News at ABWE
Dedication Service for Harmony Baptist Church
Hong Kong
Chris and Maylin Hartwick
Harmony Baptist Church, an intercultural congregation in Hong Kong met, on Easter Sunday 2007 for the first time. The church is averaging about twenty five people with Filipinos, Chinese, Indonesians, a Pakistani, and several Americans attending. The rooftop of our apartment is currently the meeting place.
May 27 was a special day, as it was the dedication service of the church. Close to 90 people were in attendance including small children. The morning started out to be a glorious sunny day, and it got very hot on the rooftop. We prayed that rain or shine, we would be thankful for what the Lord would bless us with during our church dedication service on the rooftop. Everyone was in prayer and many people worked hard to prepare the food and decorations and practice songs and a skit to share the message of God’s heart for the nations.
As brothers and sisters came in from different churches in our fellowship, the rain started pouring, the thunder grew louder, and the wind grew stronger! We rejoiced as we sensed this was God’s way of answering our prayers. The rain continued steadily and thunder roared throughout the two-hour service. What a magnificent day to have a dedication service surrounded by the presence of God and in the midst of His awesome power!
We sang the lyrics to a favorite song: “Our heart, our desire, is to see the nations worship.” Right now, the church that God has provided for us has no walls, which gives us a glorious opportunity to sing praises to Him so that the neighbors can hear His children sing! May people be attracted to Jesus as they hear His children sing His praises. We sang in Indonesian, Chinese, Tagalog, and English! This was truly a thrilling experience and a small glimpse of what heaven will be like!
We desire to see people from all nations come to know Christ. Pray for the continued growth of Harmony Baptist Church and that God would grant us wisdom in knowing how to best reach the minority groups working and living in Hong Kong.