Now in its third year, RICE has doubled in numbers yearly since commencing with six youth groups and 200 participants, and now having 25 youth groups and an expected 800 youth involved at this year’s evangelistic events.
But what is RICE?
“It’s about Inter-Church Evangelism among Asians,” says RICE coordinator, and Moore College first-year student, Steve Chong. “The ‘R’ stands for Rice. So we went with Rice Inter-Church Evangelism. The logo is actually the Chinese word for rice which looks like a cross too.”
Two years ago, three youth groups from three Sydney Chinese churches, including Mr Chong from Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, decided to develop an outreach evangelism and training program with three main aims.
“Firstly, there’s preaching the gospel,” Mr Chong says. “That is something which unites all our youth groups. It is the key ingredient for what a Christian community wants to be doing.
“Secondly, we want to train youth leaders. We had 150 leaders in our leadership team last year all with different levels of experience. People from different churches came together, and had different activities to do. It gives people the confidence to try new things and everyone learns from each other.
“Finally, there’s networking. It’s encouraging for youth leaders to see other Australian-Born Chinese (ABC) leaders at work. When they get to university and join the Christian group, they will have people they already know through the network,” he says.
Mr Chong has focused on ABC ministry because of the advantages that come with sharing the gospel with those of a shared culture. “I’m an ABC. My parents are Malaysian but I was born here. I can’t speak a word of Chinese, but I have been brought up in a certain way, which a whole lot of other ABC people have too. If I say to ABC people, ‘who plays violin or piano?’, 95 per cent will put their hand up,” he says.
After a leadership event this month, a pre-evangelistic fete will take place in July. “We had three speakers at the fete last year,” Mr Chong says. “At three points during the fete we shut down every stall so everybody could go to centre stage to hear a gospel talk.”
James Wong became a Christian at the fete, after attending with some friends. “I accepted Jesus and became a Christian that day after hearing the talks. My parents say I have become a better person. I read the Bible more and have tried to learn more about God’s word,” he says.
The evangelistic event itself will take place on July 10 at the Willoughby Civic Centre. This year the Rev Ian Powell, rector of St Barnabas’, Broadway, will speak on the theme ‘Where is the Love?’. “We’re getting Ian to speak – a big white face out the front – to encourage non-Asians to come too,” Mr Chong says.
“It sounds very exciting,” says Mr Powell. “Having the chance to preach to hundreds of young Chinese Australians about Jesus and the love of God – what could be better? I’m a great admirer of the Chinese churches.”
Mr Chong wants prayer for the RICE participants as they encourage their friends to hear about Jesus. “Rice is the staple food for the Asian, but the most staple food for anyone is to know Jesus. We pray that people hear that and turn to Jesus this year.”