Editor’s note: David Liu was born in northern China, and moved to Hong Kong in 2011. He earned his Masters of Theology at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, and started a small house church in Hong Kong in 2019. He and his wife, Amanda, are also merrily toiling to disciple their two energetic little kids.

Last year, we witnessed a social movement in Hong Kong and this year, we have the virus [COVID-19]. The social movement changed society, with some people standing on the left, and others standing on the right. What’s worse, the movement also separated the church. The church’s influence for the future will be impacted. There are people who left the church to avoid conflict, while others who stayed within the church continue to fight one another. Unity is something we need to pray for for Hong Kong churches. 

To make it worse, the people active in the social movement are the younger generation. These young people should be pillars of the church in the future – but many of them may have left the church for good. As a harbor city, Hong Kong has welcomed many people in the past. People come quickly, and people go quickly. This is a threat to church growth, but it also means more opportunities to be a witness to Jesus. The growth is more outside of Hong Kong than inside Hong Kong.

In the future, more and more local people will move out, while simultaneously, more Mandarin-speaking people, many from Mainland China, move in. Local churches have been very faithful in protecting the local Cantonese-language culture. But after 2020, we will see a fast change within society. In Hong Kong, there are over 1,300 Cantonese-speaking churches and hundreds of English-speaking churches, but only a handful of Mandarin-speaking churches. The church is not ready to be a witness to the increasing number of Mandarin-speaking people moving in. I am praying that the Lord will send and support more Mandarin-language ministers to serve this increasing number of people.  

The virus has changed society in every way. Church worship has become an online service. We are together, and we are not. We gather, but we are far from each other.  The city is one of the richest cities in the world,, and yet there are the poorest people living in it. The city enjoyed so-called “freedom” for some years, and as this freedom is taken away, it is painful.

Freedom: when it is wanted more than our Lord, it becomes an idol.

Money: when it is worshipped more than our Lord, it becomes an idol. 

Housing security: when it takes offerings from our Lord, it becomes an idol. 

Education: when the Lord is not taught in it, it becomes our idol.

Will the Lord free people from these idols?

Hong Kong is known because of its prosperity, not because of its faith. But there are faithful believers in the city praying that the Lord will free some of our souls. Your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.  

FOR REFLECTION

This pastor talks of believers praying for God to free the people of Hong Kong from their idols. Do you think social, political, familial, and cultural unrest is a necessary part of the process people go through as God overturns idols?