During 1948 there occurred two historic events of special interest to Bible students, namely, the rebirth of Israel as a nation and the formation of the World Council of Churches. More importantly to me, however, 1948 was also the year in which I stepped into full-time service for the Lord, believing He would both guide and provide in the days ahead. And that is just what He has so faithfully done from then until now.
As the end of 1947 approached and my days with the Department of Education were coming to an end, I felt sure enough about the Lord’s call, but was by no means sure what my next step should be. Where and how would I begin? In that frame of mind I went to our weekly prayer meeting and found a stranger there. It was Leonard Mullan, who was just then preparing to leave for missionary service in Japan. He had come specially to see me, in the hope that I would join him in a gospel effort in his home town before he left. He explained that his sailing date was uncertain—not uncommon in the years following World War II—and he might have to leave at short notice, in which case I could carry on with the meetings alone. And so it turned out. Leonard and I had a few happy weeks together before he left, and we were both greatly encouraged to see souls won for Christ.
For the next two years I had equally happy relations with some older preaching brethren, from whose lives and lips I learned many needful lessons. One such was D. L. Craig, my father in the faith, a man who lived to a ripe old age and prayed for me every day. But I already had a deepening urge to go to the Far East, with the Chinese race specially in mind. Thinking in terms of a life-long commitment, I felt a knowledge of Chinese would be a real asset. So I enquired, and found that the University of London was offering the very course I wanted. This I took to be further confirmation of the Lord’s leading, and in due course set sail for Malaya (now known as Malaysia).
Shortly before my arrival in Malaya from the British Isles, Miss Betty Dyer had come from the other side of the world (Tasmania, Australia), and she too was engaged in Chinese studies. Later she became my life partner and co-worker in the service of the Lord. We made our first home among a Chinese community in the town of Seremban, after wonderfully finding a house with a covered courtyard, tailor-made for meetings.
In Seremban we soon proved that the Lord not only goes with His servants, but actually goes before them. No sooner had we opened our home for meetings than a young Chinese student came along, with evidences of divine grace already at work in his heart. How did he know about us? A very intriguing story. To improve his English he had started to write to a pen-pal in Canada, who had advised him to read the English Bible with the help of a correspondence course. He had just completed his first course, and those who marked the papers told him about our meetings. He was still at high school and, once saved, began to witness to other students and bring them to the meetings and they in turn came to Christ.
Then a girl, also a high school student, started coming as the result of a letter from a Christian relative elsewhere in Malaysia. She likewise found the Saviour and started bringing her friends to the meetings, most being from heathen homes and strangers to the gospel. And so we continued: the converts brought their friends; we preached the gospel; and the Lord saved souls. We sometimes had uninvited visitors as well, the quacks of stray ducks mingling with the Chinese and English of those early meetings as two linguistic groups broke bread together.
Our three children were born while we were living in Seremban—two girls and a boy. The second girl, Ruth, had a congenital heart defect, which was discovered when we arrived in Australia for our first furlough. With such poor circulation Ruth was unable to stand the cold of the approaching winter in Tasmania. So, where should we go? Like a bolt from the blue we received a letter from sunny Queensland, from a lady we had never met. She was a Mrs. Madill, and had just lost her husband, through whose ministry my old friend D. L. Craig had been led to Christ. Mr. Craig had sent her a letter of condolence explaining that Mr. Madill had a “spiritual grandson” in Australia. Hence her letter. And what did it say? Her brother had a holiday home by the seaside near Bundaberg, which he would be glad to place at our disposal. This was our first introduction to the state of Queensland, where we now make our home.
A few years later we were back again in Bundaberg on furlough and much cast on the Lord. Ruth’s health was deteriorating. Our re-entry visas, originally for one year, had been twice extended and time was running out. Were we to settle in Australia or return to Malaysia? Suddenly the Lord called Ruth to Himself, and our pathway became clear. Just at the right time we found a ship which would take us to Singapore and let us get back to Malaysia with one week to spare! It all worked out so well that we were able to rise above our sorrow and return to Southeast Asia feeling that the Lord had called us afresh to serve Him there.
