Brother Paul Wu (Wu You Cheng) was a gift from God to the local churches. With his decisive leadership, our brother exercised his God-given gift in overseeing the churches in the Asia-Pacific region. This faithful steward of a brother served tirelessly, even at the expense of his own health, and was personable with one and all – right until the day he was called to be with our Lord…
The Gift
The Church of God in Singapore is no stranger to brother Paul Wu’s support – our leading brothers have extended many warm invitations for him to conduct church conferences in Singapore. While his busy schedule often prevented him from acceding these requests, brother Paul sent no shortage of co-workers our way to supply us in his physical absence.
Our leading brothers have also frequently visited brother Paul in Taiwan, seeking his sweet fellowship and steady guidance concerning administrative matters. Brother Paul always patiently listened to our words, and graciously supported any plan of the brothers which was for the furtherance of God’s move in Singapore.
I have had the privilege of fellowshipping face-to-face with our dear brother face-to-face in 2015 -concerning the outworking of the God Ordained Way in Singapore. I was moved by his quick uptake thereafter, not to mention the far-reaching support he had quickly called upon from other continents, for our locality. He even took time later in that year to personally fly over from Taiwan – during which time he not only blessed the local church, but tirelessly commissioned another passing co-worker to further strengthen this work.
The Decisive Leader
As a pattern of leadership, brother Paul was such a character:
A decisive leader, resolute at every step; as one who, as a result of knowing his God, shows strength and takes action (Dan. 11:32).
A man of integrity – honest, just and genuine; principled – unafraid of speaking the truth for the sake of building.
A man with unwavering confidence, of faith, strong and stable as a rock – a captain who led the charge.
He was also granted a heart of wisdom and understanding – like in 1 Kings 3:12. Thus, he was able to receive many kinds of persons – from Christians meeting in congregations not a part of the Lord’s Recovery, to even government officials from communist parties.
Faithful Steward
Beside all these, our dear brother Paul Wu was – to use the words of Brother Witness Lee – ‘Jesus-ly human’. He was approachable to all – to individual saints or saints from a locality – who were in need of his fellowship or guidance. Given the responsibilities he had to bear, the enemy afflicted him with no shortage of ailments, among them:
– He suffered a stroke in the early days of his service at the young age of 35, and two more in the later stages of his service
– He battled a chronic kidney disease, which degenerated into failure, requiring operation to give him a third kidney
– He flew to Los Angeles, California in a period of ailing health to attend a brother’s memorial: during which flight he suffered a heart attack
By the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, our brother Paul was preserved to overcome it all. These experiences made him an open vessel, receiving Christ and dispensing Him to others – I testify to this as one of the few who visited him at his bedside, while he was recuperating from the above mentioned heart attack. Perhaps it might have been the breaks between visiting hours and restricted visitors, but he calmly recounted in the short span of 20 minutes the whole slew of traumatic events – including the doctor fortuitously sitting next to him on the flight who promptly cared for him, as well as the ambulance waiting to rush him to the ER upon touchdown; once again, divine provisions – with such a clarity that caused me to marvel. This man who was lying on what was almost his deathbed then proceeded to comfort and encourage me – as if I were the one stricken!
Big brother Wu, you don’t know how much I treasure your supply. You were so busy with work, yet you still found the time to shepherd and feed me personally. I will never forget our call just 2 weeks ago, by this time you were already restricted in movement and spending 3-4 hours three times a week on kidney dialysis. Yet you still shared in my joy of the Lord’s preservation during my 7-month walk in the valley of the shadow of death. I remembered your testimony of the evil spirits trying to coax your soul to flee from your comatose body, but the Prince of God would not allow it! You must have known what I was going through, you must have been praying for me too. Big brother, your experience of God exceeds mine! And I thank you from the bottom of my heart that I was able to experience God’s mercy and love through you.
I sometimes don’t know when to stop – then times I remember brother Paul Wu’s forbearing attitude. He was humble, reasonable and considerate – not strict in claiming his rights (Phil. 4:5, footnote 2). Big brother, you lived out Christ as this excellent virtue.
We thank and praise our Lord Jesus for gifting to us our decisive and faithful big brother Paul Wu.
By Brother Elijah
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