Redeemed Identity - Flo Ho
Growing up in Hong Kong, I found the Chinese language difficult and aspects of traditional Chinese culture stifling, which made me dislike and run away from my Chinese heritage for a large part of my youth. I flew the nest and lived abroad for 18 years, returning only when I could no longer extend my work visa. I prayed so hard, pleading with God to let me stay in the US, but the door He held open was on the opposite side of the world.
On my return to Hong Kong, I joined a small architecture practice as a designer for a winery commission in China. Now I should tell you, on my first MTR trip back, I found I had forgotten how to read Chinese, the words looked like shapes, it had become a foreign language to me. Faced with running teams in Hong Kong and China, working in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, I can only thank God for his protection and for His provision of courage and thick skin to weather that season of learning. On my frequent trips to China, I learned to love China and her people, seeing past my old prejudices into glimpses of God’s heart for China.
I was so surprised by the Spirit the first time The Vine sang a Mandarin worship song together, it felt so familiar, like home. The Vine’s call for Mandarin Ministry on Vision Sunday in 2018 still took me by surprise; what do we, a culturally and linguistically Western church, have to offer Mandarin speakers? But the Spirit’s call does not rest, and the dreams He was birthing for Mandarin Community were just starting to take flight.
There are many testimonies and stories from the 2.5 years we have been a budding ministry, I only have space to share one with you here. The date, June 10, 2019 Monday, shall always stand out to me like a shining beacon of God’s fierce heart and purpose for the Mandarin Community:
After half a year of praying, we joyfully planned the first official Mandarin Ministry meeting for that particular Monday. June 9, 2019 Sunday was the first of many marches in the Summer of Protests in 2019. Our city was in turmoil with divisive strife, but people from different countries responding to God’s call for Mandarin Community continued to gather that summer: people from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, US... As the heart-breaking seismic shift continued in our city, I experienced relationship, care and Shalom in our gatherings. In our first Alpha, a good number of our current members came to know God.
These certainly were not the plans when we were praying and preparing, yet we were birthed into a such a time as this. Many of us in the community are still learning Mandarin, we have been limited to online gatherings for a large portion of our existence, we even have members we have yet to physically meet, but for every one of these weaknesses, we witness God’s grace and power as we dream with God.
