At the upcoming Arise Asia conference, I look forward to hearing first-hand what God is doing among his people in Asia and to discerning ways that we can be more deeply involved in mobilizing and serving the next generation of gospel workers from Asia.
For most churches, stagnant ministry and the loss of believers were inevitable during the pandemic. Churches need to focus on how to expand further, gain new believers to compensate for the loss, and even achieve growth in the number of believers.
I can’t help thinking about how discouraged they must have been when they had to leave China so soon after working hard to learn the language and start a new ministry… But God wasn’t finished with either them or his people in China.
Timothy Keller’s passing is a cause for mourning. The Christian community has lost a champion of the faith, but I cannot help but feel joy and hope as I watched him from afar; as he faced the news of cancer, struggled through treatment, and never let go of the gospel even to the end. His testimony of a life well-lived . . . fills me with hope.
Seeing how long it takes to recruit and get a worker on the ground in China, I think that we are very wrong to stop recruiting for the Middle Kingdom. China is still a country with many who need Christ. Though the opportunities may be fewer and different, please don’t stop considering China!
We serve an unchanging God whose heart for the nations is unquenchable. New wine needs new wineskins. I encourage my fellow workers to prayerfully consider what these changes mean for…future work among the Chinese people, and to prepare [for] the new roles God has prepared for us.
Let’s pray that the Belt and Road Initiative and the wide diaspora of Chinese throughout the world, including the West, will be an expansion of opportunity to reach them, since the restrictions in China have become so limiting.
China has switched to a totally different track that has become a main ideological thread: nationalism—with a whole generation following it. New NGO regulations and other laws leave little space for internationals, especially Westerners, to operate in China as before. Is it possible to present the gospel without a Western format?
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).
As Christians in China study biblical peacemaking, many have had personal aha moments…they now see that conflict starts in the heart and that avoiding addressing the root heart issues in order to “avoid conflict,” only results in the heart conflict remaining.
Paul yearned to return to visit his fellow believers but he knew there was a moment he would have to leave them to lead their churches without his help…. Likewise, many of us may not get to see our Chinese brothers and sisters on this side of heaven again.
While it is difficult for foreigners to teach in China today, it is not impossible and still well worthwhile. The book reviewed here will bring back poignant memories for many and, we trust, be a reminder to pray for those who are still teaching in China.