Haven't posted anything lately because things are a bit of a mess. I'd rather not talk about it here, but you can read about it in our latest newsletter. In the meantime, this blog will probably be quiet for a little while.

We're off to the Hunter Valley for a few days - yay! =D

I have often been told that the number of Cantonese speakers coming to Australia is decreasing, whereas Mandarin speakers are constantly on the rise. This seems to be supported by the languages spoken at home as well.

So I was a little bit surprised when I looked up the stats for this and realised that the number of Mandarin speakers coming to Australia have also started to decrease. The graph below is for the South, but the stats for NSW is similar (click on the image for a larger version):


This graph is a good reflection of the history of Chinese migration to Australia and some of the events behind it:

• Prior to 1973, Chinese migration was very difficult under the White Australia Policy, which came about largely as a reaction to the many Chinese who came to Victoria during the Victoria Gold Rush in the 1850s and 60s.
• Under Gough Whitlam, the White Australia Policy was abolished in 1973, followed by a series of laws and acts in the 70s and 80s which slowly opened the doors of immigration to Australia.
• I'm not sure of the reason behind the sharp increase of Chinese migrants in 1987. Perhaps it's to do with the stock market crash known as Black Monday.
• Chinese migration reached its peak in 1989 as a result of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. For the first time there were more Mandarin speakers coming to South Sydney than Cantonese speakers, partly because the Australian government under Bob Hawke granted Chinese students a four year amnesty to stay in Australia.
• Over the next few years, Chinese migration went back to pre-1987 levels (with a slight increase). But the year before the Hong Kong handover, a number of Cantonese speakers people made a last minute dash to come to Australia.
• In the meantime, migration among Mandarin speakers begins to increase dramatically from 1995 onwards. Many of these are students from China coming over to study. I found an interesting research paper done back in 2004 on the history of Chinese students studying overseas and why Australia has become such a popular choice in the last 15 years.
• I don't have the stats for 2007-2010 (yet), so it's hard to say whether the migration of Mandarin speakers is declining or whether 2006 was just a particularly bad year. This article says that Chinese people coming to study in Australian university is definitely dropping.

I don't know much about history and politics, so if anyone can shed more light on the reasons behind these migration patterns please leave a comment below.

From the pie chart on the right, we can see that those coming from China and Hong Kong make up 80% of the Chinese population in the South. The rest are the 2^nd generation Australian Born Chinese (ABCs). About 2% of these ABCs have one or both parents who were born in Australia, meaning they are 3^rd generation (or more) ABCs.

What this means for gospel work is not only the need for Cantonese and Mandarin ministries, but also the need to understand the background, mindset and culture of Chinese migrants and their children (which I might write about at another time).

Give thanks that the changes in immigration/migration policy in Australia that has allowed many Chinese people to come to Australia, to a place where there are more open opportunities to hear the gospel. Pray that Christians will be sensitive to their needs and know how to best reach out to them.

I survived a mammoth 70 hour week last week and have just had 2 days off to recover. Thanks to everyone who have been praying for us regarding the holiday kids club and the BHCBC camp. Let me tell you how things went.

The kids club was a blast! Over the 4 days, 132 different kids turned up, and at least a third to half of them were not from church backgrounds. The first day was a bit chaotic because there were so many things that were unknown and unpredictable. I got roped in at the last minute to lead one of the groups for kids in Year 3-6.

Some of the boys in my group	Crazy game with pool noodles
Drama	Craft time

Each day we sang, memorised Scripture, played games, ate, heard a testimony, and made crafts. The 2 girls from my church did a fabulous job (as did all the other volunteers from other churches) and I was very impressed with them. They took the initative to do things without being told and despite the early morning start I never heard a word of complaint from them (I was the one moaning about the early mornings).

In the end, everything came together and it was a huge success (from a human point of view). It was totally exhausting, but totally worth it.

Praise God for the many kids and parents who we had contact with last week. Give thanks also for all the leaders and volunteers who put so much effort into organising this kids club. Pray that some of those unchurched families will end up in a church where they can be followed up.

My preparation for the camp talks, however, did not go so smoothly. Being a topical series, I had a hard time deciding which passages and which aspects of evangelism I wanted to speak on. Even though I had chosen my main points several weeks ago, my thoughts kept drifting to other points as I write.

