Last week (22-25 Sept), Min Chik, Yik Shin, Pr Nicky and I were away in Cebu, Philippines for the All-Asia EFC Conference; which happens once every four years. To my pleasant surprise I had a better time than I had first expected. I had thought that it was going to be an endurance test listening to boring reports, but it turned out to be really quite good.

Altogether there were about 190 delegates. Almost half were from the Philippines and the rest from Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, Myanmar, India, Singapore & Malaysia, and Reach Global missionaries in Asia, who were mostly Americans.

The theme of the Conference was ‘Leaving a Lasting Legacy.’ The speakers weaved their talks around it; whether their slot was the devotional talks in the morning or the main sessions in the morning or evening. It seems to me the Church all over the world is very concerned about the passing of the baton to the next generation! In my mind, the questions are: 1. Where is the next generation? and 2. How are we doing at passing the baton? Races are won or lost at the passing of the baton!

From my assessment, I think India, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines are doing fairly well, but I think Japan and Malaysia are not doing so well. Looking at the average age of the pastors and church members will give you a very good indication whether we are doing well in passing the baton. The average age of the pastors in EFC Japan is 54. And as I scan the faces of the pastors in EFC Malaysia I shudder with horror!

I suddenly felt my age when I was on the bus with a group of delegates. A younger pastor got up and offered his seat to me! I do that for my seniors; people don’t do that for me! I literally exclaimed, “This is horrible. Am I that old?!” My wisdom hair (or lack thereof) is showing more than I like.

I was personally challenged by the very creative evangelistic efforts by Pr Peter Ho’s church in HK. As a result of this his church grew from 160 in 1997 to 4000 in 2009. In October they will be renting out the entire famous Ocean Park for an evening’s evangelistic outreach; with an expected turnout of 6000 people. However, not to be missed is that, the growth of the church was also in part due to a powerful renewal in the Holy Spirit in 1997 (during the crisis period when HK was returned to China). There is much to learn from EFC HK as well as EFC Singapore. Pr Edmund Chan took the evening sessions and talked about mentoring/ disciple-making and about leaving a lasting legacy.

From the reports it appears that most of the EFCs in Asia are growing except for Japan and Malaysia. India, has 306 churches and almost 42,000 members

The point is not whether we are big or small; the point is, Are we growing? Are we winning the lost for Christ? Are we discipling and raising the members, especially, the next generation, for Christ? I believe our vision: Empowering Generations for Global Reach is spot-on and very much aligned with what the world-wide church is seeing as the God-thing at this critical time of the history of the church. Over the last couple of years I’ve been doing some amount of mentoring/ disciple-making but maybe it lacks focus. I believe the Lord is telling me to be much more focussed and intentional about who I invest my life in. For those of you who have the maturity and experience I challenge you to do likewise.

Recently someone said to me that there are people in the church who don’t know where PJEFC is heading. It appears I have not said it strong enough or repeated myself enough times. Empowering Generations for Global Reach—that is where we are heading. Raising the next generation; Making disciples who will make disciples—beginning here and ending out there in worldwide cross cultural missions is where we are striving towards. Being a dynamic-balanced church in Word and Spirit and engaged in evangelism and social ministries is our Biblical mandate. Space does not allow me to elaborate on our Philosophy of Ministry. So, let me urge you, please attend the Membership Class on 10 Oct. We need to desperately get our act together or we will be giving another dismal report in four years’ time at the All Asia EFC Conference….

However,…let me affirm: I believe in a very big God; bigger than our own lack…and One who will not let us go. There is where I place my hope. And may you place your hope there too.

PrSH