Reflections of My 18 Years of Serving
美佳之窗 His Window 85（ Jan - Mar 2019 ）
Text by Stephen Cheng
Stephen Cheng is promoted to Honorary LCEC
No one will probably disagree with me that, as Christians, serving the Lord is not an option, it is a must! I make this statement because Jesus Christ is the best example for us to emulate to serve. Jesus said in Mark 10:45, “Even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve others and give His life as ransom for others.” Jesus Christ is the Son of God. As the Heavenly Prince, He could have stayed back with His Father God to enjoy all the glory, riches, power, authority and eternity in peace and comfort! Yet, He chose to obey His Father to come down to earth as a man to serve, suffer and die for the sinful people for just one single purpose, that is to reconcile them to His Father! Before His ascension to heaven, Jesus passed a very important instruction to His disciples to preach the Gospel to the people of the whole world (Matthew 28:19 the great commission).
Whether you like it or not, everyone who is a Christian is a disciple of Christ! He or she carries a mission to evangelize the Gospel! Serving the Lord in any way is part and parcel of evangelizing for Christ, be it in the church, at home or at the workplace. In the church, all ministries are being instituted for the purpose of serving God and ministering to people who need the Gospel. I believe that whatever we do in serving God, no matter how small the role we play, it will not be in vain (1 Cor 15:58). So, serving helps God fulfill His great plan of salvation, reaching out to the unsaved people with the good news of the Gospel!
Armed with this belief, I boldly committed to serve the Lord, entering into the publication ministry 18 years ago, as the chairman of the committee. Never did I realize that I was able to continuously serve for 18 years! I strongly believe that it was all God’s plan in which I was called to serve Him in this ministry, now named the Publication and Information Committee (PIC). Believe me, if it is God’s plan, every thing must work! God does not make mistakes! He sets His eyes on people He wants to use, not necessarily people of high education, rich financial background or super intelligence. Jesus picked the 12 disciples who were mostly poor,uneducated and humble, but obedient to serve together with Him for three years. These disciples turned out to be the most important historical people who were instrumental to the strong embracement of the Christian Faith, even up to today. Never mind who you are, when you are called by God, serve Him with the gifts that you are best suited in, and with the right attitude. Only serving with your heart and with the right attitude will bring the desired results which will surely please God.
Stephen recieves great support and companionship from wife ( Elizabeth) during his journey of ministry serving
I am an ordinary Christian without tertiary education and I came from a poor family background. I did not think I could ever be of much service to God. In the early stage of my Christian life, I thought that attending Sunday service and weekly offering were my primary duties. Serving in the church ministries should be left to the more educated and capable people. But, I was totally wrong!
One day, God intervened the ways I thought and changed my heart. Through Rev Ho, I was called and challenged to serve in the publication ministry. Initially, I did hesitate a great deal and find reasons not to accept the call, to the extent that God had to use my son James to encourage me to take it up. Suddenly, I realized that it must be God’s plan to start off my first and only career in a publishing company, and now He wanted me to serve Him in the publication ministry in Mega CMC.
As a greenhorn in serving God, I indeed struggled a lot to understand the ministry scope and how I could do best to serve Him, especially having to deal with a Chinese bulletin called ‘His Window’, with a shallow knowledge of Mandarin. I couldn’t fully understand the conversations that often crossed over the meeting table among the writers and editors who discussed and finalized on the contents of every issue. Deep inside me, I felt rather embarrassed, and at the same time I had to put up a brave front pretending to understand what was going on. But, my pretense was not good enough to cover my naivety, because their gentle and friendly grins revealed it all! Yet, I knew I had to overcome the language problem since I was put in charge of the ministry. As I continued to lead the ministry, I realized that I needed God’s guidance, my humility and patience to be my driving force to serve well. I learned to persevere. Probably, it was why I, together with all committee members could contribute much success to and establish a cohesive function of the PIC.
Throughout the years of serving together with the different groups of editors, writers, proof-readers, and graphic designers, I have gained much experience and knowledge of how the church reading materials (His Window, baptism booklets and non-fictions, gospel tracts and Sunday worship bulletins) should be efficiently published. This effort could not have been achieved if not because of the commitments of the PIC team members who voluntarily sacrificed their time, experiences and professions in every single issue of the publications. In fact, their untiring spirit and good attitude of serving as a team always inspired me to serve on even harder without much complaining. Serving in PIC has moulded me to be more spiritually matured, passion-oriented, tolerant, caring and understanding as a Christian leader. Praise the Lord for His guidance, wisdom and provisions all these years, giving me the privilege of co-working with Him in PIC! I must thank God over the past 18 years, enabling me to establish a good working relationship with the PIC members, and build a practical relationship with Him!
Beginning 2019, I passed the baton to brother Ernest Tan, though with a heavy heart, I am well pleased and believe that he will be a better leader to helm the PIC. Two main reasons contribute to my decision to step down after much consideration and a series of prayers. Firstly, my wife Elizabeth and I need to be (near) with our second and third generations in Melbourne owing to our old age, and some imminent circumstances, and the family bonding is essential. Secondly, I feel that it’s appropriate time that a younger candidate should take over the duty to serve more efficiently with fresh ideas and new leadership style. I sincerely pray that God will guide PIC to further improve to a higher level, and its services will greatly bless Mega CMC and its worshippers.
All glory be unto God the Father Almighty!
