Ministry in China

In a recent article on the Gospel in China blog, the missionary wrote that there are some discouraging trends in missions in China. One of which is the moving away from urban areas into rural areas. He is working in China and hears and sees much that is going on there. I may not see those trends about China but it seems there are rumblings of this same idea of getting away from cities and into villages.

Though for many Christians, the trend is to go into the villages but the trend of the world is that they are moving into the cities. You can check out this chart here that shows the forecasted growth of cities in the next 15 years. As of right now according to U.N. statistics, 180,000 people are moving into cities around the world each day. That’s 2 people moving into a city every second. Right now, there are 23 megacities in the world. (A megacity is a city with a population over 10 million.) By 2025, there will be 36 megacities in the world.

When it comes to China and city growth, China will add more people to its cities in the next 15 years than the entire population of the United States. China just recently announced that over half the population now lives in cities. By 2030, it is estimated there will be 1 billion city dwellers in China. This move to the rural areas is a move away from where people are going.

Though statistics can be helpful, they are not the Bible. What we see in the book of Acts is ministry in major cities. Though perhaps Paul may have gone to small villages, that is an argument from silence. Paul’s ministry was focused on cities.

Do villages need the Gospel? Most certainly. There is no way one can make the assertion that we should avoid going to more rural areas. But in the same way, we should not make the assertion that cities should be avoided. It seems as though God is moving them into the cities.

Source: Sino Project

On February 4th our little baby girl was born healthy being about 8 lb. and 20 in. It is a blessing to hold, enjoy, and welcome this precious baby girl into our family. We praise the Lord for allowing us to have another child and allowing her to be healthy. We pray that we can raise her to serve the Lord God who gave her the breath to breathe and that she will bring HIM maximum glory with her life!

If you remember from last month, we had to make an emergency trip to China’s capital because my wife’s gallbladder attack and the possibility of complications with the pregnancy. After arriving, the decision was to fight the infection and do the surgery after the baby was born if there were no other complications. Now that the baby has been born we will be staying here for the rest of February, allowing my wife to have surgery to remove her gallbladder and recovery before we return to our home in the north-eastern part of the country.

As for our time here in Beijing, we have been able to visit and be encouraged by many other ministries in this city. We have met several missionaries, visited five different churches, and had the opportunity to give a testimony at two of those churches.

Also, I have been using some of the extra time to excel my bible reading in Chinese. I have now finished 21 of the 27 books from the New Testament.

We have much to be thankful for, excited about what the Lord has more for us to learn and experience here, as well as, eager to return and continue with our language studies and outreach back home.

Please pray with us over the following:

• China Church Planting. Pray as these churches are being planted and for the remaining funds to be given (You can give online at www.projectchina.org or you can send donations to Project China, P.O. Box 442, Alpharetta, GA, 30009, Note: “China Church Planting”).
• Laborers. We would like to see God raise up 5 men or families to come and join us as we labour in these fields. We are asking God to raise up 3 Chinese men that will surrender to the ministry. Also, we are asking God for a man to help lead our Voice of the Villages Project reaching out into the villages.

In closing, let me thank those who were involved in the “Global Day of Prayer for the Chinese” and thank you for being a part of our team, Project China, with your prayers and financial support! May Christ be glorified!

In Christ,
The Tolson

As I have gathered some stats about the number of bibles in China, I realized that:

• Millions of bibles are being legally printed in China every year.
• Millions of bibles are being illegally printed in China every year.
• Millions of bibles have been illegally smuggled into China.

1. Is there no point at which we submit to the law of China?

I’m a law-breaker in this country. I preach to Chinese people in unregistered churches that we planted. Obviously I agree with the Bible smugglers in at least one way: as Christians our primary loyalty is to God, and that overrides any other loyalties in our lives, including the laws of the land. But aren’t we as believers obligated to live by those laws that aren’t in conflict with the directives of God?

