November 2023 RCMI Newsletter
RCMI Shares the Vision of Revival Christian Church,
Kaohsiung26 Years of Preaching and Establishing
the Church: Colife House established in 1997.
Revival Christian Church, Kaohsiung
About one million people -- only 4% of Taiwan's population -- are Christians. They comprise a small minority, with far fewer adherents than Taiwan's two major religions, Taoism and Buddhism. But among well-known personalities in business and government, the proportion of Christians is a bit higher, given Christianity significant influence in Taiwanese society.
George Leslie Mackay arrived in Taiwan in the latter half of the 19th century to preach the Gospel and practice dentistry. All his life, he was let by the motto "Rather Burn Than Rust Out" to give his "All for Christ."
A mission team from Revival Christian Church, KwaiFong,
visiting Co-life Home in Taiwan.
The Fund-raiser for Co-life Home's New Facility is at a crisis point!
Elder Freda Chan and her husband, Preacher Matthew Pang, of RCC Kwai Fong, led a mission team of 28 brothers and sisters of the church to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in October, 2023, to visit our Co-life House family. Due mostly to pandemic lockdowns, we hadn't visited Co-life Home for more than four years! About a year ago, when we found out that Co-life Home was being forced to leave their place -- besides all kinds of other challenges they regularly deal with -- it was hard to imagine the pressure and difficulty coworkers in Co-life Home are facing! As we are in Hong Kong, love can always find some way to help here; but in this situation, whenever we think of our family over in Taiwan, all we can do is to send up our tearful prayers.
Every time we go on a mission trip to Co-life Home, every single person on the team is inspired and enlightened. It's such a rich opportunity to reflect on the value of the life of each and every person! And in fact, what happens in the end is not that we have gone to bless Co-life Home, but that they have blessed us! Co-life Home is a very special place. One sister described it best -- "It's the closest place to heaven on earth!"
A place that practices the Kingdom of Heaven's values in modern society faces all kinds of difficulties. By the grace of God, Co-life Home was established in 1997 and has continued ministering until today. Now that Co-life Home has been forced out of its facilities, is it possible that God's grace for us is all used up? I believe from the bottom of my heart that God is still calling his people together and pouring out His abundant grace on Co-life Home! But each of us, like David, need to reach in and take a "stone" of God's grace out of our bag -- even if it's only one stone -- and we just need to trust the Lord together. And then we will see the giant Goliath in front of us fall!
Pastor Scott of Co-life Home has already selected a new location and put down a deposit on it. It is a 17,800 square-foot, all newly constructed factory building with offices and dormitories. The price is HK $40 million including all remodeling and installations. Purchase requires payment of HK $12 million by December 22, 2023.
Home at last -- I want to give every coworker a big hug!!
Testimony #1
My name is Shell, and this was the first time I have gone on a mission trip. Before it, I didn't have any special expectations; All I wanted was to serve my brothers and sisters on this mission trip.
I am a photographer who is interested in people, so I like to take their pictures. Most people that I take pictures or shoot videos of have high requirements for their appearance! They take great pains to make sure their makeup and hair are perfect, and they wear very nice clothes. This time at Co-life Home, our job was to take individual as well as family pictures of the brothers and sisters there. It was a wonderful feeling serving them this way because even in the pictures, we could see the joy in their smiles -- they are truly beautiful people. And it was all without any makeup or special clothing!
Before we took the pictures, we prayed that we would see Jesus. Then when we looked at the pictures we'd taken, one by one, we truly felt the love and the joy of Jesus radiating from these brothers and sisters in the pictures! I think every one of them is simply beautiful. I also feel that this place, Co-life Home, is a gift from God.
If you ask me if there is a heaven on Earth, my answer is that the place on Earth most like heaven is Co-life Home! Thank you, Jesus!
We could see the real joy in their smiles -- they were truly beautiful people. And it was all without any makeup or special clothing!
Testimony #2
My name is Innis; I'm a photographer, and my main work is photographing infants and children. This was my first time to go to Co-life Home. The people we went to serve are our brothers and sisters, and I felt it was a miraculous experience.
Not only did they not have nice clothes; they didn't even have more than one set to change into; and the clothes some of them wore were dirty or smelly. But when we took their pictures and asked them to smile and show us their teeth, they responded immediately with beautiful grins that communicated to me the happiness, the joy, and the satisfaction in their hearts. In the photos, their torn or soiled clothing couldn't cover up the sincere love they were feeling deep in their hearts.
It's very hard for us to understand what these homeless ones have gone through, but we do know that Co-life Home is their one and only home! Some of them say they hope they can die here because this is their home. Also, I heard Pastor Scott say one thing that really touched me. He said, to keep Co-life Home going is really hard -- when you actually go live with them, that's when you understand how hard it really is. Sometimes coworkers even go out and cry and pour out their hearts to the wall!
This is hard to understand, but I tried to get some experience of it, and I hope that I can understand a little bit.
This mission trip was a real wake-up call for me -- it showed me how good my own situation really is, changed some of my ideas, even my values, and caused me to make some adjustments in my life. You really must go to this place at least once in your life! When you do, you'll understand why God allows so much "shaking" in people's lives and why people who know Him boast about Him so much!
A Joyful Smile!
A Message from Pastor Scott:
Thank God for His leading and the Holy Spirit for moving on everyone! In less than a month, funds for the first payment of six million Hong Kong dollars have already been received! When we started, it seemed impossible -- like a fairy tale! -- but God actually has done so much already! We feel grateful, but even more than that, we are amazed at the incredible, vast love of God! We have not just seen offerings; we have seen love in action!
There are some things in life that we can work hard for -- We can work hard at our job, or learning a skill, or writing a plan for the future; but no matter how hard we work, we can't make everyone love us! And how could anyone love a group of far-away people in Kaohsiung like us -- complete strangers? But the Spirit of God moved in everyone's hearts to put their love into action -- how great His love is! All glory be to God!
The first payment has been made, but the second is coming due very soon afterward -- December 22 -- and it's another 6 million Hong Kong dollars. And even though this is a very big, very difficult matter, we deeply believe that the main point is not how big the amount is, but that the desire of God's heart be fulfilled! So we would like to invite everyone to keep on praying for the purchase of land for Co-life Home and to participate actively by inviting your family and friends to support this work -- to witness the will of God coming surely to pass!
Sincerely,
Pastor Scott Kong
Revival Christian Church, Kaohsiung
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