Mike Wang (left) baptizes Zheng Zihao in Lake Washington. Zheng became a member of one of two Chinese-Lutheran worshiping groups in the state of Washington begun by Wang and his wife, Rowena Wang, also a pastor.
council gladly made room. “God opened the door,” Rowena
Wang said.
Worshipers from Grace Chinese Lutheran Church of South King County walk to a small island on Lake Washington to witness the baptism of new Chinese arrival Zihao.
instance. That changed after the Wangs
made the Northwest their home. Grace Chinese Lutheran, an estab- lished congregation in Seattle, had helped support their training at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong. It was a natural choice for the Wangs to bring their dream of starting Chinese Lutheran groups to Washington. The Wangs arrived in 2005, when the Chinese presence in the Northwest was growing fast. In King County, the population of Chinese residents grew 54 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to the U.S. Census.
Some 69,212 King County resi-
dents (3.6 percent of the total popu- lation) identified as Chinese in 2010, more than three times the proportion of Chinese to the general population nationally. The 2010 count, while still relatively small, was a sharp rise from the 45,018 Chinese residents in the county in 2000, then 2.6 percent of the general population. Word travels fast through South King County’s Chinese community, and the Wangs became well-known, first as volunteer pastors. Six fami- lies in Federal Way then asked them to be their pastors. The families and pastors had
spotted centrally located Calvary. On three separate occasions, they prayed in the church parking lot that God would find them a house of worship. Melanie Wallschlaeger, an ELCA pastor and director for evan- gelical mission for the Southwestern Washington Synod, quickly helped. Calvary’s pastor, Lori Cornell, and
Southwestern Washington Synod Bishop Robert D. Hofstad has had an initiative to start congregations. But in this case, the Wangs came to him. “Sometimes starting new mission congregations means getting out of the way of the Holy Spirit’s work, and then supporting that work when it becomes helpful,” Hofstad said. The Wangs acknowledge it hasn’t been easy convincing longtime members of house churches to come to a church building instead. Mike Wang looks to the Old Tes- tament. “We challenge them, ‘Do you want to go back to Egypt, or do you want to go to Canaan?’ ” he said. The Wangs anticipate spending
at least 10 years growing Grace Chi- nese Lutheran Church and Federal Way Chinese Fellowship. They hope by then both will be full-fledged congregations that grew because they stood ready for the new Luther- ans of tomorrow, like Zihao, Tee and Liu.
With tears in her eyes, Liu said
after worship that she had found the prayer support she needed for her depressed son. “Wow, I’m so happy,” she said.
January 2012 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52