Fall Update
Before I get into ministry stuff, on September 21 around 10:30am, we received a special present from
the Lord: Maria Elisabeth. Almost 8 pounds and 20.5 inches long. She has been just perfect, from the moment she was born. She is hardly fussy, she loves worship and she makes silly faces. Both Irina and I felt like the pregnancy flew by. We are very sorry if we didn't get to personally tell you we were expecting, our lives are very busy.
Prior to Maria being born, Irina and I talked about me going back to teaching. I interviewed at several places and quickly was offered an amazing opportunity with a Pre-school downtown. By the end of the first week, however, it seemed I just added another layer of work and responsibilities to our already very full lives. I found myself with two full time jobs(helping my wife with her company was the other), full time ministry, and busy family life. We badly needed the extra income from this job, but many things would suffer if I stayed. I quickly talked to the school principal, and arranged it so my Mom, who was moving to Guangzhou, would be able to take the job. It worked out very well. After praying, I felt the Lord was leading us to new place of faith and trust in Him. Rather than working another job in this upcoming season, my focus is going to be my family and the people around us that the Lord has called us to minister to.
Anyone who has had children, knows that the weeks leading up to baby time can be some of the busiest. You have buy a bed and a stroller and diapers and clothes, an endless list of necessities to ensure your child's survival. You are also supposed to be talking to family, having a baby shower, but the rest of life does not stop. We are in a city that is desperate for God, around every corner, my wife and I meet new people: homeless, refugees, abandoned, hurt. Its become so many, we really have to rely on each other and Holy Spirit to remember names and situations. Their problems don't go away, just because our life is busy.
In our Home Group, due to some pressure from my wife and Holy Spirit really speaking to us, we have been going through 1 John, systematically. John, really touches on some major problems that people who call theirselves Christians, really have: shutting up our hearts from one another, saying we love God but hate our brothers (and sisters), claiming we are without sin, denying Jesus. As the Lord was leading our group through this epistle, over a period of five months, Irina felt we had to make some drastic changes with the way we lived. All of these new situations we are now presented with, these people with challenges and people, South Sudan, and abandoned mothers, we had to do something. How could the love of Christ be real in our hearts, if we shut ours to brothers and sisters in real need?
My short time being saved, I have met many different kinds of Christians, those who think serving God is all about doing charitable works (If you aren't making a difference then you aren't following Jesus); on the other hand, I have met Christians who believe we are called only to preach the gospel (must contain the exact ideas from Paul's dissertation in 1 Corinthians 15), or else you are trying to be saved by your works.
Coming from a House of Prayer in the US, I always thought it was difficult to say day after day, that you were encountering the heart of Jesus, but then walked right past those in need. Didn't Jesus spend His time purposefully searching for the hurt, the poor, the broken hearted?
We can make the words, the COMMANDS of Jesus easy or complicated. Lately, though life has been complicated, I find His words are not. Jesus says to make disciples, Jesus called unlikely people up to follow Him and He took them around and taught them and demonstrated the power of God through the miraculous and through simple love. Stopping for everyone He encountered. Why is it so hard for us to do this? How can someone go from disaster to disaster, never talking to Jesus, never spending time with Him, not knowing how He would handle the situation, and not knowing how He wants you to handle it? Maybe the way I am explaining this seems complicated or difficult to understand.
Around the beginning of August, many people in our small little fellowship began expressing interest in going out to see some of the "stuff" Irina and I shared in some of the stories we told during our get-to-gethers. I invited people to come with us to Fuda Hospital.
Fuda Hospital has gained a world wide reputation amongst those looking for cures to their cancer. They have a reputation of going as far as they can to treat late stage cancer. This has made their statistics very interesting, because they have an extremely high mortality rate (due to mostly late stage cancer patients coming to this hospital). This hospital has become so peculiar, that a reporter from the New York Post, began doing an article on the hospital. He talked to a lot of different people and somehow came into contact with my wife. He was bent on publishing a negative article because of the mortality rate and "false promises" of the hospital.
One person from our group came with me. We set up a music stand in the community area of the 3rd floor of the hospital and just began worshiping the Lord. People from all over the hospital came. We got to tell many about Jesus and we made some new friends. One of the challenges I have been finding, is constantly keeping up with all of the people I meet. My heart is to consistently see the same people and to walk with them as much as we can through whatever situation they are going through. Many that we have met at Fuda, we led to the Lord and then a few we have spoken at their funerals and did our best to comfort their families.
We also began ministering on a local college campus, about fifteen minutes walk from where Irina and I live. I get told frequently that I need to narrow my focus, but when I see so many in different parts of the city and different walks of life that need Jesus, staying with just one group, I feel that others get neglected.
There is still so much that needs to be done, and now that the baby is here things have to slow down a lot for both Irina and I, at least for a few weeks.
Here are some highlights from trips/outreaches/meetings to Qingyuan and around Guangzhou
If you would like to support our work in Southern China please goto this link or click support us up at the top of the page. https://acaciaministries.international/fathersheartgz/give
Thank you all for your love and your support!
Blessings
Chris and Irina
