With great excitement, IBLP Hong Kong and Taiwan hosted the first “Equipping Family Growth” (EFG) Conference December 30, 2015 – January 3, 2016 in Hong Kong for seminar alumni families from Mainland China.

Why an EFG Conference? In past years during IBLP seminars for Mainland Chinese believers, we met many families who longed to apply Biblical principles in their families. Parents had a desire to educate their children according to God’s ways and asked us questions about parenting, homeschooling, etc. Thus, the idea of this EFG conference was birthed and, after much planning and prayer, it finally took place over this New Year holiday. 

Sixty-five families from ten different cities in China attended this event designed to equip parents in living out God’s Word and ways in their homes. Various IBLP messages from conferences throughout the years were carefully selected and subtitled in Chinese to present to the approximately 100 adults in attendance. In these video sessions, alumni learned about: developing Christlike character qualities at home, the “high places” of education, giving up small ambitions and seeking God’s “big ambition” for their families, God’s goal for their families and redeeming the time wisely by seeking first the kingdom and righteousness of God.  

While the parents were in sessions, the sixty children at the conference were led by three ATI families from the United States. The children were ages 2-13, and learned about character qualities through songs, stories, and small group activities and games. 

At the conference, attendees were encouraged by the testimonies of the homeschooling families serving together there. As the conference folks observed the volunteers, some expressed that they had hope for their own families as they saw the lives exampled and modeled by others. Fathers learned about their roles and responsibilities in child training, and mothers were relieved to have the fathers on board!

One mother shared, “This conference has been really great and our whole family truly benefited. All three of us, including my daughter, are eager now to learn a new character quality each week, and I feel my daughter is more obedient. I’ve shared about this with church friends at home and invited several for the upcoming seminar.” 

Families found the conference helpful and expressed a desire for continued support in the area of child training at home. We met with representative families from different areas to understand more about their needs and how we can continue to serve them and their churches.

We praise God for the faith of these families and pray that as they return to their homes He would lead them in their daily lives.