Ancestor Worship

In witnessing to Chinese in Taiwan and SE Asia, one big issue that often comes up is ancestor worship or veneration. Sometimes it’s not that the person does not understand the gospel, or that he does not want to believe. He may very well want to repent and follow Christ to deal with his sin problem, but being Chinese and deeply steeped in filial piety, he is hesitant to make a commitment to trust in Jesus.

He remembers his parents telling him, “Who is going to burn incense for us if you become a Christian?” To many Chinese, becoming a Christian and reverencing one’s parents are polar opposites. To worship Jesus Christ as Lord is not to love one’s parents, and to dishonor them. So even though cognitively he knows this is what he should do, volitionally he did not want to do it because of the ancestor worship burden.

What can be done to overcome this hurdle? Most Westerners will try to deal with the issue intellectually. They may try to convince the person that his ancestors are not gods, and only God should be worshipped. Therefore he should not worship them. This is true, but his problem is not intellectual, it’s emotional, and volitional.

Others may try to persuade him by pointing out that he can honor his parents in ways other than burning joss sticks. It is more important that he love and respect them before they pass away, and remember them after they are gone by using flowers. This is better, because it deals with the emotions, just with an expression different from traditional folk religion. For some, this may be sufficient for them to decide to follow Jesus.

To complement this, I believe it helps to work on the source of the pressure itself, namely the elders of the family. The pressure on the sandwich generation comes from the grand-parents. If the grand-parents become Christians, then the burden of worshipping ancestors is lifted off all generations following. Therefore while it is important to evangelize adults and youth, it is just as important to evangelize seniors because it removes the dilemma from all younger generations, and de-bottlenecks the family.

Aren’t the elders subject to the same pressures, the stigma of being labeled as abandoning their ancestors? Yes, but they are also ranked the most senior in the family, and closer to the end of their life journey. They are less distracted by career and other pursuits, and more concerned about what happens after they leave this world. In the end it is the Holy Spirit that convicts the heart, but if you approach seniors with love and care, they will listen. Never underestimate the importance of seniors. Sometimes they hold the key to unlocking whole families to Christ.

Teaching Sunday School

It is rewarding when the kids can tell you the gist of the story you just told them, and the lessons learned. Here is one of the volunteers retelling the Bible lesson.

For arts and craft, E taught them to make laminated flowers and leaves bookmarks/thank you cards. The kids just loved them and made some for their parents.

Children posing with their crafts.

Laminated flowers and leaves artwork. The kids loved them!

Grand-children

We left our hearts in Toronto:

K singing 10,000 reasons:

Driver on the bus:

Dancing Nolan:

Happy little guy:

Idols

We ran across a procession of “floats”, with people carrying idols, blaring loud music and firing fire-crackers as they marched along. It turned out that the people thought their current “god” is not strong enough, and they are inviting a more powerful god to dwell among them. These folks do not realize that the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God (1 Co 10:20). They are therefore inviting a more wicked evil spirit to live in their midst. That’s why evangelism is urgent and missionary effort must be stepped up before it’s too late. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers into His harvest field (Mt 9:38; Lk 10:2).

All in a Day’s Work – More Recent Photos

We drove about 100 km each way to teach English as outreach, then joined a fellowship meeting of Grace Meal recipients. The folks there openly shared that others have hurt them with harsh treatment, but they forgave the perpetrators because God forgave them. This is a work of God among the people, as many have been won and affected by God’s grace and love.

Teaching English in a public elementary school.

Waiting to teach children “Jesus loves the little children”.

Teacher’s helper demonstrate the song’s actions.

Invited to tea in the principal’s office. PR is important in missions.

Idols who can’t see, hear, speak, walk being carried around as gods.

Even idols catch up to fashion by blaring out loud modern music.

Some might invite demons to possess them to show off their strength.

Grace Meal Fellowship, where folks with tears running down their faces forgave those who mistreated them.

Teaching Large Classes

As part of the missionaries’ outreach to connect with the community, they offered free English classes to the local elementary school, teaching third to sixth graders. The school sent them their English curriculum at the beginning of the school year, and they would design lessons for teaching the kids every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. (If they could afford more time, the school would actually give them more class time e.g. weekly instead of biweekly.) Each class consists of 2 grades with between 100-120 children. Their home-teacher will stay in the rear to maintain order, while our missionary friend would teach them basic English that reinforces what the children had learned in their regular class. Here they learned about colors, so we taught them a song that has the colors they just learned. It’s a soft approach to present Biblical content.

Grades 5 and 6:

Grades 3 and 4:

Some Recent Photos

Riding a scooter. If you can’t beat them, join them.

Training high school students storytelling.

