Zhongmei Cao stood in front the group at Divine Word, Ottawa, Canada. “I feel very nervous to speak in front of people, but that day I felt very excited . . . no stress,” she reflects. As a Chinese Canadian, Zhongmei spoke in Mandarin about how the Bible had changed her life.

Zhongmei wasn’t always a Christian. It was only just over a year ago that she first brought her son Jim to Divine Word for vacation Bible school and sat visiting with Pastor Wayne Halldorson and a Chinese woman who was a Christian. “When Pastor Halldorson first told me about the Bible, I had no feeling,” she recalls. But in the fall, after beginning Bible class, she said, “I never knew there was this kind of love in the world, and at this time I just want to cry.”

Divine Word began its outreach to the Chinese about a year and a half ago. Halldorson saw an advertisement at the public library for the Chinese Cultural Centre of Ottawa and asked if the centre would send someone to the church to answer some questions and help them understand Chinese culture better. Halldorson and others learned much from the two women who came and also had the chance to share the gospel with them. The centre brought Divine Word into contact with other Chinese as well—one woman taught a class on simple Mandarin and another designed a Web site.

This past September, Divine Word held an open house at which Zhongmei spoke. Forty of the 45 attendees were Chinese. The goals were many, according to Halldorson: “We wanted to network in the community and bring people to the church; to get solid Lutheran Mandarin/English materials into their hands; to help Chinese Canadians meet new friends; to put Christians in contact with non-Christians; to give new members a chance to share Jesus in their native language; and to give me a chance to share what our church is all about.”

Zhongmei is only one of many Chinese this church has reached with the good news of Jesus. Her son Jim and another boy are in confirmation class. Three souls have been baptized. Two women are in Foundations Class. Others who have heard the gospel have returned to China and are spreading it there. By God’s grace, Divine Word will continue to share God’s Word with the Chinese in their community.