by Bishop Hwa Yung
Bishop of the Methodist Church in Malaysia
In December 2005, I traveled with two colleagues to New York. Our purpose was simple - to visit Levi Sung, the daughter of John Sung (1901-1944) and to find out more from her about her father's diaries. It was a moving experience to see on the shelves in Levi's tiny apartment the copies of John Sung's personal diaries, written over 60 to 80 years ago. They were scripted in the small, but neat and beautiful, handwriting of the man himself, although some pages have faded with the years. When Levi further told us about the miraculous story of how The Journal Once Lost was found, we could only marvel at God's providential care, for these 40-plus worn volumes constitute one of the great veritable treasures of the Chinese church!
In December 2005, I traveled with two colleagues to New York. Our purpose was simple - to visit Levi Sung, the daughter of John Sung (1901-1944) and to find out more from her about her father's diaries. It was a moving experience to see on the shelves in Levi's tiny apartment the copies of John Sung's personal diaries, written over 60 to 80 years ago. They were scripted in the small, but neat and beautiful, handwriting of the man himself, although some pages have faded with the years. When Levi further told us about the miraculous story of how The Journal Once Lost was found, we could only marvel at God's providential care, for these 40-plus worn volumes constitute one of the great veritable treasures of the Chinese church!John Sung came from the home of a godly Methodist pastor. Despite family poverty, God wonderfully provided for his higher education in America. A brilliant student, he sailed through his university studies under six years all the way to a PhD in chemistry. The world lay at his feet. Yet his heart was restless until he yielded to God's call to return to China to preach the gospel. He sailed home in 1927 and in the next 14 years, he burnt his life out for Christ.
His preaching ministry took him all over China and Southeast Asia. His ministry hit the Chinese church like an earthquake. Tens of thousands found Christ, hundreds of churches were revived, and many were physically healed. Talk to those in their seventies and eighties who witnessed his ministry in the 1920s and 1930s, you will invariably see a glint in their eyes. His active ministry ended only when his health finally gave way. An operational wound from his student days never healed. But his sense of urgency prevented him from taking time off to undergo the required treatment. When he finally entered hospital in December 1940, it was too late. He died four years later.
Almost four years ago, I wrote an extended introduction, "John Sung Revisited," for the re-issue of Leslie T Lyall's A Biography of John Sung (Singapore, Armour: 2004; pp. xi-xxiv). There I drew attention to four things about his story that are still highly relevant to the church today. First, John Sung was not a Pentecostal but an official evangelist of the Methodist Church in Fujian. Yet, like the apostles of the New Testament days, he understood well the power of the Holy Spirit and operated freely in the spiritual gifts. Second, unlike many in the church today, including "Health and Wealth Gospel" preachers, his life exemplified sacrificial living and personal holiness of the highest order. Third, in contrast to those who pursue revival and church growth through better and ever newer human methods, he taught that true revival came through repentance and humble, faithful and persevering prayer - period! Finally, as the Asian church grows, we can learn from him the importance of not always looking to the West for answers, but instead to learn to depend increasingly on the Bible's teaching and the Holy Spirit's leading. What more can I add?
When the history of the 20th century Chinese church is finally written up in full, it will be seen that John Sung, together with a handful of key Chinese leaders such as David Yang Shao-Tang, Watchman Nee Duo-Sheng and Wang Ming-Dao, played an indispensable role in laying the foundations for the present vitality and growth of the church in China today. Each of them started young and understood personally what sacrifice and dying to self meant. They took to heart Jesus' words that "unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." (John 12:24)
In Leslie Lyall's biography on John Sung, he quoted James Denny, a godly theologian of an earlier generation, who said "that in this present evil world there must be great renunciations ...if there are to be great Christian careers." In the past 40 years or so of my own adult life, I have seen the churches in Asia grow in number and confidence. Increasingly, I sense that God is calling us to play a vital role in the task of proclaiming Christ and world mission. But if the Asian church is to be faithful to this task, there needs to be many who will take to hear what James Denny said and what John Sung so clearly understood and exemplified. In other words, what must emerge is a new generation of Asian Christians, especially among our young people today, who knows clearly "that in this present evil world there must be great renunciations ...if there are to be great Christian careers," and dare to live accordingly. Will we have the joy of seeing the emergence of such a generation and the fruits thereof in our time?
May God use this book, which is largely excerpted from John Sung's diaries, to fan the flames in the hearts of many people in the Asian church so that a mighty movement of God will take place - especially among the younger generation! May it be a movement of those who know what great renunciations mean, which will lead to many great Christian careers for the advancement of Christ's kingdom and the glory of God! For this and other good reasons, I welcome the publication of this book and most warmly commend it to your reading and prayerful reflection.
