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Dear Praying Friends,
It’s been 6 months since our last newsletter, and you may have been wondering: did we fall off a cliff? (haha…). I’m chagrinned that so much time has passed by without updating you all, but thanks so much for continuing to pray for the Disciple Making Movement here in Hong Kong. Our hearts are full with many things to share in this letter, so I ask for your patience in digesting everything. I believe it will bless you and encourage your prayers for a worthy cause here in Hong Kong. Our harvest is your harvest as we stand together in prayer, and we desire your own richer blessing and reward from the Lord. Please also note that at the end of this email we include links to a valuable disciple making resource in English and also newly translated into Chinese (traditional). Things have been busy here due to both our DMM ministry and a weighty family matter, which I will share with you now.
Remembering Hilde Kitajima
Since the last newsletter, we’ve flown to Germany twice to be with my mother, Hilde. Sadly, her health unexpectedly deteriorated quickly over the course of a few months, and she passed away on March 30th at the age of 86. Her funeral was on April 17th. We appreciate your prayers for our family as we are still reeling from the impact of this loss. Our hearts are broken to not have her with us to hug, talk to, and laugh with. But we also feel deep gratitude for her life and joyful love of the Lord. She was never ashamed, particularly over the last years, to share warmly with whomever would listen about her reliance on Jesus and love of praying to Him. Our own introduction to Disciple Making ministry in the last few years influenced our relationship with dear Oma Hilde as well. She enjoyed doing Discovery Bible Studies with us and was always eager to discuss the application questions: “How can I obey what this passage teaches in my life today and with whom will I share what I learned?” Mom had been a believer in Jesus from childhood, but I believe God used these times together around God’s word to especially renew her faith in her latter years and I think it led to her new zeal for sharing her faith in Jesus with others. In her golden years she became a “person of peace” in her hometown in Germany, praying for and influencing others to also start on a journey of discovering Jesus for themselves through God’s Word. (Please pray for continued follow up with these dear ones.) I’m so thankful for all the meaningful time that Alice, the children and myself got to spend with precious Oma Hilde. This last Christmas with her granddaughters particularly stands out in my mind. We know and take comfort in the fact that she is with Jesus now. Please also pray for my brother Luke and his wife and daughter who live in Germany as they also grieve the loss of our dear Mom. Oma Hilde with granddaughters Lilly and Anna in Aerzen, Germany, Christmas 2024.
Hong Kong DMM Leadership Retreat
When you commit to pursuing a Disciple Making Movement you are committing to continually invest in developing and multiplying leaders as well. On the first weekend of March a group of core DMM leaders from Hong Kong attended a long weekend retreat in Kuala Lumpur led by an experienced veteran of DMM ministry in Asia and India. It was a time of joyful camaraderie, of evaluation, of prayer, of dreaming with God, of listening to the Holy Spirit, of rest and of eating really great food. It included a several days long deep discovery dive into the missionary journeys of Paul in the book of Acts, asking God to help us see by faith how He could work through our team like He worked through Paul and the Apostolic band. I believe that when we look back, we will point to that weekend as a key time when God catalytically brought together the riches of the book of Acts and faithful expectancy to see a God-sent Disciple Making Movement in Hong Kong. Join us in praying for multiplied fruitfulness to result from that weekend. Many thanks and blessings to the veteran DMM missionary and his family for hosting and leading this special time and for pouring into our lives so selflessly. Hong Kong Team at DMM Retreat in Kuala Lumpur. Normal Everyday Missionaries
One of the things I love about Disciple Making Movements is that it places the keys of the kingdom back in the hands of everyday, non-professional believers like the New Testament intended. The “expert” shepherds/leaders, are not called to do the work of the ministry for the sheep, but rather to equip and empower the sheep, the everyday, non-expert saints, to do the bulk of the disciple making ministry. See Ephesians 4:11-12.
If this is so, where do normal, everyday believers do such a work? After all, they don’t have the benefit of a “professional” platform to stand on, neither do they have a special “religious” building in which to meet, nor are they being paid as an “expert” by a congregation who show up en masse on weekends to hear them speak. So where do they do this work? Well, they do the disciple making in the flow of their normal lives, of course. They take a stand for Jesus during their normal occupations and activities, in the normal houses and public spaces they inhabit, and their target audience is the normal non-Christian people they rub shoulders with everyday. Just like the early church did. Obviously. As an illustration of that, I want to share a gathering recently held by Eva and Steven, one of my favorite DMM couples here in Hong Kong. They live in Mong Kok, one of the most densely populated urban districts anywhere in the world. They “got” the vision of DMM early on. Eva is a stay at home mom with a two and a half year old son and a new baby on the way. (Before being a mom, Eva was a teacher.) Steven works at Apple. They are not in “professional” ministry. But they are fully committed to reaching the network around them with the good news of Jesus. They recently had a shower for their soon to be arriving new baby. They held it in the park. They invited some Christian friends, yes, but they also invited the not yet believers that they have been reaching out to. People they encounter in the course of their normal lives such as relatives and other parents of small children. People who might not have responded to an invitation to “church” but were happy to share this joyful occasion held in an everyday public space with Eva and Steven. At the baby shower they shared their faith by including things like worship, testimony and prayer for the baby as part of the program. Kingdom Baby Shower in the Park
They were delighted to see that the not-yet-Christians participated willingly and enthusiastically. It was part of the fun, celebratory event. And actually the not yet believers were less embarrassed to pray out publicly than the already Christians. (Perhaps the Christians had been conditioned to reserve out loud prayers for “religious” spaces.) Invite not yet believers to worship and pray? Sometimes those without faith need to be invited into the presence of God, to taste and see that He is good, and then faith follows after. And so the Kingdom grows.
