"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen” – Ephesians 3:20-21 Recently, the Lord has used the Chinese outreach effort to touch the hearts of people we totally did not expect at the beginning. When the Chinese worship service was first started, the vision was to reach out to the vast Chinese community in Box Hill area. But God has used it to touch the hearts of those from so far away yet also so close to us. First, Sarah’s mother was baptized in June. She attended the Chinese service and Bible study while she was here for 3 months. And last week, Sophie’s mother and aunt got baptized in China. Sophie’s mother was in Australia for roughly 6 months last year. While she was here, she came to church whenever her health allowed. After she returned to China, she continued her spiritual journey of searching and wanting to know more about the Lord. During this journey, she also shared what she learned with friends and relatives. She attended some local Chinese government controlled churches. Mark and Sophie spent a lot of time studying scriptures with her over the phone or Skype. She expressed recently that she wanted to be baptized. God sent our brother Stephen Chan from Hong Kong to involve in this process. He travelled far away to her hometown, studied with her to ensure she has the correct understanding of the scripture and salvation. And since Sophie’s mom has been sharing the Gospel with people in her circle, in the end, both Sophie’s mother and aunt accepted our Lord as their savior and were baptized on the same day. This is truly more than all we ask or imagine! We are all very happy, especially it involves our own family members.

We did not set out to have this as our goal as these 3 new sisters were not ‘local’ Box Hill residents. But with God’s grace, we have been blessed so unexpectedly. Like what Paul said in 1 Corinthians, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” We may plant the seed, someone comes along to water but God makes the seed grow. Sarah and Sophie’s moms were with us for a short period of time, we did our job of planting the seed and God caused the seed to germinate at His time.

Currently, there are efforts putting into forming a congregation at Sophie mother’s hometown. We don’t know where that work will lead to in that area in China. But we know our Lord will work things out for His purpose. Like a pebble into a pond, we may not know how far the ripple will reach. This surely is not our expected outcome, forming a potential new church in an area in China where the church has not reached before. Let us all pray for this work here at Belmore Rd to continue reaching out to people, and also those happening overseas. In addition, there are non-believers among our mist at the Chinese service, keep praying for them that God will open their hearts as well.

Praise be to the Lord and may the Lord’s will be done!