At the time of publication, Calgary is deep below zero and experiencing heavy snowfall. But it seems nothing deters Chinese missionaries. Edward says: ‘I like the cold weather!’

The couple supported a church plant in a new residential area of Calgary that lacked a full-time pastor. They reached out to other Chinese immigrants, ‘people who had never been in church, never heard the gospel’. Eventually they brought their ministry to Britain when they heard from a friend about Chinese scholars in Cambridge who were like ‘sheep without a shepherd’. Over the years, they brought together Chinese-speakers in Cambridge from various places – Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, as well as China itself – and became a church in 2005.

Different languages

Up to last year, Cambridge Alliance Church grew to 60 or 70 members, then suddenly gained 300 new ones with the arrival of Hongkongers. Having already been through the challenge of bringing together speakers of Standard Chinese from different countries into a single congregation, Rosa and Edward are now welcoming Hongkongers who come not only in great numbers but with a separate language. Their language, Cantonese, is different from the Mandarin spoken by most Chinese. Thankfully Rosa and Edward, like Henry and Irene, are fluent in both. (Henry is a native Cantonese-speaker from Hong Kong and Irene a Mandarin-speaker from Taiwan, so they have both languages even their own home!) But having a whole new congregation within your congregation, separated from the other by language, can’t be easy. There’s even a third language in play, because children and young people tend to speak English.

Will you pray for Henry and Irene, and for Rosa and Edward, as they face this challenge with amazing enthusiasm?

· Ask God to bring unity to their churches, so that even while language is an obstacle it won’t be a barrier, and the separate congregations in each church would feel like a single church

· Give thanks that your support for Bible mission in England and Wales has created the Ezra Project so church leaders train, network and face the challenges of unprecedented growth together

· Pray for partnership between Chinese and English-speaking churches in Britain as they reach out together to share God’s love

Didn't find what you were looking for?

Work with us

Privacy

Legal