The Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism kicked off the virtual 2021 International Entrepreneurs Missional Disciples Training Conference on Wednesday.
Rev. David Doong, general secretary of the Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE) said in the promotional video that as early as in the 20th century, Pastor Billy Graham stated that the next wave of evangelism movement would happen in Christians in the workplace. As the vision of CCCOWE which was founded by more than 70 Chinese church leaders in 1976 is “Chinese Churches in One Accord, Proclaiming the Gospel until Christ's Return”, the evangelism mission of God would be completed through churches, evangelistic organizations, seminaries, stores, marketplaces, and believers from a wide variety of professions.
With the theme of “Conquer! And to Conquer!” the conference is aimed at encouraging professional Christians to respond to the higher calling of life - be fishers of men who regard evangelism and church planting as their lifetime values and concept of wealth.
More than 200 Christian businesspeople participated in the opening session in which three speeches were given.
Benjamin Nan, general secretary of Christian Business & Marketplace Connection Taiwan said, “We have experienced the influence and impacts of the environment many times amid the difficulties for more than a year. The Bible says that we live in the world but do not belong to this world. Hence, we believe that God’s wisdom can help us overcome various kinds of circumstances and hardships.”
In his report, Nan shared three measures that the interdenominational, evangelical Christian organization had taken to serve Christian professionals. Bible verse cards and prayer cards were made for entrepreneurs to inspire their spiritual growth, online business lectures about Peter F. Drucker were given to enhance their capabilities, and financial mutual help campaigns were conducted online to help people in need.
Dr. Susanna Ma, executive director of the Hong Kong Church Network for the Poor, recalled the story of how her team showed concern to the poor in the past year in a video report.
Christians and those who were unable to go abroad to share the gospel with others were suggested to visit local Hong Kong people in need. When grassroots families in Hong Kong were confronted with financial and emotional problems, their institute distributed consumption coupons worthy of 6,00 Hong Kong dollars to 10,000 locals, established a job matching platform, and provided free training for those who were eager for employment yet without relevant skills.
Hilton Chan, Ph.D., adjunct professor at the Business School of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, shared how his team has been helping young people start with small-scale entrepreneurship. Tracing back to his childhood when he received education and help from the church, the CEO of two companies said that the cooperation between the church and the marketplace could be a better witness of Christ.
“The success of YouTube results from establishing a platform attracting many audiences. Uber has grown in such a mode. A big platform starts with a small group of individual people. The church is also a big platform where people gather. So, the combination of a huge platform and micro-scale population can be a good mode of openness, sharing, and mutual prosperity,” Chan said.
“I expect young people to talk about their dreams back in the church. We are pleased to offer start-up funds and backing through sharing technology, experiences, and faith support.”
After the speeches, the attendees joined in group sharing meetings based on their mother languages.
“The Hong Kong churches supporting the poor shared by Dr. Ma is well done, which has given us many inspirations. There is always a way to do charity. How care is provided to underprivileged people in a grid-based way to bring out influence will be an impact to the world and a witness for the Lord,” a sister confessed.
