Trinity Presbyterian Church

YEAR OF CHINA

"Christianity will change the nature of China in many different ways over the next several decades, and in doing so, will change the world in which we live." David Aikman, Jesus in Beijing, 2003

Mission Conference: Closing the Distance Between East and West
February 15-17, 2008

To listen to or download sermons by guest preachers Jay Kyle and Hugo Cheng, please go to our Sermons Online page.

8 Hours in '08
This year the World Missions Team challenges you to spend 8 hours learning about China as part of our Year of China. With 1.3 billion people, the People's Republic of China is the most populous nation in the world. Our hope is that you and your family will use this year to deeply educate and expose yourself to this remarkable nation. There will be many ways to earn your 8 China Hours all year long: the Mission Conference, film nights and book groups, art shows, student ministry events, lectures, classes, etc. Pick up an "8 Hours in '08" card in our foyer to keep track of your China Hours.

Read and Discuss a Book on China Together
Jesus in Beijing by David Aikman. 4 China Hours. This is an important book about the current situation of Christianity and the Church in China. Order your copy of the book in the link room and sign up for a book discussion group. Read the book during February and meet with your group on March 15 or 16 to discuss the book.

Our Mission Conference Speakers
Jay Kyle is coordinator for Asia Church Planting & Intercultural Church Planting at Redeemer Church Planting Center in New York City. He recruits, finds funding, and administrates men from different language groups starting churches in New York City. He works in Asia’s large cities, together with local churches in those cities, to find, recruit and select local church planters to start center-city churches. This involves researching cities, building relationships with potential indigenous partners, setting up church planting mentors and trainers, and fund raising. Jay also works as the director of a partnership working in the large cities of East Asia. He served with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Papua New Guinea in the 1970’s and Mission to the World in Mexico City, Mexico (from 1986-2001) prior to joining the Redeemer Church Planting Center. Jay is seconded to the Center by Mission to the World. Jay and his wife Maureen reside in Manhattan. The Kyles have three grown children and two grandchildren.

Dr. Carol Lee Hamrin is a Chinese affairs consultant, senior associate with the Global China Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, and research professor at George Mason University. She is committed to helping the whole body of Christ meet the spiritual and material needs of the Chinese people. Her interests include training projects for the development of the non-profit sector, as well as research on cultural change, religion and human rights.

With a Ph.D. in Chinese and comparative world history, and 25 years as a senior research specialist at the Department of State, Carol Hamrin provides a long-term perspective on the remarkable transformation underway in China. Her research focuses on how the dynamics that drive market reforms spill over into social and cultural arenas, with implications for China’s ambitions as a great power and for the many aspects of U.S.-China relations, from societal ties to government to business.

Hamrin earned the Secretary of State’s Career Achievement Award in 2000, and received the Center for Public Justice Leadership Award for outstanding public service in 2003. She has taught in D.C.-area graduate schools and has published widely. Her books include God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications of Church-State Tensions, Decision Making in Deng’s China and China and the Challenge of the Future.

She received her Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and her B.A. from St. Olaf College where she met her husband Bob, founder of Great Dads, which provides seminars on fathering. They have three adult children and attend Burke Community Church.

Hugo Cheng was born in Queens, New York, but grew up in Taiwan from three months old to the age of 14. He became a Christian in 1989 during his senior year in college. He attended Carnegie Mellon University and started a software design firm with three of his professors. While working, he and his wife served six years as the leaders of the senior-high youth group, the college fellowship, and the young professional fellowship at their church. By God's grace and to His glory alone, some of the youths from that time are now full-time Christian workers. After working for seven years, he left his job and attended Columbia Biblical Seminary. He and his wife Heather planted a Chinese church in Florence, SC, in 1999 among the people in a Taiwanese plastic factory. Currently they and their five children are in Pittsburgh, where Hugo serves as the pastor of the Pittsburgh Chinese Church Oakland branch, and the Oakland International Fellowship, making disciples from among overseas Chinese students and scholars as well as other international students. In his "spare time," Hugo likes to paint watercolors, play video games, volley ball, have fun with his kids, and spend time with his wife Heather.

Questions? Need more information? Contact Katie Pennock at 977-3700 or