Church Situation – Quick Update
Since Sunday we have been busy. There have been several different emotions that we all have been feeling this past week but all the leaders in the church have been faithful in their calling.
We no longer can use the daycare space that we rented every Sunday morning for services but the church also rents an apartment in the same housing estate (as the daycare) that it uses full time. It holds Wednesday night services at this location.
The church decided to move the Wednesday night service to Thursday night, just as a precaution since the police knew about this location (they also visited it on Sunday) and knew our service times.
Wednesday was the day of moving. There was another location about 5-10 minutes away that the church use to use for other services, language school and also it was used to host groups coming through the area. The rent on this place was up and we decided not to renew it. Therefore, we had to move all of the stuff from that location to the other location. It was interesting trying to fit all of the stuff from there plus all the chairs (150 plus) from the daycare into the apartment the church uses full time (trying to save space since we will be holding services there too).
Anyways, the police didn’t come on Wednesday night to see if we were having a service and the church members (who didn’t get the memo) that showed up were informed of the service change.
Thursday night came and we had our service (not even a week since the cops came and stopped our service). We knew we couldn’t just quit gathering together. Everyone decided to keep doing what we had always done, so that’s what we did. There were about 32 people that showed up and the preacher continued preaching the same message on the resurrection that he was preaching on Sunday when the police came and stopped him.
Please continue to pray. If the crowd is normal on Sunday then we will be full in the apartment location. This means plans are in the works about what the next step is.
God has been good to our family and to the His church here in China. Praise His name and may the Gospel go forth!
03.22.11
Sunday’s Report
“Ten new kids” is what the missionary and the church asked everyone to pray for. Would ten new kids come after the festival and the many hours of work and prayer? The right processes were put into play and all we could do is leave the product in the Lord’s hands.
As Sunday school started there were about 6 news kids that had come and even some of their parents too! Then as Sunday school was well under way a group of 4 more kids came in the church. The children’s classes are in another building, so I walked them over to the other building. As I was walking back, I saw a lady walking with 4 kids behind her. It seemed kind of weird to me so I kept glancing back and then they all started waving to me. (I guess it was obvious who I was since I was a white guy in a suite.) They were all wanting to come to church, as well, so I showed them to the children’s class.
All-in-all the Church’s attendance was up by about 30 compared to the past two weeks! The church had over 10 new kids and a lot of new moms, dads, and grandparents. The Gospel was preached! Amen!
Pray for our progress in the language so that we can be more of a help and be more involved in this exciting work. Watching all God is doing is exciting but I want to be in there fully sharing the Gospel as well (in Chinese)!
Another note is that over the past three weeks the offerings have been good! People are really giving and it is exciting to watch them take on this responsibly and give with a cheerful heart!
Thanks for praying!
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Boldness, Chinese Christianity, Church Planting, Evangelism | Comments Off
“Open Church” This Weekend at 10!
We had another great Sunday! There were a few new visitors and it is exciting to see the Lord work. One of the best way to describe the changes over the past couple weeks is comparing it to an “open house” but for the church, and having it every week. An open house “is an event held at an institution where its doors are open to the general public to allow people to have a look around it in order to gain information on it (wikipedia).” We desire to invite and open our doors to the general public that they may gain information about the glorious Lord Jesus Christ and know of His redemptive work on the Cross.
Here are some quick thoughts from this past week:
- We continued going door-to-door putting out information from the church.
- This week we included a sermon series flyer!
- We staple all the information together and then hang it on the door or doorway with a piece of tape.
- The packet usually includes a flyer about the church or sermon series, a business card with a map of the church location, email address, phone number, and basic info. Also, we include a gospel tract of of some sort.
- Our rented building has a couple windows and glass doors that you can easily see through and see what is going on.
- People walking by the building can hear the church singing loud and clearly so many of them look inside the windows or door to see what is going on. They just kind of stare as they walk by.
- The stage is setup right in front of one of the blocked off doors, so you can see the preacher preaching from the street as well.
- We have a sign, that we haven’t been able to put up yet, but it will allow people who get our information to be able to recognize where our exact location is.
We may not always do things just like this, or even think of something better in the future. But we want to always be bold and open concerning the Gospel. Families are having the gospel delivered to their doorstep and those who are interested have a place where they can “gain information.”
Read Related Articles: Sunday’s Service and Prayer Request for Today.
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Boldness, Chinese Christianity, Church Planting, Evangelism, Missionary Life, Missions | 2 Comments »
China Doesn’t Need More Missionaries
China doesn’t need more missionaries but it does need more church planting missionaries.
I will be the first to say that there are TONS of “missionaries” in China. If you are a Christian college in america, you probably have some outreach program in China. If you are in a T.E.S.L. program, you are probably doing some outreach in China. If you are in a Study abroad program, you are probably in some outreach in China. If you are part of a College Ministry or Christian Organization, you probably have something going on in China. That fact is everyone is in China.
So what’s the problem?
