John Kong had prepared extensively, waiting for just the right moonless summer night. He could not say goodbye to his parents. He was about to do the unthinkable—swim across the China Sea to Hong Kong and freedom.

John’s Story

I was born in China. When I was 13, my family came under political persecution because of the Great Cultural Revolution. The government coerced my family to go to a rural village to work. They did not let me go to school, and I was always hungry.

At that time I longed to go to a free country, and I wanted to go to school. In 1970 at age 16, I tried to escape from China by walking to Hong Kong. But I got arrested and put in prison for two months, living in inhuman conditions. In 1974 I planned to escape by another route where there were few guards. To prepare myself, instead of sleeping at night, I practiced swimming three hours or more at a time, slept a few hours, and got up for another hard day’s work.

At last I was ready. When conditions were right, I climbed 16 hours over the mountains, then spent over 6 hours swimming across the South China sea, arriving in Hong Kong the next morning. The Hong Kong government welcomed me with an ID card and gave me a chance to go to school. I also was free to find a job as an electrical apprentice. I worked day shift and took night classes to obtain an electrical engineering degree, later earning a masters in engineering management. I lived in Hong Kong 30 years. I had my work and my family and lived in affluence.

In 2004 my wife got a visa in order to keep close to her family in America. She longed to go to the most famous free country in the world. So I took early retirement and went with my family to live in America.

An Idea Germinates

The outreach committee at the Shawnee Reformed Presbyterian Church (then Bill Boyle, chair, Harold Hutcheson, Harlan Urwiler, and Mary Jane Ward) wondered how to reach out to the community for Christ.

They started thinking about the internationals around them. They knew that it is difficult for internationals to make friends with Americans. Most are never invited into the home of an American. Americans often seem big, aloof, confident, and frank. Being new in a community is scary enough, but moving to a new country is overwhelming. One way to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15) is to minister to the people of the world who are around us.

After some discussion, a plan for a Conversation Partners Program was drawn up, presented to the session, and approved. The idea was to match interested Shawnee members with internationals desiring to improve their English. The purpose that was drafted was: Befriending our neighbors for Christ through language.

Community colleges have similar programs, with humanitarian purposes. Other churches in the area have classes for large groups, which are well attended and successful but require several people setting aside the same evening and traveling to the church building. This wasn’t a good fit for Shawnee RPC. The committee decided on a more flexible structure. The conversation pairs would meet once a week for an hour at a time and place convenient for them.

The Program Begins

Things started with buying books and recruiting church members. The coordinator asked her international friends if they’d like to be in the program. To her dismay, they didn’t think they needed it. She kept looking for students and couldn’t find any. How embarrassing! This was supposed to be the easiest part. Then God gave the idea of contacting the Lenexa Chinese Baptist Church. The church responded a few months later with news of a house full of immigrants that “don’t speak any English.” Starting with people who have no English is difficult—and here were 13 people! It was hard to explain what even the simplest sentence means. But the outreach committee decided to take on the challenge.

It turned out that there were two levels of English knowledge among the seven who really wanted to learn. Little electronic dictionaries, tape recorders, and books were a big help. And though things started at a busy time before Christmas, the church members understood the need and got right to work. They began with basic English classes twice a week, which in time changed into the original idea of conversation partners.

Bill Boyle and Carl Barnes started with the “level two” people, Kong and Poon, and Mary Lou Patterson and Debbie Wing worked with the beginners.

Most of that household has moved to other parts of the U.S. Kong and his wife, Han, and their daughter are still here, as well as Han’s brother-in-law, Dennis Poon, and his son, Johnson. Carl Barnes worked over a year with Kong and Poon, and now Ryan Hemphill has replaced Carl. Bill Boyle continues to work with them. Kong writes essays by e-mail to Bill, and Bill returns them with corrections and interacts with him on the subjects he brings up, goes over the improvements, and then Kong reads the corrected essay aloud. They have traveled to different parts of the city and enjoyed seeing different sights.

Bill prays before he goes to meet with Kong, that God will guide the whole time. Last week Kong asked if Bill had a few extra minutes, because his daughter, May May, had an assignment from a religion class at the local community college. This opened the door beautifully to present the gospel message using the verse, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Kong used to be an atheist. Now he believes there is a God. He is a thinking man with many serious questions, and grateful for the friendship and help that his family has received. Since those beginning days, the program has grown. In fact, there are more people on the list than there are workers. Shawnee RPC is enriched by all of these friendships and covets your prayers.

