Blind Obedience

Building the Church…Together

The political climate of Peru steadily deteriorated over the years, especially in Lima. We experienced an average of ten bombs per month. Blackouts were common when terrorists blew up transmission towers. Inflation went up a million times. Most people became “millionaires,” but their money had no value. However, God did not abandon Peru.

The turning point for Peru came during our third term, with the election of a new president. The country’s political and economic situation improved each day, but bombs were still common in daily life. Meanwhile, back at the church, a drop ceiling and church pews needed to be installed. These were things the church could not afford. Then, early one morning in 1993, a bus loaded with 300 kilograms of explosives was detonated on the bridge near our church. All the glass windows and doors were blown out.

Our field chairman came and prayed with us and notified our national office in Toronto. As a result, not only did prayers go up for us, but a church in Vancouver responded with a large donation to help us. We were able to install the drop ceiling and pay for the pews.

The Chinese church had become self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating, and we knew in our hearts that the time had come for us to transition to another country where there were no witnesses for Christ. But where would we find a Chinese pastor to shepherd the Lima church?

Over the years, we had mentored a young second-generation Chinese man, Miguel MacChiu, who had graduated from the Lima Bible Institute and was working part-time alongside us. As a demonstration of his willingness to accept the challenge of serving the Lord, he abandoned his part-time job. The congregation confirmed his call to be their pastor with a 99.9 per cent approval vote.

The Lord had completed His work through us there, and we left Lima in 1995 in peace with our three children, Jayne, Caleb, and Noelle.

Spiritual Take-Off

During our second Christmas in Guatemala, in 1998, our regional developer, Harold Priebe, asked us to stay in Guatemala to continue developing the church as the Chengs were to go to Venezuela. Most of the Chinese in Guatemala were new arrivals from China and Hong Kong even though Guatemala did not allow new Chinese immigrants. Most of the Guatemala Chinese Alliance Church people were business owners while most of the Lima Chinese Alliance Church people were labourers. It was necessary for us to change our strategy and attitude to work harmoniously with the church leaders.

At one point, the church grew to over 80 people. By God’s provision, we were able to worship in a rented Lutheran church sanctuary for just $50 (USD) per month. After worship, the people would drive their cars to our home for Sunday school. All other church activities took place in our home. The growth of the church was, therefore, limited.

Another problem was that the Lutheran church was in the path of airplanes landing and taking off. Every Sunday service, preaching or praying would need to stop during take-offs. The church and our supporters in Canada prayed faithfully for a new location.

In 2000, the third year of our first term there, God allowed us to locate and buy a warehouse in a residential area close to where we lived. The church’s annual theme that year was, “A New Era and a New Challenge,” with teachings from the book of Malachi. God’s people obeyed their Lord in the challenge of faithful tithing to the church and in building God’s house. It was truly amazing that construction of the main sanctuary and a three-story Christian education building was completed before our departure for home assignment in May 2001!

When we returned to Guatemala City in 2002 for our second term, to our surprise, the church had paid back the personal loans from the congregation for the construction. Furthermore, they had saved enough to purchase a photocopier and a new car for their pastor. We had a debt-free church!

Attention was able to be returned to the Word of God to ground the people in His Word. The congregation was trained in personal evangelism, worship, literature publication and distribution, financial management, church administration, and property management. Missions was introduced to the church after the first six months. A scholarship fund was also started to help young people who dedicated their lives to God in full-time ministry.

An annual missions conference was introduced to teach the church to reach out to the nations. One year, a young man, Paulo, responded to God’s call of full-time ministry. He was supported by the scholarship fund to study at Ambrose Seminary. Today Paulo and his wife, Phoebe, are international workers in Spain to refugees from North Africa

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This is an excerpt from the book Making God Known. Download it here!