Celebrating missionaries’ birthday.

Leading a seeker to the Lord.

Visiting a driftwood craft shop.

Teaching kids crafts.

Orienting a short-termer for his mission trip.

First Fruits

This man is 93 years old. His daughters witnessed his baptism and wished to be baptized too.

It is barely a year since the food distribution program “Grace Meal” was launched, but the sponsors were able to see the first harvest and give praise to God. Two believers, both Grace Meal recipients, were baptized last week. Another volunteer will be baptized next Sunday. It was a triple win for the community, for Concordia School, and for Double Blessing Church, but above all it glorified God.

First, over 80 people were supplied with food 7 days a week, year round. On weekdays they receive boxed lunch and dinner consisting of cafeteria food from Concordia. On weekends they get good quality bread and cakes donated by two local bakeries. Their physical needs were met. Secondly, the school won the provincial first prize in social action, as students, teachers and parents were mobilized to be volunteers. The community united together to tackle a social problem, and won.

Third, the church was challenged to provide for the needy in their neighborhood. Their original mission was to reach the university students and educated middle class. They expanded their vision to include the needy, and are preparing to plant a church for this new group. They rose to the challenge and stepped out of their comfort zone.

But behind all these activities of connecting with the community to meet their needs, the neighbors are taking notice that these Christians mean what they say and have the action to back it up. To-date 246 people have prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior. The background of the recipients is complicated, but they have been channeled into cells to study and serve together. The first three “new grapes” are baptized this month. More will follow. Some are being discipled to become leaders. When will a church be established? Only the Lord knows. But it’s all because of grace, without which none of this would have happened. Praise and thanks be to God.

He is in his 70’s. He cried when we brought him bread. Rejected by his family but accepted by God.

God’s Unwavering Love

We met with a music teacher whom our missionary hosts referred to us. She used to teach guitar, but switched to ukulele at the beginning of this year. Her parents are baptized Christians and her uncle is a pastor. So when she was young she would go to church with her siblings, mostly just to sing and play. While growing up, she would pray whenever she was afraid. In her mind God would shine His light on her, and she would be no longer scared. That’s why even after she got married and moved to another city, she would still seek out churches to attend, though not consistently.

By providence she went to a night market where our hosts were distributing flyers for free English lessons taught by Americans. She jumped at the opportunity to learn English from native speakers, and started attending the Sunday afternoon classes, but unfortunately had to stop because her business picked up. Our hosts had only one bible study with her before they left for home service, and requested us to follow her up, hence our meeting, over breakfast in a restaurant.

She asked why is it that so many people go to temples every week with zeal, but not that many go to church regularly. We explained that many who worshipped pagan gods do not really understand what they are doing. They do so because their ancestors had always done so, and they follow out of tradition without questioning the validity.

Others do it out of fear and greed. Some are afraid that if they stopped worshipping idols they would be harassed by evil spirits. Others worship because they want something from their god, such as prosperity, fertility, healing, success in exams etc. They perceive worship to be a transaction – their rituals and offerings in exchange for blessings. Both are wrong motives, and their devotion is misplaced in the wrong objects.

In contrast, the one true God of the Bible wants our hearts, a relationship of love and trust in Him. If we truly love God, we would want to attend church where we can worship Him together with those of like mind. We would not find it burdensome, just as we are not tired of seeing our loved ones, because doing so brings us joy. We do not worship out of duty, but love. And a person’s attitude towards worship reflects her relationship with God. Her face lighted up because she understood. So we asked her what her relationship with God is.

She said she is not doing all that God wants her to do, but she is trying. We explained that it is not what we do that count, because our best efforts do not measure up to God’s perfect requirements. Instead, God wants us to trust Him, just as a loving father asks his children to trust him, even under adverse conditions. We explained the gospel to her and she understood. The Holy Spirit had prepared her heart and she was ready to receive Christ as her Lord and Savior. We prayed right there in the restaurant as other customers watched. She was overjoyed and her face lit up as she realized the simplicity of the good news. She exclaimed that this is a great day in her life, and promised to invite her friends so they could know too. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Sun Above the Clouds

There’s a Mandarin hymn that’s very popular among youth groups here. Our home church choir had also sung it many times. The tune is very melodious and the lyrics are quite good too. See if you like it.

Mandarin with traditional script lyrics:

Cantonese version:

English translation from the internet, adapted so that it fits better with the tune:

When you soar on high,
in the sunny sky,
Or walk through the val_ley
far below the sky
Wherever you are,
you will always find
God prepared it for you and me

High above the clouds
the sun stays the same
Though rain_drops
may sprinkle on your eyes
High above the clouds
the sun stays the same
Ah-ah, it stays the same