I first attended the Sunday service at EFCCA on 4 May 2025, the day of the church’s annual general meeting. I was deeply moved by the vitality of this church. As pastors, elders, zone leaders and ministry leaders reported on the rich variety of ministries, Ephesians 4:16 came alive before my eyes: the whole body is joined and held together, and each part does its work.
EFCCA’s vision is “Loving One Another, Blessing Each Other” During our first year here, my family and I truly experienced the love, acceptance and support of brothers and sisters in Christ. In particular, while serving in the evening congregation, God placed many co-workers in our lives who love Him and love people. Serving together, we sought to see no one but Jesus Christ, responding to His love. Their lives have been powerful examples to me.
Jesus taught that when His disciples love one another, they bear witness to Him. When the world recognises us as His disciples, it sees that the Lord is present among us.
In April this year, my husband Jibin was admitted to Auckland Hospital with an acute liver abscess and inflammation. During his illness, our EFCCA family gave us tremendous support and companionship. We experienced afresh the truth that the church is God’s family. I remembered the words of an old hymn: “Those who are one in the Spirit are closer than those who share the same blood.” God opened my eyes to see that, although we are not biological brothers and sisters, in Christ we are truly brothers and sisters.
After leaving pastoral ministry in 2019, I taught in a seminary for five years, then came to New Zealand two years ago and returned to church ministry. My prayer was that God would give me a heart that loves the church and loves souls, because I saw how little love I had and how poorly I knew how to love. Paul wrote that although there may be ten thousand instructors in Christ, there are not many fathers. From the time I arrived, I often heard Pastor Dong encourage ministry and pastoral group leaders to develop a father’s heart.
Many years ago, when I had just begun serving after receiving God’s call, I was full of zeal to do things for the Lord, help people and teach them. One day the Holy Spirit reminded me: ministry does not need me; I need ministry. The Creator of the universe is not short of workers and does not need us to “do” anything for Him. He invites me to serve in His kingdom so that I may experience the beauty of working with Him, be shaped into the likeness of Christ, and know Him more deeply.
Even though our daughter was born when we were middle-aged, and we seemed old enough to have knowledge, experience and emotional maturity, the reality of raising a living, changing child often left me feeling as though my screen had gone blank—helpless, incapable and ignorant. Thanks be to God, He does not demand “perfect parents”; He calls us to be “growing parents.” Education is slow and graceful. As our children grow and we grow older, our life in Christ remains the same: rooted downward and growing upward.
When I was twenty-three and unable to find the purpose of life, Jesus found me. Outwardly I appeared respectable, unlike the visibly tormented man among the Gerasenes, but inwardly I was dead in transgressions and did not even know how badly sin had wounded me. I did not know what it truly meant to live. Jesus came to me, brought me to God, reconciled me to Him and set my feet on the path of righteousness.
When I see God bringing young people into the church so that they may know Him early and live in the light of truth, my heart overflows with thanksgiving and praise. Jesus has never stopped seeking and saving the lost. May He continue to work among the younger generation, take them by the hand, and lead them into an intimate and genuine relationship with Him. May they hear His holy and irresistible call, run after Him, offer themselves to live for Him, walk with Him in their generation, glorify His name, and continue His Great Commission until He returns. Amen.
In Christ, Grace Yu
Written for EFCCA’s 30th Anniversary in Auckland
