Victor Sun is the General Secretary of the board of Langham Foundation in Hong Kong, the Langham Partnership national member in Hong Kong.
Many years before he worked at Langham, Victor was a banker in London, where he knew Langham founder John Stott through his church, All Souls Langham Place. When he left London and returned to Hong Kong in 2002, Victor gave a parting monetary gift to Langham Partnership.
Victor says, “I wrote to John Scott at that time that I would like to see this gift be used for a scholarship for a theological student from the big country. And he wrote back to me and said, we don’t have someone suitable at this time.”
With this not an option, Victor said his gift could be used for another purpose and thought that was that. However, later the next year, John wrote again to Victor and said that they had identified a suitable candidate.
Victor shares, “I thought – wonderful. So we can use a gift as a scholarship. And later on, I actually met the person [who received the scholarship].”
Following this, Langham Foundation was started in Hong Kong in 2003.
From supporter of Langham to worker
In 2005 Victor was approached by a member of the board of Langham Hong Kong to help on a part-time basis. He recalls, “They knew that I was a member of All Souls Church and so they thought I’d be suitable. And at that time I was working in a corporate finance company as CEO.”
Victor was eager to be more involved with Langham, so after getting the permission required, he took up the role and did the work on Saturday alongside his other role. His tasks spanned from fundraising, newsletter writing to organising a trip for John Stott to see the Big Country.
After about 18 months of working one day a week, the responsibilities of the role were growing. Not only was the fundraising work increasing, but Langham in Hong Kong was also publishing books and resources from John Stott and beyond.
Victor says, “I felt that half a day or one day a week is not enough. So I resigned from my secular job and worked for Langham full-time. Since then I’ve been working there for 18 years.”
Facilitating training and growth
Much like Australia, Langham Hong Kong works to raise funding and resourcing to enable the growth of Majority World Christians through Langham programs. An added dimension for Hong Kong is the language. Victor says, “Whether it’s Scholars or Literature or Preaching – all of these you have to conduct in Chinese and not in English.” This creates more work for the small Hong Kong team but is rewarding as it provides programs contextually and in people’s first language.
Victor is proud to be part of a small but mighty team and is very thankful for how God has enabled their work to exceed what feels humanly possible. In the past few years, the team has coordinated the writing and publishing of multiple large resources, raised over 1.5 million pounds from the growth campaign and digitised over 50 books for broader access, all with a team of only two full-time staff plus a handful of part-timers and volunteers.
Navigating changes through the region
Change, and the potential for change, throughout Hong Kong, is something Victor and the team are always navigating. He says, “We can’t really predict [what will happen] on a day-to-day basis. All we can say is that if we see something that is restricting us on one front, we have to turn to another.”
Despite there being a lot that could potentially restrict or stop the work of Langham in Hong Kong in the future, Victor trusts that God works through all things.
He shares, “I always tell my friends and people asking me, you have to know that in every generation, God is always raising up new people. And the way things work may not seem to you to be the right direction. But if you live long enough, you’ll see there will be roots buried beneath the ground. Given time there will be a harvest”
Reflecting on the work that Langham Hong Kong is contributing to Victor says, “For the next generation we’re giving people the chance of not only learning about what it means to trust God, Jesus of Salvation, but also to be able to change the society when the time comes. So that I believe is a very important work.”