The Northern Region recently appointed its first ever full-time Chinese pastor, Mr Hooi Wan Cheng. Mr Cheng previously lived in Auckland for 16 years where he oversaw a Chinese church that grew from 30 people into two churches with more than 500 people.
With over 1500 Mandarin speaking Chinese living within a 2km radius of St Peter’s, Horsnby, Mr Cheng’s appointment by the regional council is a strategic move on the part of the council’s Cross Cultural Task Force.
Mr Cheng’s ministry is carrying on from a service started almost two years ago by Peter Chung from St Luke’s, Thornleigh. It is a family service held at 11:15am every Sunday morning at St Peter’s.
Mr Cheng says he is privileged to continue the work started by Mr Chung and to complement the Chinese ministry already taking place in other parishes including Kirribilli, Chatswood, Eastwood and Thornleigh.
“I am pleased the English speaking churches have the vision to employ a full-time Chinese minister to reach out to the Chinese,” Mr Cheng said. “I understand the culture, and I have the experience with them. If a Chinese person doesn’t know enough English, it is very hard to preach to them. You have to know their mentality and culture to really touch their hearts.”
Assisting new migrants to fit into the community is another aspect of Mr Cheng’s ministry. “I’m going to start a seminar for new migrants to help them integrate into the community. We will inform them of emergency services, and other important information, and introduce them to the Aussie culture,” he said.
Mr Cheng believes the Chinese ministry is not just for locals, and has the potential to reach all Mandarin speaking Chinese.
“We recently we had two overseas students attend a service, who only spoke Mandarin. I have a heart for them, because when they return to South East Asia they will one day be the future leaders in their country in politics, business, or education,” he said.
“If they can bring the gospel back to their country, they will make a difference in their influence as leaders.”
While Mr Cheng’s ministry focuses on Mandarin speaking Chinese, the Naremburn Asian Australian Church (NAAC) that recently commenced at Naremburn Community center is part of St Cuthbert’s effort to reach broad variety of people from an Asian background.
“Because our service is in English we can attract a broader cross-section of the community.” says recent Moore College graduate, David Lim.
Mr Lim believes their service helps Asian non-Christians feel welcome in a comfortable atmosphere for learning about Jesus.
“The main thing is that we are newcomer friendly. We have no fixed strategy. We just run a church and teach the Bible. Hopefully by having Asian leaders in the service, Asian people will feel more comfortable in church.”
Alby Lam, who was born in Wagga Wagga, felt challenged after several conferences and talks, to leave his job with a bank and put to himself the question of full time ministry.
“I was looking for a place to do MTS [Missionary Training Strategy],’ he said.
“I heard Naremburn parish had a vision to reach Asian people. While it was not what I was initially seeking to do, I thought it was something that fitted in with what I had done in the past, and would be a great opportunity to reach the Asian community,” he says.
“Being Asian, our strength is to minister to Asian people. A lot of Asian people in Sydney haven’t heard the gospel which is why we need to do it,” Mr Lim says.
Now two months old, the congregation has already formed into Bible study groups. “The people we have are mature Christians, so we didn’t have to persuade them to join a Bible Study group, because they already saw the value of it and wanted to do it,” he says.
Mr Lam believes NAAC can reach beyond the Naremburn-Cammeray area. “Asian ministry doesn’t strictly work on the parish system. It works more in terms of networks. People will travel half an hour or more to go to a church.”