In November 2013, Pastor Anton Cruz prayed and prophesied over us, “Father, we thank you for calling fathers and mothers for the nations, especially fathers and mothers for native people. You will take kings and queens in your chariots to the native people, the tribal people. God is going to use you to be the fathers and mothers. There are going to be new chariots, the Lord says I am going to give you chariots… Father, we see the horses carrying the chariots that will be breaking the yokes… You are called for nations and the aboriginals, they need fathers and mothers. God raised you up so you can release them with you….”
At that time, the most we could think of was the native people in Taiwan or China, never expected it to be the First Nations in America, because we did not know any at that time. In September 2015, at a gathering in Forerunner Church in Fremont, Pastor Chiang invited grand chief Lynda Prince to share. It was the first Native American I came into contact with and the first time I heard their hearts. Before leaving, she said, “When you go back try to find some on the east coast.”
In July 2017, we had a small “homecoming” gathering in Egg Harbor, New Jersey, with a total of 80 people, including 21 Chinese from China and 3 or 4 Native Americans. Pastor Peter Smith of Philadelphia said, “In the history of the First Nations of America much unrighteousness has been done to them, the Chinese can unlock and help restoring.” Actually, $3,000 the Chinese brought from China plus the offering we received at the gathering after expenses, totaled $6,000 were all given to the First Nation for the urgent venue renting need of the “All Tribe DC” in October of that year.
In December 2018, we held another three-day gathering again in Egg Harbor. There were 400 people signed up, including 40 natives. We didn’t do it specifically for them, nor did we specifically encourage them to come, but a lot of them came one after another. It was the work of God. Many Chinese also donated money to help them travel. God also moved the local Praise Tabernacle church to provide finance, venues, prayers, transportation to and from the airport, accommodation, and mobilize the kitchen to devote all their efforts to making three wonderful meals each day for hundreds of people!
This was the beginning of our journey and becoming a family with the Native Americans. Since 2016 many things happened. Pastor Peng was the first to visit the reservations in Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Oklahoma. Later, some of us went to Carlisle, Pennsylvania to see the cemetery of the boarding school for American Indian children. In June 2019, 14 Chinese from east coast, and Pastor and Mrs. Wu from Taiwan, plus a dozen non-Chinese from east coast, west coast and Texas went to the nine reservations of South Dakota for ten days of worship and prayer. Many breakthroughs occurred in the reservations that we visited. We also financially supported some First Nation people to go to the “Homecoming” gatherings in Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Our hope is that some of them can appreciate the core value of “Homecoming” because we believe it will definitely help them to walk in unity among their tribes.
Just before the outbreak of the Coronavirus, in February 2020, we invited them to come to DC for three days. There were 11 native, 2 caucasians, 12 out of town Chinese, 5 or 6 local Chinese gathered, we cooked and ate, brewed coffee, worshipped, prayed, fellowshipped, shared stories and finally made a salt covenant. A family was formed and God’s love truly knits us together. In the next ten months, to this day, we meet often online to share our hearts with each other. During the pandemic, 8 of us even bought tickets and planned to travel by train for 20 some hours to visit them in Mississippi. That love is genuine, it’s from God, it is the heart of the Father! And He actually has chosen us the Chinese for this endeavor!
A few weeks ago, while sharing on Zoom, a sister from Oklahoma said that she would like to come to the East Coast to visit and spend Christmas with us. We said, okay! Immediately afterwards, others also wanted to come. As a result, 7 came from Montana, North Dakota and New Mexico. There were 21 local Chinese and 1 Korean, making a total of 29. In Pastor Peng’s new home, we gathered the whole day, worshiping, praying, eating, chatting, exchanging gifts, sharing about “Homecoming”, and ministering to each other. God did a great work again, not man’s plan or arrangement. When we are humble, with our heart right, willing to love and honor each other, accept and forgive each other, be family, then God will work, not human effort but God.
Two of them stayed in our house for the whole week, having three meals a day, chatting, talking about “Homecoming” and learning about Chinese calligraphy. They didn’t go anywhere, but they absorbed a lot. For a week, they were touched by the presentation of the corporate east coast Chinese “family”. It’s not religion but a sincere heart, not striving for title or position, but for love and relationship, no preaching, just the family formed by God’s love. Without the love of a family people would be harder to be drawn to God’s Kingdom. So, let’s love on people, love people into the Kingdom. God’s Kingdom is a family, there each orphan becomes the beloved son and daughter, prince and princess. Our mission is not to gather the lost in the world, tell them to believe in Jesus and go to heaven as orphans! God is the Father, His Kingdom is a family, therefore His church should also be a family. And that is exactly what people are looking for. This world is a big orphanage, thus the church of God should not be an orphanage. The First Nation shared that what they were disappointed and couldn’t find in their own tribes they have found it among the Chinese in the past few days. They were touched, wept, and kept praising God. We also told them that, in fact, the Chinese are no exception, so are the American churches – most of churches are institutions, only very few are families.
This time they saw a sample on the east coast and saw a glimpse of hope for their people. One said, “I thought I was the only one left in my family, but today I know that I have this Chinese family. There is no price tag to all these that we’ve received this week. We will bring it back and I am afraid that our luggages will be so over weight! I will rent a big air B and B and gather those who are ready to hear it, I want to share with them about the ‘Homecoming’. ‘Homecoming’ is on its way, and I will give you a progress report soon.” Another one said, “Only new wineskin can house new wine and only relationship aspect can bring explosion and breakthrough. Without you Chinese, I don’t know whether I can make it to this day.”
God is omniscient, He knows everything. He already knew. He said, “See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42:9) Without our knowing it, we have already stepped into His eternal plan. O, Lord, Your name is Wonderful!
Harvest International Center