And because I had to jump in to help out at the kids club, I had less time and a lot less energy throughout the week. There were times where I was sitting in front of the computer for ages and I couldn't write a thing. My thoughts were all jumbled up and I couldn't put them together in a logical sequence. It got so bad I actually felt a sense of panic!

I worked right up to the wire and somehow managed to get it done. I'm reasonably happy with the end product, but definitely don't want to cut it so fine again.

Other than that, I had a good time at the camp. Had several good conversations with people about ministry, and hung out with the youth playing Werewolf (an advanced version of Mafia). We came back on Sunday morning and went to church as usual, then crashed afterwards.

Thank God for getting me through a long week and finishing the talks. Pray that the brothers and sisters at BHCBC were challenged about their evangelism efforts despite my imperfections and weaknesses.

The next 9 days will be chaotic!

Only 4 more days until the Holiday Kids Club begins. We have just under 100 kids coming at the moment, and likely more with those who just turn up on the day without pre-registration.

That afternoon on the same day, I am having a Masterchef-themed social with my girls.

Then right after the Holiday Kids Club finishes, I will be off to Kiah Ridge Conference Centre in the Southern Highlands to speak at the camp for Beverly Hills Chinese Baptist Church. The theme is Mission: Possible (as in evangelism in general, not overseas missions). I will be giving 2 talks plus a workshop.

It’s my first time speaking at a camp, and I’m not very confident as a preacher. So I’m working extra hard to put together some biblical, applicable and engaging sermons.

Pray that God will use me to challenge the saints at this camp to be passionate and active in preaching the good news. Pray also that I will be able to prepare well especially since I will be busy with the kids club beforehand.

My recent post on the Holiday Kid's Club got me thinking about the proportion of Chinese people in all different age groups. But first, I thought I'd have a look at the different ethnic groups that make up the area. In the chart below, I have indicated in brackets the 2 largest nationalities in each ethnic group (click on the image for a larger version):


As I've mentioned before, 15% of the South population are Chinese (in Hurstville that percentage is ridiculously lopsided!). Other significant groups are the Europeans, the Arabs, and of course the Anglo-Saxons.

Break that down into age groups and we get (note the age groups are not all the same size):


A few observations and speculations, plus some information about their religion:

• The Chinese population (red) is fairly evenly spread out amongst all the age groups under 60, hovering around 15% or so with a slightly higher percentage in the 18-29 and 40-49 brackets. But in the 60+ age group, it drops significantly, showing the relatively recent migration from the late 1980s.
• The British (orange) are weighted more heavily in the 40+ age group, and moreso the further along to the right you go. This perhaps reflect the history of early Australian settlement. The main religions in this group are Anglican (35%), Catholic (24%) and "No Religion" (13%).
  
• The Australians (yellow) are weighted more heavily in the under 18s, which might mean that Australian families have more children. The main religions in this group are Catholic (31%), Anglican (28%) and "No Religion" (12%).
• The South Eastern Europeans have a slight peak in the 30-39 and 60-69 age groups, possibly reflecting their earlier migration in the 1950s. The main religion in this group is Eastern Orthodox (85%).

From the census data, it would seem that there are lots of Christians in the area. But this report back in 2001 shows that only 5% of Anglicans and 15% of Catholics actually go to church (no info on Eastern Orthodox churches). And this report shows that church attendance in Anglican and Catholic churches have dropped by 7% and 13% respectively in the 10 years between 1991 and 2001. Admittedly, all this information is very dated and one would hope that the trend is changing. But this gives us a rough idea of the religious landscape in the South.

This obviously has implications for ministry across all the age groups, which I won't go into. But I'll simply say that for those seeking to create a multi-ethnic church which reflects the community, expect it to still be a predominately white church. The challenge will be to make sure that the culture and style of the church will not be one that only attracts white people whilst excluding the other ethnic groups.

Pray for the many nominal Christians who are under the false assumption that they are right with God that God may wake them up to their dilemma. Pray also for the churches in the South that are seeking to reach non-Chinese people that they may know how to best evangelise and disciple these people.

