Remembering Gwen Wong

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 17:50:40 +0000

Gordon Govier

Remembering Gwen Wong

Gwen Wong was ��ñ��’s second Asian American staff member and was known throughout her adult life for her love of teaching inductive Bible study. She was also known at one time for her fastball. She left this life for her heavenly reward on September 21, 2018. She was 94 years old.

Gwen was introduced to inductive Bible study at ��ñ��’s Campus in the Woods in Canada in 1945, while a student at the University of California—Berkeley. She decided to attend Biblical Seminary in New York to learn how to teach inductive Bible study. To raise money for tuition, she spent the summer of 1947 as a pitcher for Chicago’s Bloomer Girls professional softball team.

Gwen felt that God had called her to work with students in China, but when she graduated from seminary China was closed to missionaries. She accepted Stacey Woods’s invitation to join ��ñ�� and pioneer student ministries in what was then the US territory of Hawaii, as a step towards China.

After four years on US staff she moved even closer to China in 1952 when Stacey Woods sent her, through the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), to pioneer student work in the Philippines. Joined by her friend and coworker Mary Beaton, ministry in the Philippines flourished.

Seven years later, Gwen and Mary left ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship Philippines in the hands of the leaders they had mentored and moved on to other assignments. Stacey Woods later described their work as “a classic example of the New Testament pattern of those who could found a work and then move on, instead of following the disastrous pattern of so much missionary paternalism.”

Working with IFES, Gwen continued student ministry and teaching inductive Bible study in Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia. However, she did not think of herself as a missionary. In a 2015 interview she said, “I just thought of myself as an ��ñ�� staff member.” In the photo above, she is shown with Robert Finley, ��ñ��’s first evangelist, who also ministered in many parts of Asia after leaving ��ñ�� staff.

In 2010 Gwen was honored for her pioneering work with ��ñ�� at a meeting of ��ñ��’s Asian American Ministries staff team. Lisa Espineli Chinn, former director of ��ñ��’s International Student Ministry, grew up in the Philippines and views herself as part of Gwen Wong’s legacy. Her older sisters were part of the campus Bible study led by Gwen.

“Gwen truly knew what student initiative was, what empowering national people meant,” she said. “Gwen left the Philippines in the hands of indigenous leaders and it is still a thriving student movement to this day. We owe her a great debt of gratitude.”

You can read more about Gwen in this 2010 article on our website. A memorial service was held October 13, in the chapel at Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles. In lieu of flowers, donations are being accepted for ��ñ��.

News Keywords

Pioneer

inductive bible study

Musical Ambassadors

AD-16225 — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:55:57 +0000

News

Musical Ambassadors

A student from China became a Christian just before coming to study at a college in Ohio. This student, who we will call Jared in order to protect his family, connected with ��ñ��’s fellowship for international students on this campus through Chris, ��ñ��’s student leader.

Jared and Chris became close friends with two other Christian students in the Music Certificate program.This past summer these three friends accompanied Jared in a Chamber Music Tour to China. Chris explained how it all came together.

Uncontainable Faith

I found out not long after meeting Jared that the faith in Christ he discovered in his native China was uncontainable. You could not have an interaction with him and be unaffected by Christ’s life exuding from him. He possessed a kind of pure and vibrant faith you typically see in more mature believers. It was surprising for me to discover that he had only been a Christian for several months and that his beliefs were not shared by his family members back home.

As the first believer among his relatives, Jared had a longing to reach his family with the gospel in a creative and authentic way. As Jared’s friendship deepened with the three of us, God revealed to him that bringing this particular group of friends from America, united in faith and art, could powerfully express to his relatives the reality of faith in Christ.

When he proposed the idea of performing in China to the three of us, we were excited by the opportunity. But none of us had ever done anything like this or had even heard of anyone doing anything quite like this before. Little did we know that Jared was laboring with God in prayer about our mission. As a result, pieces of the puzzle began falling into place.

All the Pieces Fell Into Place

The dean from Jared’s alma mater in China invited us to perform, agreeing to advertise our concert and provide a venue for it free of charge. A relative who was a university professor in southeast China also offered to host a concert at her institution. We realized that Jared’s idea was possible after all.

Our next obstacle was financial. How could four grad students afford to travel to China and live there for three weeks? We witnessed another miracle through the financial aid of an arts advocacy organization affiliated with our School of Music.

Members of the local Christian community also provided significant funding and essential prayer support. It was humbling to see Christians from so many churches in our city selflessly contribute to Jared's vision. I have never experienced the body of Christ coming together in such a loving and sacrificial way to champion a cause for God's Kingdom. In the end we had more than the amount needed to make the trip a reality.

The final challenge was the trip itself. How could four students coming from very different backgrounds fare together in a high stress environment abroad? How would the audiences receive our performances?

Better than Imagined

Our time in China offered more to us than we could have imagined. We gave two formal performances of our musical program, World Potpourri: A Collage Recital. We featured nationalistic music of various classical composers as well as works with biblical texts or themes as a way to reflect our ensemble’s ethnic diversity and highlight the Source that drew us together.

Many important people attended our concerts, such as deans and professors of music, from both China and America. We received many positive comments about our performances, as well as too many flower bouquets to count.

More than 1,000 people attended our humble recital in Jared’s hometown. The local news broadcast portions of our performance and an interview with Jared on TV. We accepted countless requests for pictures and even autographs!

We also experienced a true insider’s view of Chinese society. We had the chance to eat dinner in Chinese homes, have meaningful conversation with family members and friends, interact with a local artist on the Great Wall, and hike across waterfall-strewn mountains and through remote villages.

A Contribution to a Local Fellowship

At one hotel our cleaning lady spotted a Chinese Bible we were carrying. She revealed that she also was a worshipper of Jesus and shared how her whole village turned from idols to serve the living God in 1990 through the work of a Chinese missionary. Her village was in the process of building a church but lacked funds to install windows and doors. We were able to bless these precious believers with a financial gift for their building and pray with her for their spiritual needs.

I think she blessed us much more than we blessed her. Listening to our Chinese sister’s stories of how Jesus transformed her life and the lives of those in her community, and sing worship songs to God in Mandarin, brought us to tears. We learned that God is at work in bigger ways than we can perceive in the lives of those we often forget.

The Fruit of the Gospel

The fruit of the gospel is spreading at an explosive rate in China, but we observed that many impediments such as social structures, cultural attitudes, and spiritual strongholds are still preventing the Good News of Jesus to do what it was fully intended to do there. We continue to pray for Jared and his witness, Jared’s parents, and the vitality of the community of believers in villages like those of our cleaning lady.

Since we’ve returned from China, I think we are still in a state of awe over how all four of our lives came together so beautifully at just the right place and time to partake on this adventure. Making music to the Lord in a distant land brought new, fresh perspectives to our individual lives as Christian musicians, as well as a deeper appreciation for cross-cultural friendships in Jesus.

News Keywords

music

China

Arts Ministry