Taiwanese pastors share the secrets to their growing ministries.
Contributed By Nicolette Ng
The Chinese Network Meeting at CGI-AC 2010 featured influential speakers of the East such as Chang Mao-Sung, senior pastor of Hsin Tien Covenant Church in Taipei, and Abraham Ku, founder and senior pastor of New Life Church, also in Taipei.
Chang kicked off the meeting on a light-hearted note, entertaining the crowd with a humorous account of his life and church, as they cheered in unison at what his ministry is doing in the Chinese world. Chang addressed three important foundations in a disciple’s life—faith, prayer and relationship with the Holy Spirit. He then shared in further detail how these foundations, which he learned from David Yonggi Cho, senior pastor emeritus of Yoido Full Gospel Church, had totally changed his life.
To better illustrate his points, he shared various healing testimonies, one of which was of how he led a wheelchair-bound lady to receive a miraculous healing by the confession of positive words and having great faith in his heart. Another was of how the tumor from a woman’s hand disappeared after he laid hands on her and prayed for her. The sharing of these miracles amazed the crowd and motivated them to strengthen their faith to move in the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Under his leadership, Hsin Tien Covenant Church now has the largest congregation in the Zhong Hua Evangelical Covenantal Church denomination. He also established the New Hope Foundation Charity Organization, which has been actively serving its community through its many good works. Chang’s ministry also represents Cho’s ministry in Taiwan.
Without a doubt, this short but powerful sharing stirred the crowd up to witness a greater move of God in their nations and see their churches grow.
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| CN PHOTOS: Koh Meng Kwang |
Ku then took to the stage and shared about the breakthroughs, revival and growth at New Life Church, encouraging the crowd to be more dynamic, specific and focused in order to build a sustainable and growing ministry. While he highlighted the importance of discipling the church’s future leadership, to serve with a spirit of excellence and use creativity in engaging the marketplace, he emphasized that evangelism was one of the most important aspects of a church—to reach out to lost souls with the gospel.
He ended by challenging the delegates to visualize every person saved as a potential leader and disciple. The aim of mature believers should be to allow these new believers to develop their God-given potentials, to guide them into becoming the leaders that God wants them to be.
Under Ku’s leadership and influence, NLC has grown to become a powerful influence in its society and community, including having an active student campus ministry. Having embraced the Cultural Mandate whereby Christians are called to penetrate the marketplace and contemporary culture, Ku and his members have made inroads into the Taiwan entertainment industry and witnessed the salvation of many celebrities. Today, the church is a positive testimony in the marketplace. Through many creative outreaches, NLC has seen a phenomenal growth in its membership, from 200 members in 2002 to nearly 3,000 attendees today.
Li Min, an SOT student in her 20s, said, “I learned that we need to find out God’s calling for ourselves, work hard and sow, in order to do our best at what God has called us to.”
The session ended with the crowd praying fervently, crying out to God for new breakthroughs.
