(ChurchLeaders) Francis Chan and his family have left Hong Kong after authorities rejected their visas, the minister says. Chan is back in the San Francisco, Calif. area after spending 2020 in Hong Kong. While Chan says he is appealing the Hong Kong visa rejection, he is convinced that no matter what happens, “God is sovereign and he is in control.”
Chan and his family members had been planting house churches in Hong Kong before they had to leave in late December, 2020. The author of Crazy Love and Letters to the Church told a group of leaders in a video update that he and his two sons-in-law saw the Lord plant three house churches during their time there.
The house church model is something Chan championed while he and his family were still living in the San Francisco bay area before moving to Asia last year. Relying on lay leaders rather than trained clergy, the model is designed to be self-replicating as the leaders or elders of the house church are training other members of the group to be able to lead a group on their own.