This is just one of the testimonies of how God is moving in their network. Please pray for those with whom they are meeting with in their network who are not yet followers of Jesus. Some have been reading the Bible and praying with them. Others hopefully might have experienced the goodness of God’s presence at the baby shower and will be open to deeper spiritual conversations with Eva and Steven soon. Pray for abundant fruitfulness from the seeds sown. And keep Steven and Eva in your prayers as they prepare for the “debut” of their second child, who is due to be born next month. We pray Jesus’ richest blessing over you and your growing family, Eva and Steven!
Some not yet believers prayed aloud in the park more boldly than the already believers!
6 Year Old Anna Grace: Another Every Day Missionary
Speaking of making disciples in our every day activities and in every day spaces, we celebrated our daughter Anna Grace’s 6th birthday on May 17th at our house. It was a wonderful time with around 25 in attendance. With our daughters, once they reached the age of about 4 we allowed them to have quite a bit of self-determination in planning the details of their own birthday parties and inviting who they want to invite. So we were pleasantly surprised to have such a large party for Anna, as she is normally the “shy” daughter, but it seemed like she invited a majority of her kindergarten class to come, many of them we had not met before. In our bedtime prayers with the girls, we pray for several weeks in advance for God to show them who to invite to their parties so that we can share the the gospel with them. Anna made a very purposeful list of who to invite. She carefully choose the menu, even including certain foods she herself did not like because she knew they were the favorites of some of her guests. She even gave real thought in inviting some kids who were older and some who were younger so that her sister and brother would have similar age friends to play with. She made her own hand drawn invitations and passed them out at school. So I’m very proud of Anna. I think her desire to share Jesus with her friends overrode her natural shyness. The party was really fun, with many of the families lingering long after it was supposed to be done. We shared Jesus by having a time of prayer and I designed a fun little quiz game that was kind of like a Discovery Bible Study for kids. The kids and parents all seemed to love it. It really felt like God had indeed arranged just the right people to come to the party. Please be praying that this introductory step can lead to longer term, fruitful disciple-making relationships!
A Very Fun Party for a Very Special Girl!
Special Resource: Starting a Discovery Group in English and Chinese
We want to share this booklet with you. It’s called “Starting a Discovery Group”, and it will, in fact, help you with starting a discovery group! (Also called a DBS: Discovery Bible Study)The English version was created by Praxeis, Australia, (they are like a parent organization to Praxeis, Hong Kong) and is used with permission. But we have gotten it translated to Chinese (Traditional), and it’s now available on our website, along with several other resources. (Shout out to Alex Lee for a an awesome job!)
We want to encourage you to look through the format and the ideas in this booklet. You hear us talk about sharing our story and sharing Jesus’ story. You hear us talk about trying to find the Person of Peace amongst not yet saved networks, and having casual then meaningful conversations with people that can lead to spiritual conversations with the spiritual hungry. You might be asking the question: Well what do I do once I find a spiritually hungry person who wants to know more? This booklet holds the answer: Start a Discovery Bible Study with them! You will be encouraged to see that this is a short booklet. Starting a Discovery Group is not complicated and it can be accomplished by a complete beginner. Experts not needed. To access this vital resource, click on the links below: READ “如何啟動探索小組”: citydisciple.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Starting-a-Discovery-Group-booklet-Chinese.pdf READ “Starting a Discovery Group”: citydisciple.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Starting-a-Discovery-Group-booklet-English.pdf OTHER RESOURCES ON CITY DISCIPLE WEBSITE: citydisciple.com/resources/ “Starting a Discovery Group” (中文)
Whew! You made it to the end of this rather long email. You must be the kind of person whom the Lord has gifted with unusual patience and endurance. That means you have just the right temperament to be a successful Disciple Maker. Please check out the resources in the links above, you will find them useful. And many thanks as you continue praying for the Movement of God in Hong Kong. The Lord will bless you and reward your faithfulness! Much Love in Christ, |
Where have I been! A long overdue update
