Pastor holds night services for Chinese workers on late shift

Attending church at 11 p.m. on Sunday night may be unusual for most Christians but for Chinese restaurant workers whose shifts end late, it is the only time for them to hear the Gospel.

Most employees of Chinese restaurants are not able to attend church in the morning because they have to work until 10:30 p.m. Chinese-American pastor Kewen Dong solved this problem by starting a ministry that holds late-night worship sessions for restaurant crew members.

"There are 1 million Chinese restaurant workers living in the United States," Dong said. "Many of them live in small cities ... and in these cities, they don't have a Chinese community, and also, they don't have any Chinese church. And these people live in very, very isolated conditions," he added.

Dong himself was a restaurant owner who regularly visited his employees to learn about the difficulties they face. He felt that God was calling him to care for them so he started his first late-night ministry in Virgina Beach, Virginia, in 2006. The ministry, now known as Friends of International Restaurant Employees (FIRE), has since expanded to nine different cities in two states.

Miranda Lin, a restaurant operator who came to America 13 years ago, shared how their congregation in North Carolina started.

"Kewen, he started up our Chinese congregation and we did'nt have a space. So, the Sunset Avenue Baptist Church, they allow us to stay in their church," Lin said.

The pastor's efforts are supported by the North Carolina Missions Offering (NCMO). This partership allows Dong to provide Bibles and other resources to his churches in North Carolina.

Dong believes that he still has a mission to share the Gospel with Chinese restaurant crew workers in other states where they rarely get to attend ministry services.

While he was still living in communist China, Dong was forced to leave his family and work as a farmer. He was able to see God's provision despite his difficulties. The government eventually gave him an opportunity to pursue a medical degree at a university.

"As I look back ... I see how God has been with me all along the way," he said.