The problem is not the amount of laborers but the type of laborers. China has an over abundance of nominal evangelist and a lack of bold local-church-planters. That may seem too harsh and maybe I am over exaggerating but we have to answer the question, “Why is China still unevangelized with an abundance of Christian workers living in the country?”
Most people the come to China for the purpose of seeing the lost reach with the Gospel, come with the right heart and motives. But China needs more than a good hearted Christian. China needs willing, trained, bold men of the Book! Men that have a high view of God and a high view of His Church.
China needs missionaries that…
- meet the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.
- refuse to get lost or side tracked in being “under cover.”
- teach more Bible than they teach English.
- will plant churches instead of just being a helps ministry.
- are in for the long haul instead of few year investment with little fruit.
- fight fear and boldly live out their faith.
- have real practical training.
- willing to train the nationals in more than a 10 step discipleship class.
- are focused on reaching all peoples not just select groups.
- are willing to have strong accountability vs. no accountability.
- came to China with more than the ”getting there” syndrome.
Maybe you are considering China. And believe me China needs you! But it needs more than your presence. It doesn’t need another foreigner, tourist, or traveler. It needs someone more consumed with God than having an interest in eating weird foods and experiencing a different culture. May you and I both work at being that person so that China may be reached with the Gospel.
I pray that God will send forth more laborers!
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Chinese Christianity, Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, Training Leaders | 3 Comments »
An Interesting Misconception…
“The Church In China” or “The Chinese Church” is probably terms that you have heard before. It is interesting to me that people refer to Churches in China in this manner the majority of the time. People seem to lump everyone together and make statements about “the Church in China” as a whole. Because of this many misconceptions seem to arise about China.
We usually don’t do this as much when speaking about Churches in America. I think we say “Churches in America are…” or “American Churches are…” more than ”The American Church is…” We talk more in the form of a plurality of Churches instead of one united movement. This might seem like a small difference, but I think it impacts the way we think about things. I am not trying to be picky with terms, as the wording can many times have the same meaning or have that of a majority/minority meaning based on context, but I think we generally think about it in this manner:
The first one leads to clicking the “apply to all” button while the second one leads to clicking the “apply” button. Let me illustrated:
Apply to All: If you say “The Church in China” is having a great revival. – This means all the Churches are having revival.
Apply: If you say “Churches in China” are having great revival. – This simply means that many Churches are having a revival but not all.
This wording leads one to believe there is this huge unified movement in China where all the Churches are connected and are not separated over issues of doctrine and denomination. This simply isn’t true. It is a false appearance of unity that comes from the loosely used and hard to pin point terms. If churches choose not to stand for key doctrines it isn’t because of an over spiritualization but because of an ulterior motive or a weakness in doctrine (not saying that being strong in doctrine necessarily causes one to be separate and cause division but it does cause one to contend for the faith and stand for truth).
Christian organizations also use this terminology by saying “help build up the Church in China” or learn how you “can be in a better position to serve the Church in China.” What does that mean?! Imagine if your church promotion for this Sunday was “learn how you can better serve the Church in America.” The diversity and locality of Churches in China have different and specific; needs not to mention the vast majority of local areas without Churches and therefore a Church would need to be started and men trained. (Interesting Note: I think this type of thinking is a contributing factor to why many Christian workers in China come to help “the Church in China” but never actually physically work in a local assembly of believers or even attend a local worship service regularly.)
Final thought on this, it moves thinking about the Church from local or even universal to national. It segregates those on the outside and forces unity for those on the inside.
The terminology isn’t really that big of a deal, but it is just a symptom that I have noticed about how a lot of people talk about Christianity in China. All of that to say, be carful about what you read and perceive to be true about China, weather it be good or bad.
Read the last post in the “An Interesting Series…” by clicking here.
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Chinese Christianity, Church Planting | 2 Comments »
An Interesting Find…
We were driving home the other night and my wife wanted to drive around to look at the lights. So I decided to take a rough road near our house. I had been down it before because of the police station being there, but that isn’t very far down the road. I knew the road led out of the city and into the poorer parts of town. We drove one way for about 45 minutes before turning around. The lights were neat and it seemed that everyone had “red lanterns” hanging out. One of the things that caught our attention before we turned around was a cross. There was a cross lit up! “That is bizarre!“ I thought. So we try to pull into the place but the gate was closed. We figured it must be a government church and went on our way.
The next day I went back. I drove up and did the usual “look confused and lost until someone comes to ask you if you need help” and it worked. An old man (65) appeared from a small building and I ask him if the place is a church. He said it was and then I tried to inquire about the service times. After some conversation he invited me inside and I was able to practice me Chinese with him.
I ask to see the church building and he let me in to see it. After running out of things to say (which doesn’t take me long) I decided to go and return on Wednesday morning for the 8:00 AM service (we were still on break from language school). I left being excited about finding another place that I could at practice my Chinese and wanting to know more about the church.
Read the next post to find out about how the service went.
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Chinese Christianity, Chinese Culture, Language Learning, Missionary Life | 3 Comments »
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