On November 1, Pastor Fred Hsu, founder of the Harvest International Center in North America, died of COVID-19, according to the news released by his relatives and friends.
Pastor Hsu was one of the senior pastors of the Chinese Charismatic Movement. For decades, he encouraged churches to be open to the Holy Spirit and correctly distinguish Charismaticalism. At the same time, he promoted "Homecoming" Gatherings in Chinese churches in the United States and other countries in the last ten years. His humble and gracious service earned him the respect of the church, who used to call him and his wife "Papa Hsu" and "Mama Hsu".
Knowing the news of his death, many pastors in mainland China expressed their mourning. Pastor C in East China shared the news of Hsu's death on his WeChat Moments, “Dear Papa Hsu, our hearts miss you and wish you rest in peace in heaven! Your modesty, simple love for the Lord, wisdom and kindness will always be imprinted in our hearts”.
He said, “Papa Hsu's death is a great loss to our Chinese church. We are all very sad, but we believe God's will is good. God will use his death to do something new in the Chinese church”.
It is said that Pastor Hsu was still preaching in Sudan a month ago and was diagnosed with COVID-19 entering the ICU ward of the hospital about a week ago. Even when he was hospitalized, he was still grateful.
On October 24, Pastor Hsu, who had been hospitalized for three days, wrote a letter entitled “Reform the Church Structure and Make It Our Home”, sharing his thoughts on the organizational structure of the church and the specific operation of "regarding the church as the home”, which embodied his 40 years of reflection on the pastoral care of the church. He said that when he first became a pastor, he began to look forward to “the church as the home”.
He added, “So far this year, I have been pastoring the church for 40 years. The concept of 'the church as the home' is getting stronger and stronger, and the practice is getting more and more effective!”
He felt that too often we made the church institutional and administrative, but we forgot the concept that the church was a home.
"What is clear is that the church is a home, not the company, and the pastor is the parent, not the CEO. If someone comes with a mindset to be the head, they will not be able to survive, because here is not the culture of the world, but of the kingdom of heaven and home.”
Harvest International Center (HIC) was founded in April 1998 under the leadership of Pastor Fred Hsu and his wife Molica. They came to the United States from Taiwan to study in 1969 and were baptized as Christians a year later. Pastor Hsu who gave up his teaching position as a biochemistry professor and his wife who left the social work profession, responded to the call from the Lord, devoting themselves to missionary work for more than 40 years. Their footprints spanned North America and Asia.
- Translated by Stephen Huang
