Sowing Seeds on Local Soil

Sowing Seeds on Local Soil

       Whenever I visited a new church during travel to China, I would ask its members about their church's history. It is very encouraging to hear both their testimonies as well as their church's history. We are witness to God's work throughout history by listening to the stories, many of which were about the difficulties missionaries faced in opening the door for Jesus. Many of them had sacrificed their families and even their lives to sow the seeds for later churches.

      An elder in one church told me that the baby of one missionary died only a few days after birth, yet the missionary couple give thanks to the Lord for bringing them to the village. The villagers were deeply moved and willing to accept Christ because they saw Christ's love through the couple.

       One of the major contributions of the workers for Christ was building up a strong team of local church workers. During rainy and snowy seasons, they ran Bible schools so that indigenous church workers knew how to preach and lead Bible study after they were gone. That's the reason why churches continued to grow after they were re-opened in 1980s. It was made possible by the foreign Bible teachers who taught the Word of the Lord and led people to Christ!

       History shows that spreading the gospel and nurturing believers through locals are effective for church growth. In fact, this is one of the characteristics of the China Inland Mission (CIM) founded by Hudson Taylor in 1865. Most of the churches I visited in inland provinces were founded by CIM missionaries. In many cases, the church buildings no longer exist, but the church members, the body of Christ, have stayed strong in their faith. The number of Christians in China grew from less than 0.2 million before 1920s to more than 0.8 million in 1949. Now they are estimated at more than 50 million.

       Mainland churches have kept growing because of solid Biblical foundation. That's what we have learned from missionary organizations like CIM. That is also the reason why we focus our ministry on Bible teaching. Through training Bible teachers, translating good Bible literature, and writing indigenous Bible study materials, we are taking part in God's miracle in transforming mainland churches.

       We are now helping some partnering churches to develop systematic Bible teaching ministry. On the one hand they need to train effective Bible teachers, on the other hand they need good curriculum that even peasants with a low educational level can use and apply in their daily living. Good communication and teaching methods lacking in traditional discipleship training are also needed. We hope and pray that through all these resources, mainland churches can grow continuously even in the face of challenges such as rampant materialism.

       As Chinese, we have to thank the Lord for raising Christians from all over the world to pray for our country, and sending His servants over in the past centuries. I believe it is time for us to work together and contribute to the realization of His kingdom.


Resource: http://www.ccfellow.org/Common/Reader/News/ShowNews.jsp?Nid=5975&Pid=22&Version=39&Cid=226&Charset=big5_hkscs