A Journey to Los Angeles and San Francisco — From Cordial Hospitality to Unity in the Lord

Through offering hospitality, Christians manifest their unity and show forth a beautiful testimony. Cordial hospitality is to share Jesus Christ’s love and grace with a stranger. It is this cordial hospitality on which the Christian church has been established. Through this warm-hearted hospitality, the church extends Christ’s purpose in coming to earth as strangers are welcomed into God’s kingdom and as members of the Christian community near and far are nurtured and built up.

The New Testament is full of exhortation to practice cordial hospitality.  The Greek word  philoxenia in the New Testament means hospitality offered with the deepest affection. It refers not only to reaching out to strangers but also to the joyful warmth between host and guest. This joyful encounter is cheered on by a great expectation: God is present in each hospitable meeting (Heb 13:2; Rom 12:13).

This past June, I was blessed by God to make a journey in which I experienced the blessing of being cordially welcomed and shown warm hospitality by so many fellow Baptists in the States. God cheered my heart as I met with pastors and Seminary alumni in California. Throughout my visits, I experienced the joy of unity in the Lord.

From June 1 to 13, I toured California from Los Angeles to San Francisco, visiting Chinese Baptist churches and graduates of the Seminary. I am especially grateful to Rev. Leong Tuck-soon (Peter) who planned my itinerary for this two-week tour of California churches. Besides reporting on the latest developments of HKBTS and sharing the challenges we will face in the future, I also shared scriptural messages in spiritual enrichment meetings, Sunday services, topical seminars and a pastoral conference. The tour was a rich experience for me. I am grateful God gave me the opportunity to share my views of “spiritual leadership” and “spiritual theology” with ministers and brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Los Angeles Trip

My journey began in Los Angeles and ended in San Francisco. In Los Angeles, I was impressed and touched by the spiritual atmosphere I found of the local Chinese Baptist churches, the passion for spiritual growth of Christian brothers and sisters and the spiritual vitality I witnessed among the ministerial workers. Although I had never had the opportunity to meet any of the local ministerial workers before, their cordial hospitality allowed me to experience a special kind of friendship and bonding and be reminded that through Jesus Christ our Lord, we are all a part of the same body of Christ. More specially, we are related to one another because we all come from the same Baptist root.

The Chinese Baptist churches in Los Angeles are thriving and prosperous. While there, I met 25 church pastors and ministers, and we began developing friendships which I look forward to continuing. I was reminded that the Lord has instructed his servants to develop such friendships. I was welcomed so heartily that I not only longed to know them better as friends, but also came to appreciate their beautiful Christ-like lives. Their natural gift of hospitality allows them to share God’s love with others and reach out to strangers in God’s kingdom. I look forward to developing an abiding partnership as we share the gospel.

I was privileged to get acquainted with Dr. Timothy Lin of the First Baptist Chinese Church, Los Angeles. He had been the President of China Evangelical Seminary for ten years (1980-1990). Rev. Lin is now 99 years old. When he first came to plant a church in L.A., he encountered a lot of difficulties and his congregation was rather small. Despite the hard times, Rev. Lin remained faithful to his pastoral ministry and upheld the truth of the Bible so that he gradually led the church to grow and multiply. Amazingly, the congregation expanded from a few dozens to almost 2,000 members. Eventually, four branch churches were planted and now all of them are growing and prosperous. In talking with Rev. Lin, I was reminded of how a spiritual leader can be used by God throughout his life to pastor a church, to nurture the next generation of ministers and see these younger ministers to go on further nurturing brothers and sisters, passing on the candle’s glowing light.

The day that I left Los Angeles, I paid a formal visit to Rev. Lin, asking him to pray for me and advise me as to how to be a seminary president. He chose three scripture verses (Gen 1:26; Rev 3:21; Matt 7:21) to encourage me and remind me to hear what God has to say to me. He fervently prayed for my bodily weakness so that my body and spiritual life could be made strong. I came to him as a stranger, yet he touched my heart deeply as he played host and exhorted me. After Rev. Ho Tsung-hei and I said farewell, Rev. Lin stood at the front door, watching us drive off. Seeing the smile on his face as we bade him farewell, I was assured that my heavenly father was also smiling and blessing me.