Two weeks ago, I preached on Joshua 22. The 2½ tribes of Israel on the East side of the Jordan had built an altar near the Jordan river. Fearing that they had turned away from God, all of the Western tribes took up arms and went to confront them.

This may seem like a rather dramatic (over)reaction. But it shows how concerned they were for holiness among the people of God. They kept each other accountable and were willing to deal with sin by confronting people directly.

If you want to find out what happened next, you'll have to go and read the passage. But the reason I mention this is because yesterday I had to put my money where my mouth is. I had on good authority that one of my girls was indulging in sinful behaviour. I dreaded having to say something, but after preaching on this passage, I knew couldn't ignore it. I fretted over it for the next few days and couldn't think of a 'good' way to do it except to 'go to war' - i.e. speak to her directly and say it like it is.

So that's what I did yesterday before church started. I expected it to go badly - she might palm it off, or get angry, or side step the issue, or...

She denied it.

What should I do? I had no first hand knowledge to confront her with. I could ask my source to come with me, but that would back her into a corner with no way out...and that could get messy. Was there another way?

I couldn't think of a solution, but God had one planned already. After church she came and spoke to me. She admitted that there was a problem in the past but in recent months have tried to deal with it. She still struggles with temptation and asked for my prayer and support.

Later that night, she also sent me a email revealing some slightly deeper issues. I was pleasantly surprised by this and grateful that she was willing to talk about it. It would be great if there was a female leader who could follow her up, but for now I will have to do.

Give thanks that she has been willing to open up and talk about some of the issues. Pray for me that I will have wisdom to know how to help her in this time and that the Holy Spirit will bring transformation in her life. Pray also that God will teach me to be more courageous when I have to have difficult conversations in the future.

Our latest prayer letter has just been sent. Coming to an inbox near you!

Came across these today, from here and here. I've highlighted a few that I thought were useful for ministry. Check out the original links because some of them have interesting pictures.

1. By 2025, China will build TEN New York-sized cities.
   
2. By 2030, China will add more new city-dwellers than the entire U.S. population.
   
3. China already consumes twice as much steel as the US, Europe and Japan combined.
   
4. If the Chinese, one day, use as much oil per person as Americans, then the world will need seven more Saudi Arabias to meet their demand.
   
5. There are already more Christians in China than Italy, and China is on track to become the largest center of Christianity in the world.
   
6. Chinese are far more likely to believe in evolution than Americans.
   
7. Chinese internet users are five times as likely to have blogs as Americans.
   
8. China has 150% more soldiers than America does, plus a high tech 'Kill Weapon' the U.S. can't deal with.
   
9. China still hasn't rid itself of Europe's medieval plague.
   
10. 40% of Chinese small businesses went bust or almost went bust during the world financial crisis.
    
11. China executes three times as many people as the rest of the world COMBINED... and uses mobile execution vans for efficiency.
    
12. China averages 274 protests PER DAY.
    
13. When you buy Chinese stocks, you are basically financing the Chinese government. Eight of Shanghai's top ten stocks are state-controlled arms of the government.
    
14. 50% of counterfeit goods come from China. (not surprisingly)
    
15. The majority of Chinese drink polluted water.
    
16. Chinese GDP could overtake the U.S. as soon as the early 2020s.
    
17. Chinese men outnumber women by 39 million -- over ten times the population of Los Angeles.
    
18. China has the world's biggest mall... but it's been 99% empty since 2005.
    
19. Nearly 10,000 Chinese citizens each year are sucked into unsanctioned 'black jails'.
    
20. If he spent his ENTIRE YEARLY INCOME on housing, the average Beijing resident could buy 10 square feet of residential property.
    
21. Home resales have increased 350% in the past three years.
    
22. China's economy grew by 11.9% in the past year and its GDP chart 'has gone vertical':
    
23. China has more pigs than the next 43 pork producing countries combined.
    
24. Chinese consume 3 million cigarettes every minute.
    
25. 80% of US toys are made in China.
    
26. Shanghai built 1,500 miles of road in the past decade. That's three Manhattan's worth of streets.
    
27. China is planning a train system that will link London to Beijing in two days, traveling 200mph.
    
28. China's enormous Gobi Desert is the size of Peru and expanding 1,400 square miles per year due to water source depletion, over-foresting, and over-grazing. That's 60 Manhattans every year.
    
