence of the Pentateuch step by step.  Please pray for CWC co-workers who not only need to prepare messages, but also to help and guide brothers and sisters for their reports. 
  • August Discipleship Camp: For the brothers and sisters, when seeing their own spiritual lacking, are willing to prepare their hearts to learn and better equip themselves before the Lord.   Please also pray for the two speakers for their messages and the CWC co-workers for the preparation of the meeting.
  • Pray for the August and September Mission Teams: Pray for their preparation and training at this stage, and that they can recognize the needs of the gospel friends in order to share the full Gospel clearly and to lead many people to Jesus.  Pray for the CWC coworkers for a, though complicated, well-planned mission schedule, and good team relationship with the mission teams and hosting churches that by working closely together sharing the Gospel that we may indeed “come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”

2. For Coworkers:

• • Mrs. Ko:  We give thanks to the Lord for blessing us with a baby grandson on 6/11.  Mei Fung and I arrived my daughter’s home 6/13.  We will stay and help her for a month before coming back serving in the August Bible Camp and Discipleship Training.  Please pray that the Lord will grant me strength physically and spiritually that I may serve Him joyfully with all my heart and strength.  

• • Sister Cindy Chiang : Please pray for wisdom and ability preparing the schedules for the 10 mission teams for August and September mission trips;  read the study homework from brothers and sisters for August Bible Camp; and also making preparation for August Discipleship Training. In the busy daily schedule, please pray that I will  make good use of my time whether it is dealing with office work during the week or preaching on weekends, and regain new strength daily from Him. 

• • Brother Qinglong Liang:  Ask the Lord to draw me closer that I may know Him more and my life will be changed by Him;  grant me wisdom to lead the whole family to pursue the Lord and serve Him; help brothers and sisters to establish a stable spiritual life; serving the church and fellowship in His will , and help brothers and sisters in establishing a daily devotion life that we may work together serving Him; ask the Lord to give wisdom and ability to serve in the upcoming Bible Camp, Discipleship Camp, and the preparation for  the short-term mission   

• • Pastor Charles Huang: Pray for the student ministries this summer that God will use the coworkers caring fro students on Champaign campus with well-planned structure and cooperation. Pray for complete healing on my pupil infection from the Lord.  Pray that the three children have smooth adjustment in school.

• • American coworker Scott Jerome:  With the scorching summer temperature, Scott continues to mow the lawn, work on the construction of the “Ministry Memorial Garden”, and prepares the maintenance work for August Discipleship Training Camp and Bible Camp.  Please also pray for their family’s spiritual life and ministry, and for the growth of the children in the Lord.

3. For Expansion Project: 

• • Pastor Harold Shull’s wife was recently diagnosed with cancer.  May the Lord comfort and heal her.   Pray that the Lord shower them with more peace, joy and grace as they travel back and forth to the hospital.  The construction of children’s activity centers has also been temporarily affected. 

4. For Financial Needs: 

• • Please Pray for the CWC monthly financial need, asking the Lord to manifest His abundant provision and allow more brothers and sisters to experience the blessings of offering.  

5. For CWC: 

• • Pray that the Lord will bring more co-workers to the CWC ministry for the furtherance of the gospel ministry in the Midwest. 

 

Emmanuel   

In the Lord, 

Sister Cindy Chiang