About this blog series:
We believe that doing justice is key to understanding the gospel, especially to areas of life that society can often dismiss. As such, we want to hear from members of our congregation and their efforts in bringing God’s Kingdom on earth. For this blogpost we interviewed Marco Wan about his work with non-Chinese communities in Hong Kong.
What area or aspect of missional justice are you involved in?
I’ve been involved with our non-Chinese communities in Hong Kong through my volunteer support at Inner Cities Ministries (ICM), my full-time work with Young Life and through a social enterprise called CantoGather. My involvement looks very different depending on the context, from supporting the Saturday kids club at ICM and focusing on teaching Bible stories, to offering practical lessons like teaching Cantonese to kids with CantoGather. I see all of this as just one ministry—to talk about the Gospel and to live it out by meeting the practical needs of others.
Why should God’s people take action? What does Scripture say about it?
There are so many verses that talk about taking action, but I find Jesus’ commandment that we love our neighbours as ourselves in Matthew 22:39 a great summary of what we should do. As people trying to reflect Christ, the life of Jesus is one of talking about the good news while showing care to people who were very different from him. Matthew 25:34-40 also echoes the idea that Jesus wants us to be involved by helping practically in the lives of those in need. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, there’s a consistent theme to care for those who are in need.
How did God lead you to it, and what inspired you to get involved?
During my secondary school years, I was often involved with local service trips or overseas short-term missions, so I felt that serving others was a habit that I had developed. I basically started my involvement with our non-Chinese communities in Hong Kong on a whim as I had free time on my hands and ICM was a Watermark ministry partner. During that period, I essentially just volunteered every Saturday at Kids Club without any prior experience with kids or knowledge of our non-Chinese communities. Over time, I grew to love the kids and our non-Chinese communities, and God opened different doors while sustaining the relationship with ICM. I find that God often connects people who are aligned in the same direction and opportunities to work together appear! My current involvement at CantoGather and Young Life came from serendipitous connections while just serving the community.
How has God impacted you through it?
I am constantly blown away by the grace of God in my life and in the organisations I have been involved in. The more involved I get, the more I see the deep-rooted brokenness that can exist in any community. As I move forward towards brokenness with prayer, God can answer in huge ways. Last year, CantoGather was somehow awarded 100,000HKD from a university tech seed fund even though there was no “tech” in our work. I feel like I see a greater picture of how God is working in the city and I am experiencing a deeper dependency on his grace. At the end of the day, I often feel more blessed through serving than receiving.
What encouragement would you have for Watermark members to get involved?
Start with something small if you feel like you don’t have the capacity. We don’t need to save the world, leave that to Jesus. There are so many great organisations in Hong Kong doing missional justice and Watermark has some great ministry partners that you can start getting involved with. Be sensitive to the Spirit; maybe God has put something on your heart! It could be a video you watched that moved you, something you prayed about during prayer night, or an inspiring conversation you had with a friend. God has already done so much in Hong Kong and will continue to work in this city, but He wants us to partner with him in his work so that we grow to reflect more of Christ.