The following was written by Covenant Coordinator for Chinese Ministries, Dave Dolan, following a summer, 2000, visit:
Another new Chinese Covenant Church is adopted into the family! In 1991 the Taiwan Covenant Church sent out Rev. Frank Tuan and his wife Ada as missionaries to South Africa with SIM.
During their first term they worked with Indian Moslems in the Johannesburg area, but before they returned to Taiwan for their first home assignment in 1995 it was decided that there was a more urgent need to reach out to the growing number of Chinese in South Africa and especially Johannesburg. The Chinese population in S.A. has grown from several thousand in the early nineties to almost 100,000 today. So after their return to South Africa in 1996 the South African Chinese Church was born. Within four years the church grew to some 80 - 100 in regular attendance, making it the largest Chinese church in South Africa.
We returned to Johannesburg where we had several meetings with the leadership of the church regarding their becoming a Covenant Church. Although Frank and Ada Tuan are SIM missionaries their mission does not have a denomination of their own, so churches planted by them have the freedom to choose their affiliation or remain independent. Knowing the vision the Taiwan Covenant Church has for outreach and church planting Frank felt strongly that this new church should be affiliated with the Taiwan Covenant Church, so he invited Rev. Chang, Rev. Guo and myself to come and talk with the leaders of his church about this possibility. As we met the leaders of the church we were impressed with the vision they had for not only reaching Chinese in South Africa with the Gospel, but all through out Africa. They have already sent short-term teams to other parts of the country and beyond to investigate areas for new church planting. Initially the group was hesitant and asked a lot of good questions, but in the end they realized there were a lot more benefits being part of a group that has a similar vision and decided unanimously to become a Covenant Church. It was a joyous occasion as we met for supper and the signing of an agreement delineating our future cooperation. They call themselves in English the South African Chinese Covenant Church. One of the deacons in the church is the managing editor of a Chinese newspaper that is sent throughout Africa. In the edition that came out the day after the church's decision to become a Covenant Church he had a front page article with pictures telling about the church's decision.
This church is still without a church building of their own, but they have raised about 3/4 of they money necessary for buying or building a church of their own. We visited several of the churches they are considering purchasing.
With this new church already being the largest Chinese church in South Africa, and their vision for continued growth we expect them to become the launching point for Chinese Covenant Churches not only in South Africa but in other parts of the continent as well.