It is the hope and prayer of the congregation that, as pairs meet weekly to study through a workbook, talk about life, have dinner together, take field trips, work on résumés, share recipes, decipher a bill, fill out a form, look on the Internet for a job, or read the Bible and pray together, that souls will be won for Christ, and believers will be encouraged.

From Kong and His Family Members

Kong expressed his thanks to our congregation in this way:

To the Reformed Presbyterian Church;

Thank you so much to your church and the Christians who volunteer to teach us English. Even though we have been learning slowly and are clumsy in speaking, the Christians do not look down on us and are not angry. They are kind and forgiving and are patient with our learning. Now we are accepting to learn your language and follow the Christian outlook on life and worth. In the past year, we were thankful to Bill, Carl, Mary Lou, Debbie, and Mary Jane and others. They have taken time to teach us English and have cared and encouraged us, giving warmth and happiness for our life. Also we are very thankful to their family members for being supportive and tolerant of the time they spend to teach us. We thank God that he arranged and gave us good teachers and helpful friends. They take pleasure in helping people. We will remember them in our lives forever….Although we cannot write a better letter to you, we sincerely want to thank you! Thank God!   —Kong, Wha, Dennis, Han, Ha, May May 3/31/06

What Does the Coordinator Do?

The coordinator recruits church members and looks for interested internationals and matches them according to gender, age, and interest. He or she buys appropriate books and usually meets with people on their first class to help assess the ability of the international and suggest methods and texts. The coordinator is a pinch-hitter, encourager, and reference person.

Texts and Materials

The use of a textbook is recommended because it provides topics for conversation and a systematic progression of learning. Most texts are purchased for a minimal price over the Internet. Students generally want to purchase their textbooks, so there is not a large of outlay of money by the church.

Some Bibles and booklets about Christ in different languages have been used, and advanced students might read and discuss an article from World magazine or Today’s Christian.

For other resources, Sandra Heyer has written some secular textbooks called True Stories, More True Stories, and Even More True Stories—at many different levels. These have very interesting stories from all over the world, along with some comprehension questions and other activities. Survival English I, II, and III by Lee Mosteller/Bobbi Paul are also really helpful. The Oxford Picture Dictionary comes in many languages and is great for conversation and vocabulary building.

Qualifications

Shawnee members speak English well and have basic spelling skills. Though some may feel tentative, they find the Lord gives them good ideas and the right words, and they usually discover they are better prepared through their faith and life than they thought.

Personality doesn’t seem to matter. Anyone from quiet, steady people to the gregarious can have love in their hearts and the ability to do something like this.

Who Has Been Involved?

About 12 Shawnee members and about a dozen internationals have worked in this program. Conversation Partners have included Bill Boyle, Sharon Ward, Carl Barnes, Ryan Hemphill, Seth Wing, Debbie Wing, Barbara Ludlum, Harold Hutcheson, Mary Lou Patterson, Ruth Spear, Mary Jane Ward, and members of some of their families as helpers and substitutes. Internationals have been reached from Japan, Iraq, Thailand, the Sudan, Taiwan, and China.

Impact on the Church

“Anytime there’s an opportunity to break outside our group, it’s a good thing. I think it’s encouraging to the church to be able to see God working in the lives of people—ours and theirs,” says Elder Bill Boyle. “I’ve been encouraged with Kong’s graciousness. It has been a real blessing to make friends with him—a real pleasant interaction.”

Pastor Wade Mann is encouraged to see that quite a variety of people—from officers of the church to new members—have joined in this effort. “It has also been encouraging to see some of the effects in the lives of the members—God working in their lives.”

Horizons have been widened and friendships have been developed for life. Through personal involvement there has been growth. Lonely hours have been filled for some, a niche to serve has been found, and opportunities have been made for personal evangelism.

Shawnee RPC has appreciated being able to work with the Lenexa Chinese Baptist Church for a broader base of support for some of the partners. It has been a blessing to minister the gospel of Christ in cooperation with other