But the Bible smuggler protests: ‘Their laws about Bible distribution are in conflict with God’s commands!’ Are they? Is it against God’s commands to go to the Three-Self Church and buy a Bible? Is it against God’s commands to have to go into the next town to get a Bible? Is it even against God’s commands to have to wait for a week or a month to get a Bible?

Simply put, just because you disagree with the policies or politics of China, does that mean that you have no obligation to obey any of their laws? This is obviously not what we want to teach to the Chinese people in the churches here. All the reasons given for not acquiring Bibles legally boil down to the supposed inconvenience of it. Smuggling Bibles in China is the result of nothing short of refusal to jump through any hoops to purchase a Bible. This, of course, ignores the fact that money itself is a hoop. The border guard is a hoop. The customs form is a hoop. Rephrased: the Bible smuggler refuses to jump through any of the hoops that the government asks him to jump through. Which, by the way, are far easier to navigate than the X-rays at the airport!

2. You can raise support to do just about anything

You can get large amounts of manpower and money to do something for which there is no need. This thought I offer primarily as a word of caution to missions-loving churches and pastors back home. China is far away. The missionaries telling you about the need are sincere. These are two ingredients for an ineffective missions strategy: unfamiliarity and sincerity. Before you agree to smuggle Bibles into China, you ought to ask a few questions, as my teammate pointed out so well. Who are these Bibles for? How much is it costing to print and move them? Is there no other way to buy this many Bibles in China?

I have no doubts about the sincerity of those sneaking Bibles across the border. But I also think they are seriously in the dark about the current situation in China. As someone who heard all kinds of stories about Bibles in China before I came, I have been very pleasantly surprised at the inexpensiveness and availability of God’s Word here.

3. Demand is not the same as need

Much is made of the supposedly huge need for Bibles in China. But how exactly is this need manifested? Usually some evidences of demand are given: the number of Bibles printed, sold, or distributed. But that’s not need! Does the number of coffees Starbucks sold last week have anything to do with the need of coffee in the world? All that number shows is the demand for coffee. The same is true of Bibles. In America, for instance, over 20 million Bibles are sold every year. That’s the demand. But the average American household has four Bibles. That’s the need (or lack thereof). Bibles go out by the millions into China every year. But that has nothing to do with how many people are in need of Bibles.

But even if we concede that there’s a large demand for Bibles in China, is there any evidence that the demand is greater than the supply? The phrase often employed is ‘they can’t print them fast enough.’ All that means is that they’re selling them all. By the same line of reasoning, someone could say that ‘Starbucks can’t make coffees fast enough.’ In one sense, the person might mean, ‘Starbucks sells a lot of coffee,’ which would be true. In another sense, the person might mean, ‘there’s many people who want Starbucks but can’t get it,’ which would not be. Are there really thousands of Christians in China longing for the Bible who can’t get it?

There is one subset of the population that we would all like to get Bibles to. That subset is the intersection of those who want to read the Bible and those who can’t get one (because of financial or supply-related reasons). And this group of people is just not as numerous as some apparently think. Bibles are cheap. Free, if you can get to a computer. Besides all this, there is no evidence that those Bibles being smuggled in are landing in the hands of this small sliver of China’s population.

4. Literature isn’t in as short supply as men are

Let me strongly emphasize that I am for every human on the planet owning a Bible. But let’s also remember the uniqueness of our historical moment. For the larger part of church history, very few owned Bibles. Is it a good change that we can now have our own Bibles? Of course. I’m only pointing out that putting a Bible into the hands of every person is not a necessary prerequisite for the work we are trying to do. If every person in China had a Bible, that would be a good thing, but that accomplishment alone would achieve very little in the area of disciple-making. The Great Commission meter will barely register the change.

What is needed in China is for men who have been trained in the Scriptures and who will boldly and tirelessly proclaim it to those around them, whether they have Bibles or not. Send a million Bibles into China, and you’ll probably never know where most of them went. But send a hundred men like this into China, and you won’t have to worry about the results!

