I heard Jackie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Pullinger) say that when she first arrived in Hong Kong she saw people dying, kids in the street, old people with begging bowls, ‘I thought maybe I could manage one street..’ she thought! Jackie chose that street and quickly began distributing food to the poor and taking them to hospitals when in need of a doctor. She stepped into the middle of gang fights, pleading for the brawlers to stop. As her work widened, the street turned into a slum and eventually into the entire city. Despite its Christian bent, the Hong Kong government encourages her work, donating the land where her St. Stephen’s Society center was built.
While I was there I was able to head to the weekly meetings in the roughest Hong Kong neighborhoods. Around 20 of us prepared 250 meals (as you can see in the photo below), soup, rice and meat… as we prepared the food, we blessed it and prayed that as they have their natural bodies fed, their spiritual bodies would be fed too with the Lord’s love and plans for them.
The poorest of the poor in Downtown Hong Kong know that St Stephen’s team up with one of the local churches to feed them and speak to them about Jesus. These gatherings were normally held in the streets, under flyovers, in parks, even with the police’s assistance at times. We carried all the meticulously prepared and blessed food down 14 floors of the hugh rise run down building to a fleet of cars that were to scoot us over to the Jade Market Flyover.
As soon as we pulled up under a huge flyover I saw a huge crowd of 300+ stirring … the guys who do this every week whisked the food out, set up a speaker system , distributed song books and assigned each of us to groups of ten at a time. Before I could comprehend the depravity of this area and the seemingly ‘walking dead’ that are all around, the singing began….. you could instantly feel God’s presence in the midst of such darkness. What hit me the most was the emphasis they put on looking each precious person in the eye and handing them their food with both hands and blessing them. The fact that you were taking time to acknowledge them as a person and as a precious life meant more to them than the food that their wee bellies were rumbling for.
There was a lot of wonderful fruit. Scores of people came to know Jesus and there were healings and deliverances.
In her book, ‘Chasing the Dragon’, Jackie tells of being called by God to Hong Kong to work amongst the prostitutes and drug addicts living in the notorious walled city. Though fearful for her own safety, daily she would try to make contact with people who lived in some of the worst conditions one could imagine. But after six months little had been achieved and despair set in. She agonized about it for days. “If God has called me to be here why aren’t people responding?” One morning she realized what was wrong. She’d been telling people that God loves them and that Jesus loves them and wants to forgive them but she’d not been loving them in any practical way. She needed to go and be as Jesus, with them. The next three months she spent, “soaking herself in scripture and prayer – and being drenched by the Holy Spirit!”
Her new and very practical approach yielded a remarkable response. Providing food, shelter and healthcare, visiting prisons, speaking up for victims, these became the ingredients of her everyday life. The situation was so transformed that even the drug barons watched out for her safety. She’s still there and so is the church that grew from her work but the Walled City isn’t. It was demolished ten years ago.
Please pray for these guys as they take Jesus onto the streets in a number of ways from going to Nepalese districts of HK and running workshops to hanging in parks playing with kids and just seeing what God is doing. To going on prayer walks and reclaiming broken districts and places for God and in this seeing who we meet along the way. To put it simply outreach there is incredible, every time I went out with a group we seen people of all ages accept Jesus into their lives, healing on the streets and new believers speak in tongues. I’m not really sure where to start with story’s and examples as there are so many…
Outreach is showing me how important it is to hear from God and not step out in your own strength, but more importantly how easy it is to love and care for the lost and broken and lead people to Jesus. There is a real urgency there to share Jesus with those who do not know, because for some it really maybe their last opportunity.
THE UNKNOWN HEROES OF HONG KONG
I met so many amazing men and women of God while in Hong Kong…many whose names may never be known on earth but who are famous in Heaven
One in particular was a guy (who we will call ‘A’ ), educated in Oxford, had his own medical practice in London, came to work with Jackie and saw a need for a youth outreach programme on the other side of the island… left everything, started hitting the streets and started seeing many come to know Jesus… some of the transformed brothers (ex addicts and gang members) joined him and rented a small inner city flat so they could leave in community with these new converts. AMAZING MEN!
In Chai Wan hundreds (probably more like thousands) of teenagers have believed in Jesus through friendships that have developed through outreach during the day as well as midnight outreach.
