At the Stephen Tong International Evangelistic Ministry Kuala Lumpur Bible-study Conference on Mon. night, Rev. Fu Wong excitedly announced that Rev. Stephen Tong will celebrate his 50 years of service and dedication on Dec. 30, 2007.
Rev. Stephen Tong is currently 67 years old. Since he decided to devote his life to the Lord’s work at the age of 17, already 50 years has passed and filled. Wong called the believers to actively prepare and participate in this large celebration.
Dr. Tong was born in Fujian, China and grew up in Indonesia, a southern pacific island country. Since he was young, he has always been eager to learn and been very witty. Although he was influenced and challenged by the thoughts of materialism, through the God’s calling touch and His touch, he realized that his and the world’s savior is Christ. That was why he decided to dedicate himself to God as a missionary.
Rev. Tong has served in the field of theological education for more than 10 years, established seminary and served as its principle and coordinated world-scale evangelism conference. By the grace of God, Rev. Tong possesses well-respected knowledge, talents, charisma and a modern vision, and because of his personal experiences in the growth of faith, he can explain clearly the theological terms and theories in the way that the audiences can understand easily, be challenge, inspired, and cause people to accept Jesus Christ as their savior under the power of the Holy Spirit.
In these past 50 years, God has led Rev. Tong to hold numerous evangelistic conferences. The number of attendance over the years has accumulated to millions, and many conferences had an attendance rate of more than ten thousand audiences.
On every Monday night, Rev. Tong will explicate the Ten Commandments on the 10th floor at the Kuala Lumpur Crown Princess Hotel. On the 12th, Rev. Tong explained the Commandment of Do Not Commit Adultery in the Ten Commandments.
From the perspective of God’s creation and the difference of the function between male and female, Tong pointed out that sex is a holy and precious gift that God has given to mankind, so man should treat it with a pure heart.
“When a person disrespects sex, his moral will lead him towards destruction; when a country disrespects sex, it will walk towards total defeat.” Rev. Tong exhorted.
Stephen Tong’s Jakarta Church: This church is now undergoing construction in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. It will become the world’s largest Chinese Christian church building. With the construction on such a big scale, the church will possess several multi-purpose halls, such as music halls, arts and cultural exhibition area, auditorium with a capacity to fit 5,000 people, and a parking lot of 700 parking spots.
Notice of Correction: The commemoration service for Rev. Stephen Tong’s 50 years of devotion and service to God will be held at the Indonesia Yogyakarta church on Dec. 30, 2007. It was originally reported that the commemoration service will be held on March 15, 2008, the same day that Rev. Tong’s new church in Jakarta will be finished with construction. Due to large construction efforts, the commemoration service will be held at the end of this year.
[Editor's note: reporter Silan Tan from Malaysia contributed to this report.]