In 1969, we moved to Hong Kong, having in mind both the needs of the work there and the educational needs of our children. While settling in, we lived for a short time in a holiday home on a small island, and one afternoon the children brought along a young Italian trainee priest, a student in a nearby Roman Catholic seminary, who just seemed like ripe fruit ready to be plucked. He felt his studies were taking him further from God instead of nearer, as he had hoped. It was a sheer delight to pour into his hungering heart the great truths of Scripture, as he slipped out of the seminary and came to our home nightly during the hour allocated for watching TV. His new-found faith soon surfaced before the eyes of his superiors, and he was expelled from the seminary and sent home in disgrace. Before he left, however, we had the joy of baptizing him, afterwards linking him with some missionary friends in Italy, where he became a blessing to many. The Lord had undoubtedly led us to the right place at the right time for this unforgettable case of conversion.
As we continued in Hong Kong a fresh challenge presented itself in a refugee area, when the premises of the old Peace Clinic became vacant, and we began to think about moving there to start another work. Some felt it was not an ideal place to take a small family, but we kept praying, and the answer came in a most unexpected way. Our landlord gave us notice to leave the flat where we were living! He alleged he needed the flat for a relative coming from Taiwan, but we felt sure he intended to re-let the place at a much higher rent. To us, however, he was the Lord’s messenger.
But that was not all. The premises to which we moved needed considerable renovations for the work we had in mind. Where was the money to come from? Again from a totally unexpected source. An aged sister in Northern Ireland had passed away and, because of some relatives who had been saved through my ministry, she had left us some money in her will. And how much? Just the right amount to cover our renovations.
Thus the old clinic got a new lease of life but under a new name—On Fook Centre (On meaning “peace” in Chinese, and Fook meaning “blessing”). We turned it into a study center where high school students from the neighboring hillside shanties could come and do their homework in quietness. At the same time we gave them the gospel, and the Spirit began to work among them.
Once saved, they had no desire to hurry back to their cramped homes. So we had nightly prayer and Bible studies with them, and it was just delightful to see their progress in spiritual things. Naturally we soon had thoughts of starting a new assembly, but hesitated at first on account of another group of Christians having begun to meet in a little bungalow nearby. We therefore asked the Lord for special guidance, and it came—in singular form. A truck ran out of control on a steep hill and plowed through the bungalow, resulting in its ultimate demolition and the site becoming a garbage collection point. This left us in no doubt about what our next step should be.
As the On Fook believers continued to grow, our children were also growing, and we decided the time had come to make a home for them in Australia. Again we looked to the Lord to guide and provide, for we had put all we had into the work in Hong Kong. In which city should we settle? Where could we find a home?
Once more our heavenly Father solved the problem, and in a way which quite surprised us. While living temporarily in Brisbane, I was asked to speak at the funeral of an old sister who had always displayed a keen missionary interest. After the service, her son took me aside and enquired about our plans for the future and our need of a home. He explained that, because the city of Bundaberg was encroaching on his farm, he was going to sell some land and would soon be in a position to buy a house to put at our disposal. Here surely was a real answer to prayer, and a cause for much thanksgiving. So we settled in Bundaberg for a few years while I commuted regularly between Australia and the Far East.
At the end of 1984, we stood at the crossroads yet again. We had always thought of returning to the mission field after our children had married and branched out in life on their own, and many possibilities were running through our minds. Malaysia? Hong Kong? Or elsewhere? There was also ample scope for an itinerant ministry throughout Australia. With such thoughts we sat down to breakfast on January 1, 1985. The phone rang—“a telegram with sad news.” Bill Decker, who had built up a fruitful school work in Hong Kong, had suddenly passed away. I returned to the table in a very pensive mood because, more than once during my periodic visits to Hong Kong, Mrs. Decker had enquired about the possibility of our returning to take over the school work and allow Bill and her to retire. Things now seemed to have fallen into place, and the words of Acts 16 came forcefully to mind: “we assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us.” With this assurance we were soon in Hong Kong again, administering the Decker Schools, and helping in other areas of work as well. Those last few years proved a real blessing to our hearts and, we believe, to others also.
We are now listed as retired missionaries, but our God has not retired, nor will He change with the passage of time. Men come and go, but He remains. Our faith takes fresh courage from His enduring faithfulness. He guides, He provides, and He abides. His mercies in the past drown out all fears about the future. “This God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death” (Ps. 48:14).