Household Salvation, Hebron C. Chang

I first contacted a Christian denomination during my elementary school years. At that time, I thought Jesus was a foreigner, and Christianity was a western religion. I didn't know anything about “God, and Christ.” I just felt that the Sunday school I went to was fun.

I joined the “Christian Club” in my junior high school years. One of the older members told us to “join” a church and I desperately started to look for a church that I could belong to. The first thought in my mind was to attend the denomination I previously visited; therefore I went back to attend a few meetings and still didn't feel it was what I wanted. Every Saturday night, I would go to look for a church; whenever they had a young peoples' meeting, I would go in and look for a church I could meet with. During this time, I had been to other denominations. It was still hard to find a church where I felt the sense of belonging.

God started to work in my family then. My aunt, mother, grandmother and youngest sister were saved consecutively in the church in Tai-Chung. They started to preach the gospel to me and brought me to the local church meetings, especially the Lord's table meetings. Once attending the meeting, I felt right away that I wanted to “join” this church. Therefore, in one of the gospel meetings during spring break, I was baptized to become a genuine Christian.

When I got out of the water, I felt joyful and bright. Then, I started to have morning watch, attend meetings and know how to contact the Lord, i.e. to enjoy and experience Him. I also learned to eat the words of God (Jeremiah 15:16). In the past, I had felt God was far above and far away from me. Now, I felt God was approachable and near to me, even close to my heart and mouth. By attending the meetings, I gradually knew the meaning of the word: church, which means a called out assembly of those who have been redeemed, regenerated and transformed by God for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ.

I got a lot of help from Watchman Nee and Witness Lee's writings for my pursuit of Christ. Through the ministry of these two brothers, God poured out His riches to me, from different kinds of publications, such as The Normal Christian Life, The All-Inclusive Christ, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Life Studies, and Crystallization Studies. I have been learning and experiencing God's words and the transformation of life. By reading especially Witness Lee's Life-studies, Crystallization-studies and footnotes from the recovery version, the Word of God, the Bible was gradually opened to my understanding. I realized that the words were living, transparent, real, experiential and enjoyable.

My whole family of four generations was converted from Buddhism to Christ. This was God's mercy and grace. The most blessed thing was that we were all saved in the local church, enjoying the riches of Christ in the Body, experiencing the transformation of the Spirit, and apprehending God's unsearchable riches with other believers. I have received God as my personal Savior and come to enjoy the riches of Christ in the meetings. I have fellowship in the local church and enjoy the unsearchable and all-inclusive Christ for the building up the Body of Christ, bearing the testimony of eternal glory and consummating in the New Jerusalem.