The truth is, there might be some little village in China somewhere whose believers fit perfectly into the subset I described above. But in the city we live in, there are plenty of Bibles. And guess what? While we’re thankful for the sufficient supply of God’s Book, there’s still a famine of his Word in this city. The Word proclaimed is our goal. The Word printed is our tool. So send all the Bibles you want to that little village somewhere in China. But send a Gospel preacher, too, for he is the disciple-making catalyst.

Source: The Gospel in China

Adapted from:
AustinGardner.net’s February 7th in World Evangelism History

On this day in 1824, Robert Samuel Maclay, a pioneer to China, Japan, and Korea, was born in Pennsylvania, the son of a tanner and one of nine children.

At the age of 23, Robert set out for China with another young man, Henry Hickok. Their mission society had sent them out with meager instructions (to acquire a working knowledge of the language, preach the Gospel of Christ, heal the sick, distribute literature, and establish schools) and, although he had a bachelors and masters degree from an American University, he had received little practical training on missionary work. But despite this, Maclay tackled his task with extreme diligence.

In 1856, Robert built the first Methodist church in East Asia at the city of Iongtau, calling it 真神堂 (the Church of the True God). Later that same year, he started the second church, 天安堂 (the Church of Heavenly Peace). For twenty-three years, Robert labored in China, until he was forced to return home for health reasons. He would later return to the East to start missions in Japan and Korea.

Robert’s work among the Chinese people is recorded in his book Life among the Chinese. In the opening chapter, he states:

“Four hundred millions! Who are they? Our brethren; bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. What are they? Heathen, athwart whose gloomy night of error no ray of light ever shines; idolaters, bowing down to senseless images, the workmanship of their own hands. What are they? Men, created by God; fallen, ruined, helpless; victims, morally, of a foul and relentless malady; sinking into guilt and woe unutterable, inconceivable; immortals, objects of the divine compassion, subjects of Christ’s mediation, into the mysteries of whose redemption angels desire to look, and for whose eternal salvation all heavenly intelligences are moved with a profound and ceaseless solicitude.”

Source: Robert Samuel Maclay | Life among the Chinese By: Robert Maclay

An Overview of Tianjin

Tianjin, China has a population of approximately 10,239,000 people. Massive and dynamic, Tianjin is China’s third-largest city, located near the coast some 80km east of Beijing. The city has few actual sights; it’s the streetscapes – an assemblage of ageing nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European architecture, juxtaposed with the concrete and glass monoliths of wealthy contemporary China – that are its most engrossing attraction. Though wide swaths of the city are being redeveloped, much of the colonial architecture has been placed under protection, and the shopping opportunities, especially for antiques, just about justify a day-trip from the capital, an hour away by train.

In the nineteenth century, the port city caught the attention of the seafaring Western powers, who used the boarding of an English ship by Chinese troops as an excuse to declare war. With well-armed gunboats, they were assured of victory, and the Treaty of Tianjin, signed in 1856, gave the Europeans the right to establish nine concessionary bases on the mainland, from which they could conduct trade and sell opium. These concessions, along the banks of the Hai River, were self-contained European fantasy worlds: the French built elegant chateaux and towers, while the Germans constructed red-tiled Bavarian villas. Tensions between the indigenous population and the foreigners exploded in the Tianjin Incident of 1870, when a Chinese mob attacked a French-run orphanage, and again during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, after which the foreigners leveled the walls around the old Chinese city to enable them to keep an eye on its residents (source).

Religion in China

Religion is complex in Tianjin and in China in general. Many of the belief systems hover somewhere between traditional religion and old philosophy, as they universally believe in a sacred or spiritual world, but vary in how influential that world is in everyday life. Religions in China also do not demand exclusivity from their members. Chinese citizens may practice several different religions at one time, without feeling any sense of disloyalty.

 That said, there are three main religions (or philosophies as the case may be) prominent in Chinese culture: Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. Daoism (also called Taoism) is the only one native to China. Islam and Christianity have made minor inroads into the city (source).

