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Christmas is one of Frank Wang's favourite times of year. It is a busy time, but one full of faith, love and service.

As Christmas approaches, Frank, a Salvation Army officer, reflects on an extraordinary journey — from childhood in a remote Chinese village, to serving in Bankstown, one of Sydney's most diverse and bustling communities.

Along the way came the loss of a career, the challenges of starting again in a new country, years of longing for children and a horrific car accident that nearly took his life.

Serving the Bankstown community with hope this Christmas

Looking back, Frank sees those challenges very differently now. Through the disappointments, unexpected turns and new beginnings, he believes God was preparing him and his wife, Belinda, for a fulfilling life and ministry neither could have imagined.

“I think my hope for The Salvation Army and for the Bankstown community is that we get more and more opportunities to help and serve people,” says Frank, a captain in The Salvation Army and a corps officer at Bankstown — a role that combines leadership and pastoral ministry.

"To journey with them, to connect with them, to build relationships and to love them."

At The Salvation Army Bankstown in Sydney’s southwest, Frank, Belinda (also a Salvos officer) and a team of staff and volunteers are preparing to welcome people from across the area's richly diverse multicultural community this Christmas.

Last Christmas, around 120 to 150 people came to a Christmas celebration dinner, and 200 families received practical support through ‘Christmas cheer’ (such as food and toys).

How life experience shaped Frank's compassion and care

For Frank, the work is deeply personal.

Many of the people who walk through the doors are facing challenges, uncertainty and major life transitions. Some are new arrivals to Australia. Some are struggling financially. Others are looking for friendship, connection and hope.

Frank was born in Tianjin, one of China's largest cities, but spent much of his childhood in a remote village after his parents were forcibly sent there following university, during the Cultural Revolution.

"It was tough for them," Frank says.

"It was tough for me as I grew up in a remote, very poor village. It was very cold. I remember the lowest temperature was about minus 36 degrees.”

Challenges and hopes in life

"Before I started primary school, my life was really in the wilderness. Every day my parents would go to work and I would go into the mountains with other children. We spent the whole day there. We would find fruit in the trees, catch grasshoppers and barbecue them," Frank explains.

"Looking back now, I realise life was hard. But when I was actually living through that period of time, I really enjoyed it."

Frank's parents valued education deeply and encouraged him to make the most of opportunities they themselves had lost.

He excelled academically and eventually earned a place at one of China's leading universities, studying chemical engineering.

After graduation, he began work at an oil refinery where he met Belinda, another young engineer who had studied the same field. They married in 1994 and built successful careers together before migrating to Australia.

Starting life again in Australia

Like many migrants, Frank arrived in Australia with excellent qualifications, the ability to speak English and high hopes.

The reality proved much more challenging.

"After I got off the aeroplane, the first place I went was the Migrant Resource Centre. I wanted help finding a place to stay and maybe finding a job. But to all those requests, the answer was ‘no’.

"I [soon also] had serious doubts about my English ability. I was thinking to myself, am I speaking English or another language? Why don't people understand me?"

Today, the memories make him smile.

The engineering opportunities he expected never eventuated. Instead, Frank took whatever work he could find.

"We had high expectations, but before long we came to the reality that we had to be prepared to do anything. Anything that came our way, we just had to do it and make a living.

"I never worked as a chemical engineer in Australia. I did different jobs — cleaning, teaching Chinese, sales, advertising and selling mobile phone SIM cards."

Eventually, he accepted that the career he had trained for was unlikely to materialise.

Looking back, he believes those years helped prepare him to understand and care deeply for others facing similar struggles through the ministry he now shares with Belinda at The Salvation Army Bankstown.

"We genuinely treat people with respect, with dignity, acknowledging they are human beings and worthy, even though they may be going through struggles in their lives. We cannot be judgmental.

"We need to love them with the love of Jesus Christ."

Finding faith, healing and purpose in The Salvation Army

Long before becoming a Salvation Army officer, Frank was asking questions about God.

Even as a teenager, he remembers looking up at the sky and wondering whether there was something beyond what he could see and understand.

Growing up in officially atheist China only made those questions stronger.

“I was always interested in philosophy,” he says. “In the back of my mind I always had the question: how can you prove there is no God?”

Those questions stayed with him when he later moved to Australia. At the same time, Frank and his wife Belinda were carrying another burden. After years of marriage, they longed to have children but had been unable to start a family.

After arriving in Australia as a qualified chemical engineer, Frank took whatever work he could find, including cleaning. During those early years, he and Belinda became connected with The Salvation Army Burwood (Sydney, NSW).

The church later invited them to teach Chinese, and Frank says the kindness and fellowship they experienced there became part of their journey towards Christian faith.

Frank says it is hard to pinpoint a single moment when he gave his life to Jesus, describing it instead as a series of experiences and “miracles” over time. After he and Belinda prayed for a child, they soon found out they were expecting a baby.

The care and love they experienced through the Salvos also had a profound impact.

“The kindness of the people at The Salvation Army, the fellowship we experienced and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives all brought me to the point where I said yes, I wanted Jesus in my life,” Frank says.

As his faith grew, so did a sense that God was calling Frank into ministry. He remembers around five different times when he felt that call — often just as another part of his life seemed to be going particularly well.

Each time he resisted.

The accident that became a turning point

By 2011, Frank says he was still struggling with the call to ministry. Belinda was almost ready, but he was still holding on to his own plans.

Then came a serious car accident.

“Another driver was totally at fault, but both cars were written off,” Frank says.

“I experienced literally a split moment between life and death. I could have been killed. If it had happened one-tenth of a second earlier, I could have died.”

The accident left Frank with physical pain that lasted four or five years. He also experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe depression.

Looking back, Frank believes this difficult period also became a turning point in his faith journey.

“But I think God had his plan for me. He had his hand on me.

“Eventually he shut all the other doors and left only one door open.

“I heard him say, ‘If you don't come to serve me with all of your life, you will never be happy again.’

“That really freaked me out. I thought to myself, I'd better obey. Otherwise, no matter how much money I had or what possessions I had, I would never be happy again,” Frank smiles.

Frank and Belinda went on to enter Salvation Army officer training and, in 2015, were appointed to The Salvation Army Bankstown.

Creating a place to belong at The Salvation Army Bankstown

Today, Frank and Belinda lead The Salvation Army Bankstown, with a ministry built around practical support, community connection and faith.

“We provide a one-stop service hub for people who are experiencing financial or housing challenges," Frank says.

Over the years they have worked to create a place where those facing complex needs and challenges can find professional support and referrals. For new arrivals to the country, it can also be a place to find friendship, purpose and a sense of belonging.

Everyone is welcomed without judgement or pressure. At the same time, Frank and Belinda are open about the faith that shapes their lives and their belief in the transforming power of Jesus.

"To walk with people through difficult times in their lives and eventually help them to know God and experience the love of Jesus Christ that we've experienced so profoundly in our own lives is a blessing," Frank says.

For Frank, Christmas is ultimately about hope.

"Christmas is my favourite season because it is the moment in history when hope himself arrived," he says.

"In the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, light broke into a world long held captive by fear. Christmas reminds me that God stepped into our darkness so we could step into his life."

One Bible verse captures that meaning for him: "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11, KJV). The baby Jesus, Christ the Lord, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is hope in the flesh.

For Frank, Christmas is also a time of new beginnings.

"Each Christmas is a new hope and a new beginning. The birth of Jesus is not just a moment we remember — it is a promise we receive again and again.

"Christmas tells us that no matter how the year has been, a new beginning is reborn, and because Christ lives, we can live our life to the fullest."

Learn more about The Salvation Army Bankstown