In this seven-day trip, I experienced deeply the wonders of God’s love as he accepted me and showed hospitality to me, a stranger through so many agents of grace. God’s assurance and hospitality is more effective and more precious than the ties for which man strives. Through the pastors and ministers in Los Angeles, God cheered me and made me know that HKBTS can move forward in faith undergirded with their strong support.

The Trip to San Francisco

On the afternoon of June 9, I flew to San Francisco. My stay in San Francisco was rather short, with barely enough time to meet with 24 alumni for fellowship, feasting and praying together. Besides, I had the opportunity to be the speaker at a seminar, sharing with pastors and ministers of the local Chinese Baptist churches. I also paid a visit to Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary where I talked with the President, the Director of the Extension Department and the Consultant of the Church Planting Group of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. We had a fruitful time of fellowship as we explored the possibility of future cooperation.

On the morning of June 10, I, together with two alumni, Rev. Leong Tuck-soon and Rev. Sin Chi-kim (Jeremy), paid a special visit to Rev. Samuel Tang, HKBTS’s third president. In his home, we talked about theological education and Christian writing, faith and music, Baptist belief and pastoral care. Rev. Tang urged us to persevere in making clear the distinctive and strengths of our Baptist heritage and to promote the unity of Baptist churches. He then prayed for each one of us. After we bade him farewell, Rev. Tang courteously stood at the front door. As I saw this dear Christian gentleman standing there, I felt the blessing of this former president for the new generations of our school.

In these few days of my itinerary, I was able to experience profoundly how our alumni are the sturdy roots of the Seminary. I was also assured that God will make good use of these and other roots that are linked and bound together enabling the Seminary to continue to grow and to stand firm in face of all challenges. Through our fellowship, there were words of affirmation, as well as words of encouragement and suggestions, indicating our alumni’s deep concern, love and care for the Seminary and our students. What I appreciated the most was the support our alumni expressed for their alma mater. Among these was the offering of “two small copper coins” which greatly moved me. There was an alumna who by faith was pleased to offer to the educational fund of the Seminary part of her future pension. Then there was a young sister who purely offered out of a love for HKBTS to pray for the Seminary and contribute money to support our theological education.

To Patch up the Broken World with Our Unity in Christ

All in all, this was a spiritual journey during which I was renewed in God’s grace and love. I also enjoyed a lavish feast prepared by God and an opportunity for me to experience how God has been working in the lives of our alumni and the Baptist communities, and also the love and friendship with fellow church members. I am convinced that the steadfast love and burden-sharing of our alumni, their watch-keeping and support of their alma mater and the binding together of Baptist churches in the Lord are sufficient to enable HKBTS to be a seminary after God’s own heart and an even better instrument of God than ever.

On this spiritual journey, through the hospitality of our alumni and church pastors and ministers, I have tasted and come to understand this: that solicitous hospitality can unite us so that we and churches with such diversity can establish a partnership relationship and mutually share the joy of mission and service to God. In this way, we do not strive to build our own organizational Tower of Babel, but rather focus on our mutual understanding and calling to serve God together in this broken world. On the other hand, this journey has enabled me to see God’s heart and will and so be more convinced that Christ’s exhortation to show hospitality is by no means easy, but the practice of cordial hospitality allows us to listen to different views and walk together hand in hand despite our differences. This calling is an impossible possibility. However, we believe that it is God’s heart and will that all the Baptist churches can patch up this broken world, as we offer one another mutual hospitality in an effort to be united in the Lord.

On this spiritual journey, I have also listened to God, seeking to know his will and heart toward our Seminary: God demands that HKBTS become a community of sterling character exhibiting Christian love and cordial hospitality, always playing an active role in promoting unity among Baptist churches. When we find the assurance of God’s love and solicitous hospitality in our Christian communities, we will definitely serve all churches with the same love and hospitality. This hospitality to guests and strangers is not an option for us, nor is it only confined to those people who have the spiritual gifts to do so; it is, after all, God’s instruction that HKBTS are called to implement. When we put hospitality into practice this way, God will cheer us on in our effort to reach out to others. When this unity becomes manifested in all our Baptist churches, those around us will be taken by surprise just as the multitude was moved at Pentecost. God’s kingdom will then be spread and expanded throughout the world.

Aug 2009