Dear family,
Greetings from Paris, France where I, together with Pastors Wee Long and Cristabel are spending one week, supporting Senior Pastor Lawrence while he preaches and ministers at the 11th Chinese Revival Conference, a ministry of Pastor Dennis Balcombe that’s been held in Paris for the last three years. Several pastors and leaders of the Chinese churches in Europe are also here to be inspired by the vast speaker line-up for this conference. While we’re here, Senior Pastor Lawrence has also been invited to speak at the G12 France Conference and perform an evangelistic magic show for the Chinese churches in Paris.
At the Chinese Revival Conference, I learnt a new song called “The Macedonian Call” written by Pastor Hu of Revival Church in Paris. This song triggered a reflection on Apostle Paul’s Macedonian Call, recorded for us in Acts 16:9-10, “A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” That Macedonian Call happened during Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey, but it is still relevant to us as it is based upon principles that are also present in our lives today.
It’s intriguing that I’m reminded of God’s divine strategy for Europe through the age-old Macedonian Call while I’m here in Europe. Just as God directed Apostle Paul to bring His good news into Europe instead of continuing into Asia, history also shows how a specific messenger selected by God brought the salvation message into significant parts of our world. Some of the greatest missionaries of our time received a clear vision from God before they devoted their lives to His work in a new continent. William Carey had a blinding vision of the need in India; David Livingstone had a vision of multitudes of Africans without Christ; and Hudson Taylor had a vision of millions of Chinese who needed our Saviour.
Dear family, we need to be more spiritually sensitive to the people who are in desperate need of Christ in our nation and the neighbouring nations. God will then guide us to strategically plan how we can share His good news of salvation with them. Let us be ever responsive to our Macedonian Call to take the gospel to the lost and lonely all over the world.
- Senior Pastor Nina Khong