Tonight, over 700 million people will gather around their TVs with family members for the most watched entertainment program of the year, the Chinese New Year Gala, broadcast by China Central Television. (By contrast, the Super Bowl will be watched by about 100 million viewers.)
With Chinese people spread widely among the nations of Asia—Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia have millions—and now throughout the West, Chinese New Year will be celebrated around the world, drawing attention to an ancient culture’s history and its spring festival’s colorful traditions.
To mark the Chinese New Year, for the next several days Disciples Today will publish a series of articles written by our correspondent in mainland China, who is even now preparing to celebrate the Chinese New Year in the traditional way in a village in Northeastern China.
Disciples of Jesus in the International Churches of Christ in China have even more reason to celebrate going into this New Year festival.
The almost 2,000-member strong Hong Kong Church of Christ, one of the early church plantings from the Boston Church of Christ, continues to inspire, encourage and strengthen Chinese disciples all over the world.
Last Friday night, the entire congregation met for an all-church devotional, with the theme “Full of Hope.” Some of the highlights:
- A new mission team, comprised of young Christians from mainland China and One Year Challenge volunteer disciples took the stage to be officially sent off with the prayers of the entire Hong Kong Church of Christ. Nine disciples will now be sharing the gospel of Jesus in a city of 7 million!
- The HKCOC campus ministry re-building continues to gain momentum, with 94 students and now, for the first time in many years, more brothers than sisters.
- Much of the growth in campus has been fueled by a revived teen ministry, with 18 teens baptized in 2013, including 13 with at least one parent who is a disciple.
- An inspiring video documented an all-church effort to reach out to Hong Kong’s elderly, and HOPE worldwide CEO Randy Jordan lauded the Hong Kong church’s contribution to the charity’s global efforts.
- Four evangelists and four women’s ministry leaders received their appointments before the church. These appointments follow closely on last January’s appointments of another four young evangelists for greater China—eight within 12 months! Raising up the next generation of Chinese church leaders is crucial to evangelizing the world’s over 1 billion Chinese people.
Next in this series: What’s It Like to Be a Christian in China?
