Gracious toward Others; Magnanimous in Bearing
Sincere with People; Perfecting Everyone
Gracious toward Others
From the time the Chinese-speaking work began in Southern California, I came to know Brother Wu and the other co-workers from Taiwan, because they closely followed this ministry and attended every meeting without fail. In the New Spring Chinese-speaking Conference each February there was also much coordination and fellowship. But our really getting to know each other better began in 1996 when I returned to Taiwan to start a business.
His humble and sincere expression showed that walking this path of service was not at all his own choice, and was also an unfamiliar, strange road to him. But the Lord, through this ministry of the age, proved him; he had many opportunities to observe Brother Lee's daily living up close, and saw him live out the reality of the God-man living in the church service, the literature service, and the gospel work; he was thereby deeply attracted, and pressed on without turning back.
He deeply felt himself unworthy of God's superabounding grace, and so he was lowly, meek, and enduring, bearing with everything and not severely rebuking people. He brought me into the eldership service of Hall One of the church in Taipei, letting me learn up close his governing of the church and his conduct among people. In some complicated situations, which an outsider like me found hard to bear or overlook, he always advised me to take it slowly and not be anxious—when one slows down, things round out. It was all to care for the peace of the Body and not to stumble any fellow members.
Magnanimous in Bearing
We often said that Brother Wu was so magnanimous that a ship could sail in his belly. This was not only among the churches on the island of Taiwan and among the co-workers of the gospel work in Taiwan; even for the work of the whole Body of Christ he did his best to accommodate and compromise, even to the point of disregarding his own good name. Around 2003, a co-worker brother from America visited Taiwan, and Brother Wu invited me to join them for a meal. In my heart I already had a "file" on this brother, and Brother Wu knew it even more clearly, yet he poured out his heart and treated him with sincerity. Later this brother's daughter and son-in-law visited Taiwan, and he asked me to arrange for them to preach the gospel on the NTU campus. The American son-in-law was pursuing a doctorate in the physics department of Harvard, and out of love for the brother I, by way of a scholarship, asked him to do a semiconductor project for my company, and we kept fellowship until 2006—this also enlarged my capacity.
Sincere with People
His love for the brothers was utterly sincere and true. He invited me several times to accompany him to visit the churches in Korea. Originally the work had been arranged for him and Brother Lin to coordinate in service, but because the need was too great, they split into two groups. He could not only call out the name of every responsible brother but was even acquainted with some of the older sisters. Korean names are very hard to remember; I followed along to learn but could not. The older I get, the more I fall short; every time I cannot call out the other person's name yet pretend to remember, I think of how sincerely Brother Wu loved people, his care without falsehood.
I remember once when ten of us were at a love-feast table, with sisters present too, all kindly advising him to eat less of this and avoid that. After a while he went to another table to blend, and word came back that he was complaining that our table was all "police," and everyone burst out laughing. He did not put on the airs of a big brother, nor did he show himself especially strong or victorious; before others and behind them, he was sincere and without pretense, never putting on an act.
Perfecting Everyone
Brother Wu would not make people feel that he was especially spiritual, especially loving the Lord, or full of gifts, so as to pressure people and make them keep their distance. But his life was hidden with Christ in God; he was indeed wholly for the Lord, willing rather to hide himself and yield opportunities to other brothers, so that everyone's function could be put in and all could be perfected together. This also moved the coordinating brothers throughout Taiwan, so that all could go along with the routine reassignments among the various large districts throughout Taiwan—no one cared only for the work in his own hands; everything was for the Lord's interests. Returning to Taiwan once every three years for the International Chinese-speaking Conference, seeing the young generation join the service one after another, I truly feel doubly glorified and full of hope.
I still remember in 2011, in order to coordinate with the co-workers' and elders' training in Baarlo, Holland, in early October, we postponed the Paris conference to the last weekend of September; nearly a hundred came from Taiwan to attend, and we even hung a red banner in front of the Eiffel Tower, singing and shouting, full of joy. Afterward we visited a small coastal town in Normandy, mainly to invite a French couple and a renowned senior French pastor to come to Taiwan for the next year's Chinese-speaking Conference. (In the end, more than ten French saints were invited to come to Taiwan to blend in 2012.) That day the dinner dragged on past ten and still had not ended; after the meal we had to drive through the night, to arrive before nine the next morning for the co-workers' pre-conference fellowship. Such desperate, sleepless service—even a body of iron could not bear it.
During my year in Qingdao, it just happened that Brother Wu had his kidney transplant in Tianjin, and I had the privilege of accompanying him in prayer. After the surgery succeeded, Brother Wu still did not rest; he and Brother Ouyang came to visit no fewer than five times, and I also went to Beijing many times, to promote the blending of Christians across the strait and to communicate much with the government side. Though these things are now in the past, in the midst of them were many strange and winding roads, which forced us to turn to God a thousand times, that only by being closely joined to Him could we make our way through—and this became an eternal memorial between us and God.
Even unto death he did not love his soul-life, so that this mortal one was swallowed up by life. Now he can enjoy the Lord's presence in incorruptible light. Glory be to God! Hallelujah!