Reaching Students for Christ he akonga ki nga akonga hei ara whakawhiti mo te Karaiti

From Karma to Christ

As a Taoist I was brought up to believe that having good karma was the only way to heaven. My parents were a huge influence on me, and their commitment to the temple and the Taoist way of life made a huge impact on what I thought about the world. While I was at university, at Auckland University of Technology, I met some Christians from AUT Christian Fellowship. The friendship and the love they showed me caught my attention, when I asked them they just simply pointed me to Jesus. At first I was skeptical, and found it difficult to leave behind the beliefs I had been brought up with. However, when my father passed away, my world was turned upside down. I had believed he had good karma after doing so much for the temple, but why had this happened?

Conversations with Christian friends and manuscript Bible study kept pointing me back to the person Jesus, and I could see him at work in their lives. At every Bible study I was blown away with his character and the person he is, and I was left wanting to know more and experience more. One night, driving home, I said a prayer in my car, “Lord, I don’t know if you’re real or not but if you could just save my life it would make it a lot easier for me to see that you’re alive.” The next morning I was rushing to my campus staff worker’s house. It was a rainy, wet morning and because I was rushing I was driving too fast for the conditions. I lost control of my car and spun into the curb. My passengers and I were half a meter away from hitting the wall and on the other side of that wall was the sea. I could easily see how my life was saved. From that moment on Jesus was constantly on my mind.

I attended TSCF’s Student Leadership Conference in November last year. As we sung praise to God, and learnt about Him through our Bible studies, I felt the Lord touching my heart. I cried when we sang songs for Him, and it was weird because I had sung these songs before but now they had so much more meaning. Through the whole week I felt His presence with me.

I was faced with the issue of leaving my past behind including Tao which I had been holding onto out of respect for my father. I prayed for guidance and strength. While I was at camp, I had really good conversations with staff worker Gina Wong and two guys that came to visit me called Vinnie and Vikas. These conversations continued to point me to Jesus and showed me how to follow Jesus coming from a different religion. I realised that these people were being sent to me by the Holy Spirit to guide me and at that moment I gave my life to God.

A year on I am enjoying opportunities to speak to old friends about Jesus. I don’t normally get the response I would like, but I try to be a good friend, and pray that they might see Jesus through my actions. It has been challenging as my family is still very Taoist, however I rejoice in the fact that one of my brothers has now started attending the church that I go to. He hasn’t given his life to Jesus, but I know that being surrounded by people who love the Lord is slowly starting to change his life, even though he doesn’t quite see it yet. The rest of my family are not open to Jesus and believe he’s a reincarnation of another god, but I am thankful that they accept me for the new person I am and my choice to believe in Jesus.

It has been harder this year as a graduate because I’m no longer surrounded by my Christian friends in the way that I was at university, but it has given me the opportunity to grow and to be a stronger witness in my work life and my part-time study Earlier this year I joined a small group which met regularly on a Friday night to do a prayer walk. Unfortunately that only lasted for a few months. I now have a small group which a friend and I organise called ‘Jesus for the homeless’ (you can read about this on the next page). We go out every Thursday night and befriend people who have no home; we feed them and get to know their hopes and dreams. We pray that these homeless people will someday know our Lord and Saviour Jesus.

A year on and I’m still walking in the footsteps of being a disciple of Jesus. There are days which are harder than others but I don’t regret for a second the decision that I’ve made. I’m thankful to God for the friends I’ve made, the comfort, guidance and wisdom He gives me though his Word. Most of all I thank the Lord for my salvation and for everything I’ve been blessed with.

Duncan Tang, Photography graduate from AUT