May God Ignite Our Hearts
I am Joel (Thanh Son) Uong, born in Vietnam and now living in Montreal. I am married to Grace (Uyen Tue) Ly with three children, Isrella, Estella and Emmanuel. My father is a Chinese descendant and my mother is Vietnamese. I came to Montreal as a young teenager with my family in 1979. I was a very capable and smart boy, successful in all that I did. So I used to be exceedingly proud and self-confident. I thought I could do all things if I wanted to! I came to the Lord in 1986 when one of my siblings had a mental breakdown (schizophrenia). Facing that crisis and helpless situation, I came to realize my human limitation for the first time. At that time, the Holy Spirit also convicted me of my utter self-centeredness and selfishness. I came to see that I was full of pride, jealousy, greed, dishonesty, youthful lusts and evil desires. I cried out to the Lord and asked for His forgiveness. I surrendered myself to Him and my life was changed ever since.
I have received God's calling for the full time ministry ever since I became Christian in 1986. In 1988, I got married to Grace. In 1992, I quit my job and we together went to HK (Hong Kong) for our theological training. After our graduation we stayed back in HK to serve in a Chinese church in Shatin. During our stay in HK until early 1998, besides our pastoral responsibilities, we held many evangelistic concerts (in HK civic centres or town halls) to outreach to the HK people. We also traveled to Singapore, Malaysia (K.L. and Penang), the Philippines (Manila) for short term mission and to Mauritius for 6-month interim pastoral service.
Upon our return to Montreal, we both served as pastors in a local Chinese church until 2002. Then in November 2002 when our first daughter Isrella was just 19 months old, we were invited back to HK to serve in the music ministry. At the end of our contract, we returned to Montreal in September 2004. We were then into recording Chinese songs for a Christian radio station until the end of 2005. This station broadcasted their programs to China in short waves. During that time until June 2007, we were self-supported, visiting different churches, meeting pastors from different denominations and cultures and languages, in prayer groups and other joint functions. We voluntarily helped out different churches according to their needs.
In July 2007, 3 months before our second daughter Estella was born, the Lord led us to serve the Vietnamese community with the CM&A of Quebec. Then in Dec of 2010, one month after our son Emmanuel was born, I was invited to serve as a lead pastor of MVAC (Montreal Vietnamese Alliance Church). Meanwhile I furthered my music studies and got my ARCT Piano Performance Diploma with Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto in June 2014.
In January 2019, after the sudden death of Emmanuel (8), I was praying and waiting before the Lord for direction. The Lord showed me repeatedly through prayers and interactions with other church leaders that I was to terminate my pastorate with MVAC. So I did at the end of June 2019. During that time the Lord also clearly indicated that He wanted me to once again serve my Chinese people, but this time, more in a cross-cultural and multilingual context.
It is in March 2019 that I got to know about CIM through my sister Aiwah who is a member of MCAC (Montreal Chinese Alliance Church). She was planning her mission trip to Togo and the Lord touched my heart in a special way despite my inconsolable grief for my son. I decided to join my sister for that missions trip, under the leadership of P. Matthieu Ayena. This was my first time to Togo (or Africa) and I was deeply touched and stirred by the spiritual hunger of the people there. I was so surprised that being a Chinese gave me great advantage to share the gospel with the Togolese. This cross-cultural mission trip was an eye opening and life changing experience to me. That is how I first got in touch with CIM, and it left in me a deep impression of the need and effectiveness of the cross-cultural ministry.
Then in July 2020, I was invited to serve as an assistant pastor in MCAC amidst the Pandemic until now. In 2021, Pastor Karen Wong of the Montreal Chinese Baptist Church asked me to consider joining the CIM BOD. Since I was new and I wanted to concentrate on my pastoral ministry in MCAC, at first I declined but promised to revisit this issue a year later. Then in 2022, Pastor Karen called again. This time after praying to the Lord and discussing with my wife Grace, we felt that God wanted me to be involved in the CIM BOD. So I gladly and fearfully accepted this challenge.
What I find difference and outstanding at CIM from other Chinese Christian organisations is CIM is a cross-cultural ministry to the local ethnic groups, whereas the others mainly caters to Chinese Diasporas living in different countries. I am most encouraged and touched by the life example of Pastor Matthieu Ayena (a member of CIM BOD), a pure Togolese who speaks fluently Mandarin serving in a Chinese Christian church! It is important that we preach the Gospel to our own people, just as the Jewish believers did after the “First Pentecost”. But even in the time of the New Testament the Gospel was brought to other ethnic groups in Europe through the apostle Paul, or in Africa and India through other apostles. Many first Christians of the Asian countries heard the Gospel through Western missionaries who came all the way to these countries centuries ago. So time is long past for us Chinese Christians to remain focused only on Chinese Diasporas. Otherwise we fail to fulfill the Great Commission that the Lord Jesus has entrusted to us, “Go and make disciples of all the nations (“ethnos” for ethnics in English)...”
Since the Lord bless our Chinese people with such a large population, and a great number became Christians living across the entire globe, what will be the impact Chinese Christians bring to all the nations (ethnos), if we intentionally reach out to other ethnic groups, by the grace of the Lord Jesus and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit? May God ignite our hearts with His love and passion for the nations!
March Financials 2023
1. General Fund - for general and administrative purposes, such as staff salaries
2. Designated Fund - for specific ministries in different field locations as designated (cannot be transferred between funds)
*All financial figures are in Canadian dollars and rounded to the nearest dollar
Pray With Us:
Please continue to pray for peace in Ukraine. The invasion rages on and innocent lives are lost each day. Pray for House of Mercy as they take care of refugees, physically and spiritually. Pray that there will be donors for our Ukraine Crisis Fund as there are tremendous needs for the refugees.
Pray for the pastors and teachers that we support in Ghana and Togo. Inflation is still greatly affecting their lives. Pray that there will be donors for our benevolent fund so we can help with some of their physical needs. Pray for the formation of STM teams this summer and for 2024.
Pray for our International Worker, Janice, who is now back in Canada for maternity leave. Pray that her husband, Enoch, will be able to obtain a visa and travel to Canada for the birth of their child in June.
Pray for CIM USA as they are still looking for an Executive Director as well as a Director of Ministry.