What is Merciful Love Family Fellowship? It is a small church plant in the Special Administrative Region of Macau, China. An offshoot of the first church planted in Macau by Evangelical Free Church missionaries from the US and Hong Kong, it was begun specifically to accommodate one member family with a 10-year-old autistic son.

The mother church really did a good job at making the Lei family welcome, although Ka Hei’s frequent temper tantrums could be significantly disruptive. But then the difficulties mounted when the Leis became more excited about their new faith in Christ, and wanted to invite their friends to church with them. Most of their closest friends were also parents of autistic children!

In God’s perfect plan, it was just then that my husband Bruce and I were assigned by our mission to begin a second church plant. Included in His provision was a residential apartment donated by a Christian woman from Hong Kong, which was designated for use as a dormitory for short-term ministry teams, but was also available for us as a location for the new work.

And so on August 13, 2006, we launched Merciful Love Family Fellowship as a “safe” place for families with autistic children to come and learn about Jesus.

And of course that is when I should have started this blog. But ever since we started I have just been too busy with preparing Sunday activities! So now we are on a three-month “home assignment” (what they used to call missionary furlough)—the first month corresponding with Autism Awareness month, even. Surely it is “meant” that I finally get going.

I have three different purposes for starting this blog.

One: to have a permanent place to keep records of all the different activities we’ve done. I would be
delighted if this also benefits others looking for ideas.
Two: to help those who are praying for or are otherwise interested in MLFF keep abreast of what’s
going on.
Three: feedback from others working in similar areas. MLFF has been a learn-as-we-go ministry, and I am
always on the lookout for helpful ideas!!

I am really excited about networking with others who know, love, and work with children with autism and other mental and physical handicaps, whether Christian or not. Merciful Love Family Fellowship is unashamedly a church ministry, but we are also seriously committed to helping “our” children develop socially and intellectually through our activities. Thanks for stopping by the blog!