By Andrew Dunstall
The quiet voice on the other end of the phone is Alex Ho, IT consultant, gospel worker and, believe it or not, a missionary sent from Cabramatta to Pyrmont. He is an honourary worker at Peninsula Community Church helping people “to know Jesus, to know him more and more, and to share that with others,” he says.
Five months ago, Alex was commissioned to go out and spend a year helping to build an Asian fellowship in the Peninsula Community Church (PCC) in inner city Pyrmont. The new service is the second congregation for the thriving community of believers.
Alex’s former church, Cabramatta Anglican, sent him after he was invited by David Yung, a fellow Cabramatta Christian. David is in second year at Moore College and is Associate Pastor at PCC.
The Asian congregation now holds a meeting every Sunday at 11am in easy English with some translation into Chinese. It has become a regular activity for members to go out to a restaurant afterwards for lunch together. The group comprises people from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and mainland China.
The new ministry has been boosted by 20 Moore College students taking part in the College’s annual week-long mission in May. They took to the streets evangelising – ‘intercom buzzing’ the many apartment buildings in the area and ran letterbox drops and other events. As a result of the street evangelism some residents attended church the following Sunday.
In addition, evangelistic courses such as Introducing God are helping local students, workers and families to investigate Christianity. For many of them it is the first time they have ever thought seriously about God’s role in their busy lives.
Along with the Moore College mission, the church recently held a photographic exhibition and a Chinese dinner with the gospel presented in both Cantonese and Mandarin.
Alex says these events have been the product of months of dedicated prayer and relationship building by David, Senior Minister the Rev Stuart Robinson, and the rest of the team at Pyrmont.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us in follow up to the mission events,” Alex says, “[but] it is absolutely astounding how God is bringing so many people along to hear about Jesus.”
PCC, now two years old, falls within the parish of St Barnabas’, Broadway and receives financial support from the South Sydney Regional Council.
The church’s 5pm congregation recently moved into the nearby community centre due to overcrowding in the real estate agency where they were meeting.
Andrew Dunstall attends St Aidan’s, Annandale.