This summer, the Chinese Christian Herald Crusade Restaurant Gospel Ministry will advance to Europe, where it will partner with local Chinese churches in hosting short-term missions with a title, “A Flavorful Life.” The activities in Germany concluded successfully just last week.
According to the report from CCCOWE’s website, 45 Christians from 5 different European countries participated in the restaurant short-term missions. Their service destination is in Hamburg, Germany. Rev. Deng, senior pastor of Lord Glory Mission to Chinese in Hamburg, led the participants in a week-long training, June 20 thru 27, and led them to visit and evangelize at roughly 500 Chinese restaurants. The biggest accomplishment was the establishment of the Restaurant Gospel Fellowship in Germany, which symbolized another step forward for the Restaurant Gospel Ministry in Europe.
CCHC’s Restaurant Gospel Ministry announced that the schedule for the next Europe Short-term mission has been set to Aug. 18-22 in Brussel, Belgium. They will partner with Belgium Chinese Christian Church with an estimated number of participants of 30-35 people. The tasks include visiting 250 Chinese restaurants in Brussels and holding seminars on restaurant gospel ministry and leadership trainings.
Europe is the place of origin for the Chinese restaurant gospel ministry in the world. It began roughly 30 years ago in United Kingdom. According Rev. David Cheung, the person who began this idea is a Chinese Christian, who used to own several restaurants, but when he felt God’s calling he sold his restaurants and started to evangelize those in the same professions. Later, he became a pastor, and his work continued to develop. Those who came to the Lord through his efforts steadily increased. The restaurant gospel ministry had been operating without a formal organization.
On Christmas of 1992, the restaurant gospel ministry in England was established formally, which marked the beginning of the organization. In the years following, the restaurant gospel ministries were established in Scotland, Ireland, Luxemburg, and Northern Europe (Norway, Sweden). In 2004, an alliance for all European Restaurant Gospel Ministry was established, marking a very important milestone.
According to statistics, most of the Chinese-immigrants in Europe are in the restaurant business, and they relied upon it to both sustain and acquire wealth. Although the Chinese-immigrants are beginning to assimilate into all professions of the society, considering both the scale and the number of workers in the restaurant profession, Chinese Restaurants is still considered as the ‘financial pillar’ for the Chinese immigrants. Restaurant Gospel Ministry serves an important role in evangelizing the Chinese-immigrants living in Europe.