We heard his story and were invited to join him for dinner and a night on the streets… Mark and I got the underground…. 4 tube changes and 45 minutes later we arrived in a rundown underground mall where one of A’s friends showed us to their inner city flat. A and two other brothers lived in the small flat, while they chatted to us about the work they pointed out the photographic slideshow of literally hundreds of young people with their names attached scrolling on a laptop, they told us to pray for these precious kids as we heard their stories. These weren’t ‘hit and run’ salvation types,these guys discipled these young people and mentored them (as they fulfilled their dreams from the Lord).
Next thing we know we’re helping set up a surprise birthday party for some kids A met when out earlier that day, the Chinese don’t acknowledge birthdays or celebrate people so this was going to be a special occasion…. the three school kids that arrived LOVED the surprise and within minutes A was leading them to the Lord ….its the KINDNESS of Jesus that leads people to Him…. I loved how quickly the Lord transforms people and gives them a dream.
Before we went out on the streets we had a great meal sharing with the boys and the brothers sharing stories and praying. We asked the Lord to show us pictures of who he wanted us to meet while we were out and we made a note of the clues that would lead us to His treasure (people) that night. These were are clues-
~ I saw a pink tshirt with the word Diamond on it; A black hat with letters on it; a guy with diamonds in his braces; A football injury; Near a flyover
DREAMS COMING TRUE
As we walked along the dark streets with putrid stenches and emancipated drug addicts we talked about the brothers dreams and they asked me about mine, I shared with them that the world is looking for people who are courageously pursuing their dreams. Everyone wishes people’s dreams will come true, so people are attracted to dreams being fulfilled and it’s contagious. I told them I started a dream book where I write one dream per page and check them off and date them so I remember them and DREAM bigger. A lot of my dreams are dreams that can’t happen without God….some fun, some serious and ALL possible with Him.
I told A that when you write them down, there’s power to that. Something happens in Heaven ….If it’s important to you, it’s important to Him. A asked me to read out some of my dreams….. on page 37 ” I dream of stroking a monkey” ( …random I know!) page 38 ” To experience an open Heaven” ….. where you can feel and see God’s presence at work. I joked how my Dad had read through my dream book and said ‘Imagine if you got to stroke a monkey under an open Heaven?!….. Wouldn’t that be your best day ever?!
As we left A’s apartment a lady approaches us ….and I spy her pink top with the word Diamond on it! Boom! First treasure…the guys chat to her and tell her about our Treasure Hunt…. she gets prayer and we walk on out towards the underground while a rainstorm is brewing above. We meet many precious people in the dirt, homeless skinny men, street drinkers, young people hanging out under flyovers… we approach a group of teenagers (near a flyover) and the guys instantly connect with them
We seen that one was wearing the baseball hat we had listed as a clue….Within minutes they are sharing the gospel and the guys are in tears. The storm over head made it difficult to hear our translators and the storm clouds had narrowed our visibility so I prayed for an ‘open heaven ’ (and the storm stops suddenly and the clouds part right above where we are standing!) while im stroking the arm of the lad beside me to comfort him… his friend suddenly says
” Monkey look the storm has stopped!” to which everyone remembers my dream ~~~” Stroke a monkey under an open Heaven!”
The Lord knows ALL the details and He wants us to delight in Him as He makes us and our dreams come ALIVE
A young guy walks past and smiles and I see a sparkle form his brace…. one of the brothers see it too and stops him.
Literally within minutes this young boy heard one of our testimony’s, said he had a football injury which God healed and wanted to give his life to this Jesus who loved him and healed him. We then shared with him how as new followers of Jesus we can talk to him in a special prayer language he gives us when we ask for the Holy Spirit to fill us. A explains that this prayer language works like a new baby crying out to his mum to be feed, that although the baby doesn’t know what he’s saying the mum knows what he needs, that our Heavenly Father understands the language and knows what we need to grow strong in Him.
So he prays there by the curb and gets his prayer language. Then we pray that the Lord shows him a dream …. so he knows what the Lord has planned for him and he has a vision instantly!
So this boy (who only knew of confusing chinese gods who were just idols to him in his room) had encountered a real, living God who healed him, saved him and filled him …giving him a hope and a future. This boy now lives in community with the brothers and helps with inner city outreaches!
There were many miracles that precious night that forever will be etched on my heart ….
A still ministers and continues to see many, many, many young and old encountering Jesus amongst the darkest streets of HK.
I heard Mike Bickle say ‘if you can live without something, you will‘ …. Your desperation and your hunger is a key to His Kingdom, when you see that this stuff is real ….you CANNOT or will not want to live without it…..