29. Sizzling is an understatement for some Chinese property markets -- home prices in Haikou have jumped 54% in the past year.
    
30. Beijing held the most expensive Olympics ever at a cost of $40 billion. This summer's Shanghai Expo costs even more -- $45 billion.
    
31. There are 292 individual languages still spoken in China. This is even more than the 175 languages spoken in the world's melting pot, America.

Pray that God will do a mighty work in China. Pray that the Christians will be grounded in the gospel and be fervent in evangelism, despite the government's stance on religious freedom. Pray also for the government that God may humble them to acknowledge him as he did with Nebuchadnezzar.

Coming up in 3 weeks, I am partnering with Grace Chinese Christian Church Kogarah and Word of Life to run a holiday kids club. We are hoping to have at least 100 primary school kids come along to have fun, play games, sing songs, make crafts, and most importantly, hear about Jesus.

If you know people in the area who have young children, send them along! See this website for details.

This has prompted me to look at the number of primary-aged children (which I'll define as age 5-11) in the South (click on the graph for a larger version):


There are over 18,000 primary-aged kids in the South, and 17% of those are from a Chinese background. It shouldn't be too hard to get 100 kids along, right?

Pray for us as we prepare for this kids club, especially as neither church has organised something like this before. Pray that God will bring many children and their parents into contact with us so that they can meet Jesus.

I have made some significant updates to my posts on the language spoken at home and the proficiency of spoken English. I've added maps to show where Cantonese and Mandarin speakers live so that you know where to find them.

I also combined my post earlier today with an older post on the Chinese population in Hurstville.

Rather than putting all this information in 3 new posts, I feel that they belong better with those older posts. So check them out!

I enjoy playing board games, particularly games originating from Europe. They are very different to games like Monopoly and Risk, and far more enjoyable. These games are often not found in mainstream toy stores but only in specialised game stores. Their popularity has really picked up (at least amongst my group of friends) in the last few years.

So as a way to try and meet new people in the area, I started a weekly board games club a few months ago. So far it has been attended by all Christian friends, with 2-3 regulars each week, and a few others here and there. I recently created a static website with details of where and when we meet. I'd really like to create some flyers, but my design skills (or lackthereof) leaves much to be desired.

Whilst it's fun, it's not achieving my main purpose of meeting new people. So several times I've considered whether I should decrease the frequency, or even cancel the group altogether. But each time I think that, I get an email from a stranger who found out about us and shows some interest. But each time their interest has failed to turn into action.

This week I got another email from a someone who might come in 2 weeks' time. Hopefully this time we will actually get to meet.

Pray that God will use this board games club to make contact with people in the area. Pray also that I will have the wisdom to know how to promote this club, and the humility to know when/if I should close it.

In my last post, I looked at the language spoken by Chinese people at home. And it was clear that a vast majority of people still speak Cantonese and Mandarin. So is there much of a need for English ministry in Chinese churches?

Have a look at this, which shows the proficiency of spoken English amongst those who speak Cantonese and Mandarin at home (click on the graph for a larger image):

	Cantonese	Mandarin
Very Well	5,703	4,012
Well	4,791	5,552
Not Well	3,500	2,744
Not At All	1,322	796

Interestingly, around 70% of both groups have a proficiency level of "Very Well" or "Well". I'm not sure if this matches up with my own experience with Chinese people, or whether they were overly optimistic in their self assessment. But that's what the data says.

If we break this down into age groups as well, we get this (click on the graph for a larger image):

A few observations and reflections for ministry:

• Overall, there is a larger percentage of Cantonese people who speak English "Very Well" (blue columns), and a larger percentage of Mandarin people who speak English "Well" (red columns).
  
• In the under 35 age bracket, the English proficiency of Cantonese and Mandarin speakers are roughly the same at 85-95% (blue and red columns combined). So ministry amongst this age group can/should still be conducted in English. And in fact that will be the preference for many, especially those who speak English "Very Well" (blue columns).
  
• In the 20-49 age bracket, there is a large percentage of Mandarin speakers who speak English "Well" (red columns) and "Not Well" (green columns). This may be a good group to target for easy English ministry.
  
