A series by and about those who are still serving in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For at least the foreseeable future, China will be an increasingly difficult place for expatriates to live and work. However, for those who find a way to meet the requirements to remain in the country, there is a general openness to new ideas that provides fertile ground for the gospel.
I suspect that many…have narrowed decisions about the future to one of two possible options: stay in China or return to one’s home country…. I see a compelling third option: relocate to an area outside of China to serve diaspora Chinese or train Chinese missionaries (or both).
A paradox—closed, yet an openness that I’ve never encountered before.
I’ve never felt so powerless. I’ve never felt so tired. And I’ve never felt more dependent upon a higher power to be the glue that holds my fragile, fragmented life together.
In the past 18 months, our family has lived in six borrowed homes in two states. This has been the result of planning, packing, obtaining visas, multiple COVID tests, and then being denied the needed green code twice in our attempts to return to China
Lament is bringing our loss, our complaints to God, and as a result experiencing sweet communion with him in the midst of pain.
. . . we choose to stay for now because of our firm belief that God will use these circumstances according to his will and for our good. We also stay because of a strong sense of call to China and our love for China.
What is the most important thing I would want someone going to China to know?
The experience of ministering as an expatriate in China is quite different today, as those who remain struggle to carve out meaningful roles in an increasingly challenging environment.
As we end one year and begin a new one, it’s time to look back and reflect—and take a deep breath, bracing ourselves for what is to come in 2022. And as we look back and prepare for the future, we do so with open hearts and anticipation, and with awareness of the world around us.