The Continuous Renewal of New Wineskins

Thank God that our church has become a big Tree of Life family upon continuous renewal by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, God’s footsteps never end! We were new wineskins in the past. How can we be constantly renewed to hold the new wine?

When our church was first established, we moved from Fort Street to North Point Pier. Pastor Lyan, who used to attend a traditional church, was drawn to 611 out of her longings. She took the prophetic course and attended the evangelistic meetings and witnessed power healing and deliverance. She was deeply attracted by the work of the Holy Spirit. Later, she was called to attend our Bible School and then became a co-worker. She had led the Chinese New Year Fair Evangelical Outreach for five consecutive years and experienced God’s great work.

Pastor Deborah, who has been with us since the beginning, was involved in all 100-night evangelical meetings in the early years and joined me in many large-scale prayer-walk trips. She said that when our church had about a hundred people only, we developed a close bond with each other. During the SARS period, when most churches stopped gatherings, she saw how I insisted in holding the 100-night evangelistic meeting under tremendous pressure and burden. As I followed God, our co-workers and brothers and sisters also followed whole-heartedly. Having gone through that together, we cannot help but reminisce about the unity we had back then. This was also the new wine and new wineskins at the time.

When I received from God that our church would embark on a new journey in 2003, SARS emerged! The responsibility I bore as a leader was heavy, so I gathered all the co-workers to seek God and make decisions together. During the social unrest in 2019, we also followed God closely. Facing different political positions of choosing between yellow and blue, though confronted with great impact and pressure, we did not follow the way of thinking of the world. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit us, the curator staff and I discussed and handled gathering arrangements with discretion to ensure the safety of our brothers and sisters while complying with government policies and regulations, and God also affirmed us along the way.

God is the One Who does new things. Now He continues to give us more revelations, and our development is getting fuller and fuller. Take Pastor Lyan for example, once single, she has now entered into marriage and is living a different new life. As our church keeps growing, we have many overseas branch churches that have needs in different aspects. While their needs are to be taken care of, our MG leaders and co-workers are no exception!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be bound by our past. We used to have God’s leading in the past and now we still have, in spite of the changes in times and circumstances. We need to hold fast to the truth, continue to love God, and get our wineskins renewed. Only by constantly renewing ourselves and becoming new wineskins can we continue to follow God’s leading.■【2024.07.21】