Would you pray that God would send more laborers to this city and country to lift His name high?

Source: AustinGardner.net

• The WHERE of Missions – “But to say your country needs missionaries more than X-landia is not the same as saying X-landia does not need missionaries. I think there are places needier of missionaries than China (e.g. North Africa) and less needy of missionaries than China (e.g. Central America) – but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a huge amount of Great Commission work to be done in all of these places.”

• WHERE: Not Everywhere Is In ‘Huge’ Need - “Missions illustrations are always about lifeboats, so here goes… (this is a slight twist on the intro to John Piper’s chapter in ‘Let the Nations Be Glad’ about people groups). If you’ve got a couple lifeboats that both hold fifty people, and you’re called to two separate shipwrecks, one where 200 people are drowning, and another where there are ten people drowning, where are you going to send your lifeboats?”

• WHERE: Some Clarifications – “Any church ANYWHERE, whether in the States or in China, should begin to give and send for the advance of the Gospel as soon as possible. And all believers everywhere should continually wrestle with their own desire to meet needs all over the world – whether they’re in the Western U.S. or in India.”

• WHO > WHERE – “The obvious implication of Jesus’ words is that ‘laborer’ = ‘harvester.’ What if the ‘laborers’ aren’t harvesting?  And that’s a fairly accurate, albeit brutal, description of modern missions. Unprecedented workforce, impressively low impact. We’ve got laborers. But we need to pray for harvesters.”

• WHERE: To People Groups? - “Well, if it doesn’t mean ‘people-groups’, then what does it mean, you ask. An excellent question. One that you could answer easily yourself if you had never heard of ‘people-groups.’ The plain and obvious reading of the Commission is that the Gospel needs to be taken to all unbelievers, no matter where they are. And that’s what I take it to mean.”

Adapted from:
AustinGardner.net’s February 5th in World Evangelism History

On this day in 1858, Miles Knowlton, the Baptist missionary and author, wrote a letter to his mission society regarding his visit to the small mission work in the city of Chusan, China.

It was during his trip here that he was able to spend a lot of time with the people and he was able to develop a clear understanding of their culture and mindset. In his letter, he talks about the obsticle that hinders many of the Chinese to come to Christ:

“The gospel is, emphatically, the only hope for this poor people. Yet, like the Jews, they are far, very far, from being to receive it. In the first place, they are too proud to give any earnest attention to anything that is not taught in their own sacred classics. These, in their estimation, contain all the truths and doctrines that man needs or can know. It is confidently believed by all that Confucius knew all that can be known from any source by man and to hint anything to the contrary to a literary man is a very grave offence. Preach repentance, Confucius taught the same and they take it for granted that he taught it much better than we red haired barbarians can. Preach morality, goodness, love, benevolence, holiness, the relative duties of life -the classics teach the same in language of surprising elegance and perfection…..

They are literally without hope and without God in the world! How sad their condition. How should the hearts of all those whose minds have been illumined by the light of life yearn over them! The church of Christ has intrusted to it that which alone can impart to them hope, can transform their character, and fit them for endless life! The atonement of Christ lays a foundation upon which, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, the superstructure of a holy and godlike character may be reared. The gospel, Christ and Him crucified, is that which alone is adapted to meet the exigencies of this people’s case!”

Source: The Missionary Magazine (Read the full letter)

We thank the Lord for allowing us to have another child. Also, for giving us a healthy child and good delivery.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying and caring for our family.

As she grows, may she give our Lord MAXIMUM GLORY!

Praise be to God!

Adapted from:
AustinGardner.net’s February 4th in World Evangelism History

On this day in 1888, Jonathan Goforth and his new wife of only three months, Rosalind, set sail for China.

