2007-12-14

ABCDE - A Summary of My Past 3 months in HK-Dr. David Chan

 - Rev. David Chan

I will leave Hong Kong for Vancouver on December 1 and return to Hong Kong on December 28. The second term of the school will start on December 27 which is a Thursday. I will be teaching on Monday and Wednesday that term and do not need to teach until December 31. I had finished my last class on November 26 and submitted all the grades of the two classes to the school on November 29. The whole faculty was in the city campus on November 27 and 28 from 9 am to 5 pm for a quarter and year end planning meeting. I was not back to Cheung Chau until 11 pm on both nights which I would explain later. As I reflected on my last three months of ministry in Hong Kong, I could summarize it with one word - blessings or five letters - ABCDE.

Adjusting to Hong Kong's living and pace -

I took the 750 am slow ferry on November 27 and 28 and arrived in the central district between 840 and 845. I was the first one to disembark and walked hurriedly to take the MTR to get to Wan Chai where the city campus is located. I managed to arrive no later than 905 in around twenty minutes from the ferry pier to the city campus by speed walking and of course via the MTR. Not only I walked very fast, I even walked on the moving escalators and electric walkways. That actually was not unusual around that time for the people in central. Some even run! I remember the people in Hong Kong were once described as someone who would not even miss a revolving door. I had that experience on November 28 as I was leaving the Pacific Plaza. Some one opened the door for about one second before me and I was trying to just get out in that space before the door was closed so I did not need to spend time and efforts to open that door. But on the other side another person was also trying to do so in a reverse direction. I immediately walked faster and beat him in doing that. Wow, we missed each other narrowly for a crash! I totally adjusted to the pace of living in Hong Kong and even enjoyed it at least in that incident.

Broadening my ministry -

Out of the thirteen Sundays of my stay in Hong Kong from August 28 to December 1, I need to preach on ten of them. Furthermore in 2008, I need to preach on twenty one Sundays out of the twenty five Sundays from January to June before I anticipate returning to Vancouver at the end of June. I have declined many invitations already including some which fall on the other four Sundays for I want to get some vacation time for myself and my wife. At the beginning of the 2008, I need to join the board meeting of the International Short Term Mission Fellowship on January 2 besides joining the board of Breakthrough Organization. Actually on the first week of 2008, I need to teach twice and preach in the morning assembly in the school, preach twice in a year end retreat of a church and also in the wedding of Paxson and Michelle. Paxson used to worship in PGMBC. I thank God for allowing me to serve Him in all these capacities. I was also delighted to submit all the materials for my third book to Ming Dao press before I leave for Vancouver. I am still considering whether I will join a text book writing project in which I will focus on the area of preaching.

Charting ABS's course -

President Leung led the faculty for a two days discussion on the future course of the school on November 27 and 28. He first laid out his vision of the school besides sharing his experience as the president for the last two years. Different issues have been discussed, different projects have been launched, different protocols have been established and different core values have been reaffirmed. The atmosphere was relaxed, the exchanges were constructive, the mutual support was evident and the long range growth was positive. I also enjoyed my first western style buffet for the last three months in the Marriot hotel inside the Pacific Plaza on November 27 and also the Chinese lunch around the table with thirteen colleagues in an elegant yet crowded Chinese restaurant across the street from the city campus. Of course, I enjoyed the time of fellowship more than the food. The food came with a price but the fellowship was priceless.

Dedicating to His glory -

There are thirty three new students who will start their study on January as part time evening students in the city campus under the Lay Leaders Training Department. As the acting director of that department which has over four hundred and fifty students, I need to welcome those new students in the evening on November 27 and that was the reason I was not home until 11pm that night as well as the following. I used the logo (the cross and the crown), theme (Jude: 20) and spirit (Strive innovatively, Suffer willfully, Serve passionately) of the school to encourage them from now on they are image bearers of Christ and ambassadors of ABS. I was also in the HK stadium for the Franklin Graham Festival Dedication service in the evening of November 28. It was being held from November 29 to December 2. It has been over ten years since a city wide evangelistic campaign was being held in that stadium. All the churches in Hong Kong are all behind this and I also dedicated myself to serve Hong Kong in that service.

Enjoying our team -

I thoroughly enjoyed the time in class as I taught preaching to thirty nine students in the last quarter. I was more than pleases to see my students of my Homiletics 3 class had found a more contextualized way of narrative preaching acceptable in the Chinese church. Besides the students, I have had a good working relationship and delightful interaction with the staff and faculty. I am frank, open, talkative and joking around in ABS as before when I was serving in PGMBC. I felt their acceptance towards me. I can be the same old me without pretending someone I am not in the school. They also bear with me as a person and also many times with my simple, naïve but frequent remarks, comments and suggestions. I learnt a lot from them and their support to me is greatly appreciated.