• Once we go past the age of 45, English proficiency drops below 60%, and continues to drop rapidly in the 60+ age bracket. Because of age and learning ability, the preference will most likely be for their own mother tongue.
  

Here are a bunch of maps to compliment these points (note that the scale for each map is different):

These are the Chinese people that speak English at home (left) and those who speak English "Very Well" and "Well" from both Cantonese and Mandarin background (right). It's pretty spread out, with concentration in a 'T' shape. Those are the areas that is good for doing English ministry.

Here we have people that speak English "Well" and "Not Well" from Cantonese (left) and Mandarin (right) background. The Cantonese map has a bit of a '7' shape, whereas the Mandarin map has more heavily concentrated pockets (note the difference in scale). These are the areas for Cantonese, Mandarin and easy English ministry.

Finally, we have people that speak English "Not Well" and "Not At All" from Cantonese (left) and Mandarin (right) background. The Cantonese map is still a '7' shape, though there is not as many in Rockdale and Kogarah. The Mandarin map is also similar to the one before, but with an addition pocket in Riverwood. These areas we need Cantonese and Mandarin ministry.

One other thing I noticed: it's good to see that the existing churches in the South are in the right areas where Chinese people live. But one area that is a bit lacking is Turrella/Wolli Creek. Chinese people are not there in huge numbers, but there is still a fair few there with no Chinese-specific ministry in the area.

There are other reasons why English ministry amongst Chinese people is important. But I will save that for another time.

Pray for churches with English ministry reaching out to Chinese people that they may think broadly about how to reach all different ages (not just young students) who speak reasonable English. Pray that language will not be a barrier for people to hear the gospel, but that everyone will have a chance to meet Jesus.

One of the tricky things about ministry to Chinese people is that Chinese people don't speak Chinese. But rather, they speak all sorts of different dialects depending on where they are from. For this post I'll just focus on the 2 main Chinese languages: Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as English.

This is the primary language spoken in the homes of Chinese people (click on the graph for a larger image):

Cantonese	Mandarin	English
15,443	13,206	2,278

A few observations:

• The number of Mandarin speakers are catching up to the number of Cantonese speakers. This means we need to put as many resources into Mandarin ministry as Cantonese ministry (if not more).
  
• There are more Mandarin speakers in the 20-34 age range, which reflects the increase in overseas students and young families from China in recent years.
  
• There are more Cantonese speakers in the 5-19 and 40+ age range, which reflects the longer history of migration from Hong Kong.
  
• Only 7.4% of people speak English at home.

From this, it is obvious that churches with Cantonese and/or Mandarin ministries have a big role to play. And this will help in selecting areas to target (click on the map for a larger image):



Both language groups are heavily concentrated in Hurstville, but you can also see that Cantonese speakers are much more spread out, with significant concentration in Kingsgrove, Beverly Hills and Riverwood. On the other hand, Mandarin speakers have less of a spread, with significant concentration in Kogarah, Rockdale and Turrella, and a bit in Riverwood.

Although not many speak English at home, I think that English ministry still has an important role in reaching Chinese people. More on that in my next post.

Pray for the churches who are seeking to reach Chinese people in their mother tongue. Pray that there will be solid preaching of the gospel and strong, biblical discipleship of new believers that will lay a firm foundation for ministry in the long term.

Tomorrow I will be running a workshop on evangelism with a large group of leaders at Grace Chinese Christian Church Kogarah (GCCCK). Combining my experience with a number of things I've read & learnt over the years, I am developing my own approach to explaining the gospel. It's nothing revolutionary, but simply a synthesis of what's already out there. If my readers are interested, I might post some of these thoughts on here in the future.

Pray that I will be able to give a clear, engaging and practical presentation. Pray also for the leaders at GCCCK that they will not only be able to understand the information, but that they will be challenged to actually go and evangelise

Haven't had a chance to post much lately. Been working on our newsletter which just came out. If you didn't get it, send me an email or leave a comment.

If you're wondering what's the difference between this blog and our newsletter, the answer is not much. The blog has more posts, whereas the newsletter is like a "best of" selection. But the newsletter will go into more specific and personal details that are not mentioned on a public forum like a blog.