While Jonathan attended Knox College in Toronto preparing to go to China, Rosalind was at the Toronto School of Art, preparing to be an artist like her father. But Rosalind was never truly satisfied with her life. In her own words, she described the inner struggle:

“From that time, and increasingly as the years passed, there seemed to be two elements contesting within me, one for art, the other—an intense longing to serve the Master to whom I had given myself. In the early part of 1885, when still in my twentieth year, I began to pray that if the Lord wanted me to marry, He would lead to me one wholly given up to Him and to His service. I wanted no other.”

But since Rosalind never found a man, she continued on her art career. She finished her schooling in Toronto and began preparations to go to London to further her education. But just weeks before she left, she went to a meeting at a mission to play the organ. Here, she found a man who had a heart, commitment, and love for the Lord: Jonathan Goforth. For the next two years, Jonathan and Rosalind spent time together and worked together at different missions across Toronto. In the end of October of 1887, they were married. In February, they set sail for China.

This young couple, completely sold out to God, would see God use them in a might way. When they arrived, they made their home in the northern Henan Province, which was to be their home for decades to come. They faced hardships and challenges, trials and temptations, but they continued to look to the One who sent them. Slowly, the work grew. But all this time, the Lord was simply molding and preparing his servants for the great task that was ahead.

By the end of his life, Jonathan was leading revival meetings all over China. Often he would preach for eight hours a day, to crowds of up to 25,000 people. Thousands of sinners experienced the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and multitudes of Christians were awakened to a more vital relationship with God. The meetings were often characterized by public confession of sin and repentance.

The Goforths were some of the greatest missionaries of their time. But they never forgot their beginning. They knew they were really nobodies and that it was simply the spirit of God working through them. Whenever someone would praise the work the Goforths were doing and elevate them to a high level, Jonathan would smile and tell this little story:

“Friends, if you and I take glory to ourselves which belongs only to God, we are as foolish as the woodpecker about which I shall tell you. A certain woodpecker flew up to the top of a high pine tree and gave three hard pecks on the side of the tree as woodpeckers are wont to do. At that instant a bolt of lightning struck the tree, leaving it on the ground, a heap of splinters. The woodpecker had flown to a tree nearby where it clung in terror and amazement at what had taken place. There it hung expecting more to follow, but as all remained quiet it began to chuckle to itself saying, “Well, well, well. Who would have imagined that just three pecks of my beak could have such power as that!”

Source: History Makers | Wholesome Words

An Overview of Beijing

Beijing (formerly called Peking, Beiping, Dadu, Jingcheng, and Yanjing in different periods of Chinese history) is the capital city of the People’s Republic of China. It is also the nation’s political and cultural hub. Additionally, it is the focal point for the country’s transportation, scientific and technological development, education and communication. Its present-day population is over eleven million; thus,it is the second largest city in China (source).

Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China, is the nation’s political, cultural, scientific and educational heart as well as a key transportation hub. Beijing has served as the capital of the country for more than 800 years. The city has many places of historic interest and architectural/scenic beauty. Beijing’s travel industry has forged forward after China’s economic reforms in 1978, and the city is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Beijing became the focus of world attention in 2008 when it hosted the Olympics. The games were a symbol of both China’s progress and China’s tradition with high-class and eye-catching facilities and spectacular ceremonies. Beijing shows, better than anywhere, the rapid development of Chinese society. The depth and breadth of Chinese civilization is laid before you every day in Beijing–neon lights, giant malls, and contemporary architectures. You can see a lot in one day, too little in a week, and not enough in a lifetime (source).

Religion in Beijing

Religion is complex in Beijing, and in China in general. Many of the belief systems hover somewhere between traditional religion and old philosophy, as they universally believe in a sacred or spiritual world, but vary in how influential that world is in everyday life. Religions in China also do not demand exclusivity from their members. Chinese citizens may practice several different religions at one time, without feeling any sense of disloyalty.

 That said, there are three main religions (or philosophies as the case may be) prominent in Beijing culture: Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. Daoism (also called Taoism) is the only one native to China. Islam and Christianity have made minor inroads into the city (source).

Would you pray that God would send more laborers to this city and country to lift His name high?

Source: AustinGardner.net