CHINA HORIZON
P.O. Box 2209
San Gabriel, CA 91778
September 2000
Dear Friend of China Horizon:
Thank God for sustaining me through a heavy summer in Asia, covering 70 days, speaking 180 times. This has been truly unique! Key observations from the trip:
1. A very secular, self-centered lifestyle has arrived in Asia. American-style malls are packed with people! How can churches steeped in tradition reach postmodern people?
2. PRC ministry in Singapore is carried on by English-speaking as well as Chinese-speaking Christians. There need to be more training, bridging and cooperation.
3. English-speaking Chinese Christians in Singapore face important cultural issues when seeking to understand and reach their parents’ generation. Insights drawn from the ABC experience in North America can help our Singaporean brothers.
4. 800,000 Chinese in Japan include laborers from Fuqing (Fujian) and many PRC students. This is a good time to harvest.
5. Young Chinese pastors in Asia seek a new direction for their faith and ministry. Question: what is our stand on charismatic gifts? How does the Holy Spirit work?
6. The latest theological trends from the west are affecting Malaysia and Singaporean’s churches and seminarians. What is our biblical response?
The summer of 2000 has left its imprint in my heart. On August 27 ( a most busy day, preaching twice in Singapore and once in Indonesia in the evening), I observed the 35th anniversary of God’s call to me to enter the full time ministry.
Meanwhile, we are busy publishing 4 books in Chinese in the coming year, including Sinclair Ferguson’s The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction (published in Malaysia); Jay Adams’ Competent to Counsel (republished in Singapore); and R.C. Sproul’s Before the Face of God, Volume 1 (in Singapore). We are applying for permission to translate J.I. Packer’s Truth and Power. All will be published in the simplified script. We are also producing the Mandarin version Christianity and Western Culture: A Piano Lecture, in the VCD format (in Malaysia).
Continue to sustain us in prayer, as a season of teaching has begun:
n Biblical Counseling (continued), Chinese Bible Church LA, fall 2000
n Consultation on Mandarin Ministry, Toronto, October 13-14, 2000
n Cantonese Theology Class, Edmonton, mid-November 2000
n Lectures for church leaders, Orlando, Florida, Thanksgiving 2000
For Christ and Chinese minds,
Samuel Ling
President