As I mentioned in previous posts, there are lots of Chinese people in the South, especially in Hurstville. And the vast majority of them are non-Christians. Which means we need lots of churches in the area to be active in reaching out with the gospel.

So how many churches are there in the South?

As far as I know (which admittedly is limited), there are 17 churches in the area that have a ministry to Chinese people (though they are not necessarily a Chinese church). Here is a map of where they are, superimposed on top of the previous map of where Chinese people live (click on the image for a larger version):


It's good to see that most of the churches are located in places where more Chinese people live. One of the exceptions is actually my church in Mortdale. We really want to be in Hurstville, but being a small church we can't afford to rent much (yet).

Now 17 churches may sound like a lot. But some of those churches only cater for one language group. Some of them have no English pastor (or no pastors at all). And each of these churches would need to reach over 12,700 Chinese people! That's a lot of people!

Pray that God would send more pastors and church planters to make disciples and equip Christians in this area. Pray also for my church that we can find a more suitable location to do ministry.

Here's how things went today:

Spent the whole morning working on my talk. Much of the time was just on packaging since the actual content was stuff I've done before. But because it was packaging, I kept chopping and changing. It was like decorating your house. I would arrange the furniture and move things around. But when I stepped back and had another look, I decided I didn't like it after all. So then I would move things around again...and the cycle continued like that for awhile, until...

...it was 15 mins before it started! I quickly hit the print button, saying a quick prayer under my breath hoping that it was good enough.

I planned to show a short video at the start to introduce the topic. I had already packed into the car a few days earlier the data projector, extension cord and power board. I made sure I remembered to grab the PC speakers from my office.

I jumped in the car and quickly drove off. 10 mins to go! I was about half way there when I realised I forgot a most crucial piece of equipment - my laptop with the video file!!!

My instant reaction was to turn around and go get it. But after a brief attempt at going back, I had to admit that I wouldn't make it in time. So with less than 5 mins to go I quickly continued my way to the school, berating myself for my forgetfulness.

Got there a tiny bit late. No worries - the first 10 mins is just eating and socialising. But walking into the school, the place seemed really empty. There were only a few people around, not the usual crowds you get at lunch time.

I found the classroom and went inside. There were less than 10 people there - half of our usual numbers. It turns out that today was the start of exams, and those who don't have exams don't have to come to school. That kind of changed things, as I had hoped to do some group interaction. But with so few people it wouldn't really work.

So I quickly made some changes on the spot and got started. The students seemed (at least to me) to be listening, and they answered my questions with "safe" answers. The time goes quickly, and before I know it, the end-of-lunch bell had gone. I didn't finish all my material, but I had to wrap it up anyways.

All in all, it could've been better, but it wasn't a wipe-out either. I learnt a few things for next time, and hopefully the students did too.

Thank God for helping me to get everything together and speak clearly today, even though I was nervous and flustered. Pray that the students would not be like the man who looks at the mirror but immediately forgets what he looks like.

One of the things I've been involved with this year is the lunch time ISCF group at one of the local high schools. The group is made up of mainly Aussies. And it's made me realised just how Chinese I am - I don't know how to relate to them at all! It's a bit better with other non-Aussie students, but there's not many of them at this group.

As far as I can tell, most of the students are not Christians, and they come because there's free food. In term 1, I was simplying observing while the regular leaders gave a talk/Bible study. But this term I am trying to get more involved. Tomorrow I will be leading for the first time, and I'm a bit worried about how it'll go, given my inability to relate to them.

Please pray that I will be able to prepare well and engage the students. Pray also that they will listen and be challenged by God's Word.

One of the most obvious statistics to look at is of course the religious affiliation of Chinese people in the South. Here is the breakdown (click on the pie chart for a larger image):


A number of observations & reflections:

1. 50% of Chinese people identify themselves as having no religion. That's not surprising given the background of communist China.
   
2. But from my experience, these Chinese people are not atheists (certainly nothing like Richard Dawkins). They don't necessarily believe in no god(s). They just don't subscribe to an established religion. I find that they are a mix of Taoist beliefs, Confucius mindset and Chinese mythology/animism.
   
3. Although 24% of Chinese people identify themselves as Christians, you can see that this is a very broad category that includes cults like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons.
   
