editorial

“The Lord is faithful.” That has to be the testimony – or at least one of them – of the last twenty years of service by AM-CCSM in and for China. His Word declares, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Again and again the Lord has proved the truth of His promise in our service for China. We have not always done well, we have faced disappointments and failures, but through it all we know, by His grace, it has never been in vain. We are amazed at the numbers encouraged to pray for China, at those who visit on teams or stay to work long-term, at the books printed and placed in the hands of grateful believers, and much more – how could that have ever happened but for the faithfulness of the Master? The co-labourers that the Lord has added from our small and hidden beginnings are also such a testimony to His goodness and faithfulness. They are men and women who bring so much more than I ever could. Thank you Lord! You can read about some of these works of the Lord and the people involved in the pages that follow.

We believe that same promise still holds for the future. China is changing in so many ways. I am writing this in a major city in China, having just been out for a prayer walk. In this city, as in almost all of them, roads are being ripped up to be widened, buildings are coming down and then going up again (only newer and taller). The road that I walked down last time I was here is one mass of chaos with so much building work going on. The next time I am here I suspect it will be wider, with more cars than ever before going in both directions. And with that physical change come new challenges for the church in China. The mass migration to these cities, for example, provides many challenges for a church that used to be largely rural. There is a new generation exposed to cultures that were totally banned – or almost so – when I first came here twenty five years ago.

Yet the Lord’s promise remains constant even if all around is changing. The needs of the lost and the church have not changed. If He permits and delays His coming, we want to share again in twenty years time more amazing acts that He has performed through our service.

I personally served in Taiwan from 1969-79. I wanted to go to China in those early days, but could not. It was closed because of the Cultural Revolution. In the late 1970s, as China began to open up, my wife Christine and I (then with
only one of the five daughters we now have!) planned to make the change. AM-CCSM had not yet been born. Before we left our precious friends in Taiwan, we went for a short break to the south of the island, to a beach that was empty and deserted (then but not now!). As darkness fell, we hurried back to the car – there are snakes there! – climbing a steep sand bank to where the car was parked. I looked back at the beach where we had been and where we had barbecued. In the gloom the flame from the barbecue burned brightly. As I considered that (I thought I had doused it down), the Lord said: “That is how I will use you. After you go, the fire will burn strongly.” Subsequent visits to Taiwan have proved how true that was and is.

And that is my prayer for China today as we celebrate this anniversary – that the same grace of God might be there for AM-CCSM as we serve in this great land today and tomorrow, its church and its people. We want to help them, by the faithfulness of the Lord, to burn brightly in a dark place more and more in the years to come – to His glory alone.