Reaching the Chinese Community in Charleston, USA
An update from Perry Wang, church planting resident at Risen Hope Church, Summerville, South Carolina, USA…
“I knew it! I knew it!”
When Mike Seaver and Craig Tuck started talking about my 2-year church planting residency at Risen Hope Church, partnering with Centerpoint Church at Remount (a Southern Baptist church) in the Greater Charleston area, I told my wife, “I knew God would not withhold anything good from us!” When we felt God leading us to stay in the States to plant a Chinese church, we prayed that we could be trained by and involved in Sovereign Grace Churches so that we could bless the Chinese community and Chinese churches in North America, and beyond. And God opened a door for us.
It's now been a year and eight months since I started the residency and God’s grace is abundant. My R1 visa was approved in time, we have financial support, God's provided a gathering place for us, and if it all goes well, we will move into our own house in the middle of May. Above all, I am grateful for my pastoral team because their lives clearly display our “shaping virtues”: humility, joy, gratitude, encouragement, generosity, servanthood, and godliness. By living among them, they have had a great impact on my life, and I think this is just what Chinese churches need. Good leaders and sound doctrine.
There are about five thousand Mandarin-speaking Chinese people in the Greater Charleston area and among them there is only one Mandarin-speaking church, which is declining. There are about fifty people who show up for a Sunday service. I have made efforts to connect with them and at times we have been able to form good relationships. We were invited to lead a Bible study in a small group and to preach once on a Sunday. My wife Ruth was invited to teach Chinese which allowed me to build relationships with the students’ parents and share the gospel with them.
On March 4, we held our first church planting interest meeting. Nineteen people showed up, which resulted in two couples expressing their interest in being involved with the church plant and wanting to know more about it. Of the two couples, one sister is Chinese and speaks Mandarin, while her husband and the other couple are American. Another brother, Michael, who has been helping me with translating the meeting, is hoping to help in the beginning of the church plant.
After the interest meeting however, the leader of the local Mandarin-speaking church told me not to come to the church anymore, fearing that I could lead the church, or at least half of the church away, which is not our heart. So while most of the church were welcoming, we made a decision not to attend that church anymore. At first, this was very discouraging as we had made efforts with them to evangelize, lead bible studies at the nearby university and had formed connections with the church. We felt we had made some traction and been able to help. But in God's kindness, one day as I was sharing my discouragement with a brother, he said "maybe that's why God led you here to plant a church"… His words woke me up again.
So now, the next step for us is to gather and study sound doctrine together and grow the Sovereign Grace culture in our team. Our plan is to launch on September 24, 2023. Our biggest need is maturity and like-minded co-workers, especially those who have a Sovereign Grace background. Please pray that God will raise up shepherds with different gifts to build up his church.