4. If we leave out the cults, and separate the Catholics into a separate category (for reasons I'll leave for discussion at another time), we are left with 4,620 Christians (13.77%).
   
5. From my contact with churches in the area, I estimate that there are around 2,500 Chinese people who regularly meet with Christians on a weekly basis. Of course, that includes non-Christians and nominal Christians. So I would say that a more realistic estimate is probably around 7% Christians.

Pray for the many who are trapped in Taoism, Confucianism and animism, that the gospel will break through these barriers and speak into their lives.

Pray for the Christians in the South that we may be active in reaching out with the gospel, and also live in such a way that makes people take notice.

Thank you to those who have been praying for us as we deal with the recent events. Let me give you some updates.

Firstly, regarding Carmen's injury. She needs to have a minor surgery done next week which shouldn't be any problems. Mentally and emotionally she's a bit better now, though that may resurface again after the surgery. There's a chance that the medical costs will be covered by the church's public liability insurance. But if not, it'll be a big chunk out of our wallet. Either way, there will also be expensive ongoing medical costs for the rest of her life as well.

Give thanks that there are good medical professionals who are able to help us. Pray that the surgery will go smoothly, and ask that God will provide for our finances (either through insurance or other means).

Secondly, regarding the girl (H) who decided to leave last week (I'll refer to people using first name initial). She plans to keep on coming to youth group on Friday nights. I also hope to continue to disciple her 1-on-2 with the girl (W) who recently became a Christian (though that is not 100% confirmed yet).

Give thanks that H can continue to meet with Christians and get spiritual input on Friday. Pray for me as I disciple H and W that it will be an encouraging and fruitful time. Pray also for me as I continue to deal with ongoing issues in the church.

We have seen that there are many Chinese people living in Hurstville and in the South. In future posts, I will take a closer look at what these Chinese people are like.

Here is the age breakdown in each region (click on the graph for a larger image):

Here's another version with the bars stacked on top of each other (again, click on the graph for a larger image):

As you can see, there aren't many people in the 60+ age range (only 10%). Many of the people are in the 20-29 and 40-49 age bracket (almost 40%). Yet I have none of those age groups in my congregation. I suppose most of those in the 40-49 bracket would probably prefer to speak Cantonese or Mandarin (I will do a post later about language). But I would really like to reach those in the 20-29 bracket.

Any ideas on how to reach this group?

Pray for wisdom as I think about how to broaden the age spread in my congregation by reaching out into the local community.

Yesterday, another person in my congregation decided to leave our church because of rumours and gossip in the Cantonese congregation. I've really seen the damaging effects of the tongue lately and feeling quite frustrated, disappointed and helpless. Together with what happened last Friday, I've been a bit down in the dumps and worn out.

This morning I was struggling to pray, so I spent some time mediating on Scripture and using it as stimulus for prayer. It's helped a bit, but I would very much value your prayers for us at this time.

Pray that I can find comfort and refuge in God at this time. Pray against Satan that he may not hinder the work of the gospel but that the Holy Spirit will do a wonderful work of refining me.

Haven't had a chance to blog about this until now, but last Friday at youth group, Carmen fell and was injured while playing a game. She's mostly ok, though there are a couple of things we have to do to make sure everything's fine. It's a bit of a hassle, and there will be ongoing medical costs, but we're thankful that her injury wasn't worse (it could have been much worse).

Give thanks that Carmen's injury was relatively minor and that we were able to get help for her very quickly. Pray for her as she recovers not only physically but also mentally and emotionally from the shock and the stress.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for my sermon on Saturday. I was so nervous that I had sweaty palms beforehand! But as far as I can tell from a human point of view, it seemed to have gone alright. In my preparation, I struggled to find a good balance between an evangelistic sermon (which the couple wanted) and a wedding sermon. In the end I was happy with the final script, and I think the delivery was what I wanted as well.

In hindsight, I think I found it easier than preaching at my normal church service. With a larger congregation, there's always someone who will laugh at your jokes. Whereas those same jokes may not have gotten to same response on Sunday, I imagine.

