Coronavirus Outbreak in Hong Kong and China

WHO declares Coronavirus an International Emergency / Source: South China Morning Post

Hello friends and partners, we wanted to send everyone an update on the impact the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) has been having on us here in Hong Kong. As many of you know, the outbreak of the virus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

It has since spread around the world, with now over 60,000 reported cases and over 1,300 deaths and the numbers are accelerating. Currently there are no approved vaccines or cure.

Source: South China Morning Post

The situation in Hong Kong is very intense. People are scared. Extreme measures have been taken to avoid the spread of the virus. Schools are closed, businesses are asking employees to work from home, people are avoiding any kind of public event (including church), and everyone is wearing masks.

To cooperate with the schools and government we considered cancelling our church services until this passed. But after our staff prayer two weeks ago we had a God idea! Let’s go to an online only service—and start it off with a 20 min “Kids Church” segment. Then we can do a shortened worship and message and finish with 15 min of all church prayer for our families, city and country.

About 20 faithful volunteers from our Dream Team brave the outbreak to put on the online broadcast.

Kids from Faith Family Church joining the service from home with their families (the wonderful Life Church Open Network children’s video is an integral part of our Kids Church experience)

We asked everyone in the church to let others know about this new online service. We even asked the kids to let their school friends know about the Kids Church segment.

The online-only service views leaped by approx 5 times larger than usual—to over 800 and counting!

Together, we can make a difference in so many people’s lives we cannot begin to count them all!