THE WONGS ARRIVE IN AFRICA
IRIS CHAU Sui-kwan and MATTHEW WONG Yat-ming were married on January 1, 2006. They arrived in Nairobi, Kenya in the early hours of Sunday, September 17, 2006 to assume the pastorate of the Chinese Pentecostal Holiness Church (proposed name: IPHC KENYA GOSPEL CHURCH). Approximately 35 Chinese attended the welcome service for their new pastors. Six first time attendees committed their lives to the Lord!
Even before their marriage, plans had already been made by the Wing Kwong Pentecostal Holiness Church in Hong Kong to send Matthew and Iris to Nairobi, Kenya to pastor the Chinese church, meeting at Calvary Worship Center. Rev Philip List, RMC for East Africa, gives a conservative figure of 6,000 Chinese living in Nairobi.
Rev List shared with Rev Donavan Ng, Consultant Pastor of Wing Kwong Church about the need for a Chinese couple to be sent from Hong Kong as pastors. Rev Ng was in agreement with Rev List and sought God’s will on whom should be approached.
Rev Ng spoke with Matthew, a young man who had been in the Wing Kwong church for over 20 years but had never considered missionary work. Matthew’s training was in manufacture engineering. He was engaged to beautiful Iris, who had been preparing herself for ministry by attending Bible School in Australia. Previously, a classmate jokingly told Iris that God wanted her to go to Africa to ‘have a taste of hardship’. Rev Ng encouraged this young couple to consider a life in Missions to the Chinese people. He assured them that the Wing Kwong Church would totally underwrite their ministry.
Matthew and Iris prayed about this new challenge and realized that life in AFRICA would be totally different from everything familiar but determined they would follow the direction of the Lord. Together they attended the IPHC Missionary Retreat in Mombasa, Kenya and from there they traveled to Nairobi. Then back to Hong Kong to be
confirmed as missionaries by their pastor, Rev Donavan Ng, and on to the USA for the School of Missions before finally arriving to make their home in Nairobi, Kenya.
Iris gives insight into their strategy for this new venture when she says, "I think we need to get immersed into the local culture first. Building friendships with the local people will be one of the main focuses to lead them to Christ. We will follow our Lord’s example, living among the people in the community, trying to understand their needs first and follow their customs." Matthew says, "For my future, I follow Christ without question and I faithfully believe that blessings are just ahead. I commit myself to work for the Chinese people of AFRICA!"
Since their arrival in Nairobi, Matthew and Iris have assumed leadership positions at the church and are conducting 4 Bible studies each week; the Sunday service is functioning; a worship team has been formed; visitation is moving ahead with Matthew and Iris visiting at least one family per week and having social gatherings in their own home. At a recent function, there were 160 people present. Their goals are firm and grounded in the Word of God. They plan to build a strong Biblical foundation for the Chinese church, encouraging the people to seek a life of holiness and purity.
We encourage you to remember these new IPHC missionaries in your prayers. They are requesting that you pray that their parents in Hong Kong will be saved. For themselves they ask that you pray for wisdom, love, patience and grace as they minister to the growing population of Chinese in East Africa.
