Chinese Christians gathered for a three-day mission conference to reaffirm the importance of spreading the gospel through media.
Over 350 people consisting of ministers and lay believers from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, United States, Canada, and Australia participated in “The Miracle is Coming” from August 13th – 15th at Golden Palm Tree Resort in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Andrew Yun Man-Fai, executive director of The Media Evangelism Limited (TMEA), said that the purpose of this gathering is to follow after Jesus and evangelize and for like-minded believers in the media industry can share and exchange ideas. He also hopes that the participants can realize that media is a crucial battle ground of spiritual warfare and be encouraged to make the best use of their resources and talents to serve in media ministries.
There was a revival meeting, where those participated accepted the 2012 Media Missionary Conference Declaration – [we] will try our best to seek Biblical truth, justice, perfection, love and selflessness, unify the body of Christ, recruit the gifted and encourage them to serve, seeking the most efficient and effective ways to feed the information need of this generation, share the gospel and build a society based on biblical values.
Despite the widely recognized impacts of media in the people’s lives, churches have not been able to see the impact of Bible values communicated through the media. As a result, the organizing committee hopes to communicate and discuss the methods and reasons for effective dissemination of the gospel through media.
The three-day conference was the first of its kind within the Chinese Christian communities in the world. Special topic workshops and media revival meetings were led and taught by seasoned media professionals.
Rev. Jinguang Huang and Rev. Kwong shared that God has called us to obey and carry out His will on earth as it is in heaven. Evangelism through media is not only referring to sharing Bible messages, but also to creating the culture of Christ – the outward display of Christian values through today’s media channels.
Kwong reminded the participants that there are many temptations in the entertainment and media industry, so Christians should live putting our sinful desires to death every day.
Rev. Enoch Lam, founder and volunteer executive director of “Network J International”﹐and senior pastor of Crossroad Community Baptist Church Hong Kong, said that it is prevalent for the public to cast doubts toward the media and entertainment industry. For example, churches may use media, but rarely think about influencing the media through evangelizing and disciple actors. While missionaries are like the army that reminds the church to include the media industry as their target of evangelism, the media is like the air force in bringing the gospel to the mass.
Han-zu Chen, research director of Malaysia Bible Seminary, and Rev. Zong-wen Wu spoke on the appeal of Christian cultures. In the wake of post-modernism impact on Christianity, Wu reminded followers to stand firm in their faith, hold onto the truth, and share the gospel in order to conquer the warfare in both the spiritual and cultural arena. In his research he found 26 movies that contained the values of Christ, and he thinks it is very incredible to do such research. The image of Christ can be represented through various perspectives. He encourages all believers should use their creativity to produce an appealing gospel message.
Yuen has produced multiple movies, documentaries, 3D animations, and musical dramas that portrayed the gospel. He encourages using a variety of media forms to create momentum and influence.
“We cannot fight alone in this battle. What can a group of people do? We need to connect internationally and inter-culturally to break all the barriers among us. I believe that’s what God want us to do. No matter how excellent or influential our churches, organizations, or talents may be, our own strength is not enough to combat against the culture of the world. The only way to fight is to obey God’s commandments; if we create a community of love and forgiveness, then the world will see and know that we belong to Christ,” he said.
To facilitate spreading gospel through media, TMEA has created an electronic tool called “gospel box”, which can store movies, television programs, and other types of media products and enables them to be played on any computer and television sets. The advantages are that these programs can be watched even in remote areas and in places of Muslim majority nations such as Malaysia.
TMEA has already uploaded movies and TV programs that they’ve produced in the last 23 years into the “Gospel Box.” With this tool, anybody can hold an evangelistic gathering.
“The Miracle is Coming” conference received wide-spread support from pastoral leaders, actors, and associates from various media ministries. Those gathered also reaffirmed their God-given callings to use media to spread the gospel, allowing life-transforming testimonies to take place from all around the world.
[Angie Hung contributed to the report.]