Not that humour is the measure of the quality of a sermon. But when people laugh at your jokes, you feel more relaxed as a preacher because you know that the congregation is on the same wave length as you and are therefore following your train of thoughts. Whereas if a joke falls flat, you think, "How can they understand my exposition if they can't even understand my jokes?"

Give thanks to God who enabled me to prepare a clear message which was able to engage the congregation as well as speak to the newlyweds. Pray for the non-Christians (especially the father of the groom) who heard the gospel that God will use that to stir their hearts to seek him.

I am preaching my first wedding sermon tomorrow. It's for a good friend, so I'm a bit nervous!

Pray that I will speak clear and faithfully from the Scriptures, and that the message will be relevant to both Christians, non-Christians and the couple getting married.

Pray also for the newlyweds that their love for each other would be modeled on the love between Christ and the church.

This is something my church is organising for students in Year 11 & 12 and their parents. It's not a Christian event (though all the presenters are Christians), but simply an opportunity to contribute something to the community.

Pray for the presenters that the seminars will be helpful to students who are anxious about their HSC. Pray also that this event will help raise the profile/awareness of our church in the community, and that in the midst of helping people with their earthly problems that there may be opportunities to deal with deeper spiritual problems.

One week to go! Registrations close this Sunday.

In my previous post, we saw that many Chinese people live in the South, particularly in Hurstville. In fact, there are more Chinese people living in suburb of Hurstville than anywhere else in Australia. Here is the breakdown of the top 10 suburbs populated by Chinese people in NSW (click the image for a larger version):


As you can see, Hurstville is way out on top by a large margin! And on top of that, Chinese people make up a staggering 44% (10,269 out of 23,333 people) of the population in Hurstville! - even higher than Haymarket.


And not only is Hurstville full of Chinese people who live there, but it is also the gathering place for Chinese people. I have no official statistics to prove this, but walk through the main road on any day of the week and you can see that's where lots of Chinese people of all ages gather. It's the real Chinatown of Australia!!

Hurstville also has good public transport (at least by Australian standards). On weekdays, there are trains to the City on average every 4 mins in peak hour and every 8 mins in off-peak time. Plus there are 18 bus routes that services this suburb.

Add all that together and you can see that Hurstville is a great place to do ministry!

Pray for the many Chinese people who live in this suburb and the surrounding areas that God may have mercy upon them. Pray that their hearts will be prepared to hear the gospel and that God may bring them into contact with Christians who will introduce them to Jesus.

PS Andrew Hong had already posted these same statistics a few months back. But I thought it'd be good to do it again since it's directly relevant to my ministry.

Had an "interesting" day at church yesterday.

UP: Found out one of my youth group girls became a Christian on Saturday night at the Yeah Show. Everyone was very happy to hear the news and welcomed her into the family.

Praise God for bringing her to a saving knowledge of his Son Jesus. Pray that she will crave spiritual milk as a newborn and that we as a church community will help her to grow and mature as she begins her new life.

DOWN: There has been a number of rumours in the Cantonese congregation stemming from money issues that has caused a division in the church and one family to leave us. There was a meeting yesterday and what I hope was the start of a peaceful resolution.

Pray for a spirit of unity amongst all the members such that the gates of Hades may not prevail against it. Pray that we will entrust our worries about money to God who richly provides us with everything we need. Pray also for the pastors and leaders as we seek to heal the hurt and find a way forward.

Here are some interesting statistics from the 2006 census that I found on the Australian Bureau of Statistics(ABS) website:

• There were 4 million people living in Sydney in 2006.
• 6.8% (281,305) of those were Chinese.
• 15.4% (33,568) of those live in the St. George Region (SGR) - what I call 'the South' (sorry Shire friends).

The ABS census collects data in 3 regions (technically called Statistical Local Areas): Hurstville, Kogarah and Rockdale. Don't confuse these regions with the suburbs. This is how many Chinese people live in each region (click for larger image):

Hurstville Region: 15,169	Kogarah Region: 9,221
Rockdale Region: 9,178

Here is a composite image:

As you can see, many of them live in the suburb of Hurstville. More on this later.

Pray for this rich harvest field that there would be more workers sent out to preach the good news.

Finally finished my prayer letter! Took me 2 months!

If you would like to receive it, but didn't, please let me know.