In a country where the disabled are usually given very low priority, it is encouraging to hear that they too will benefit from the Olympics. Beijing has promised there will be disabled access to public transport systems. Ramps are being installed at all entrances and exits to newly built subway stations and buses are being refitted. Appropriate facilities are also being provided at Olympic venues.

The International Olympic Committee has said that it expects Beijing to improve its poor air quality prior to the Games. Thus some heavy industry has already been relocated outside of the city and higher targets for the number of days with blue sky have been set.

A new campaign warns government and Olympic officials not to indulge in corrupt or immoral behaviour. Beijing’s Communist Party leader has warned officials not to have their energies “dissipated by wine and women,” and the China Daily newspaper reported that officials will be monitored to ensure they are living “clean lifestyles”.

Beijing’s mayor has commented that, “We have to have a good Olympics, otherwise not only will our generation lose face, but also our ancestors.” [BBC]
 

“The local police have arrested me twice since I became a Christian. The second time the six of us fellow workers were taken to the Public Security Bureau where we were interrogated by the head of the Bureau. Eventually we were charged with ‘persisting in illegal religious activities without joining the Three-Self church’ and locked up in No. 2 Detention House. As soon as I was sent into the room for sick inmates, the ringleader there asked me, ‘Why are you here?’ I replied, ‘I’m here because I believe in Jesus Christ.’ Thereupon, he winked at another inmate who came up with others to beat me. That was the rule by which they treated newcomers. If an inmate were heard snoring or talking in his sleep, the ringleader would pinch his nose and slap him on the mouth. Nobody would dare to complain even if blood was drawn. If you could not recite the ten prison rules within two days of arrival, you would get even more severe punishment. Very often, you got beaten up without knowing why. To add to the woes, there was not enough food. In short, we suffered cruel torture as if we were in a living hell. Let me say in truth that under such circumstances I really felt weak, intimidated and frightened. What could I do? When things had come to such a pass, all I could do was to pray in my heart, saying: ‘Almighty and faithful Lord Jesus, why did you lead me to this terrible place? When can I get out of here? Please be with me.’ All of a sudden, a Bible verse rang out in my head: ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’ At that instant, my fear was gone and I was strengthened. By God’s Word, I won through hardships. Subsequently, I was even able to preach the Gospel to my fellow inmates. In time, I was released. Today, I am still able to serve the Lord, tending to His flock at church.” [FEBC]
 

This March we have our first teams of the year heading for China and we are delighted to report that there will be eight different teams.

Our first-ever GIFT team (Go; Intercede; build Friendships; Teach) will take place with participants from Singapore and Malaysia. This all-Asian group will be visiting two cities to encourage the local churches and to intercede concerning specific local needs. One of the cities has been strongly influenced by Buddhism and Daoism; in the other the church is facing problems because of prosperity teaching. The team will also be sharing their testimonies at a meal for local professionals, as well as giving some teaching in local house churches.

There will be four further All-Chinese teams during the month. One group will spend time in the central China orphanage, where they will focus particularly on teaching the school-age children and providing physiotherapy. A second group will head to Northeast China to prayer-walk and teach in the house churches. Two further smaller groups of pastors and Bible school students will be teaching believers in churches in another area of China.

We will also have three international teams in the second half of the month. We have a good-sized courier team, which will be transporting books from our store house to two or three other cities. A mercy team will again be working in the central Chinese orphanage. It includes several experienced people who have joined previous teams, so the team leader will also be working on plans for a possible foster home in the area (see also Day Five). And an intercession team will be travelling in the Tibetan regions of China.

AM-CCSM continues to grow – with an increasing number of short-term teams serving in China; more long-term in-China workers; the move of our Antioch School of Missions full-time into China; as well as the production of ever-larger numbers of Christian teaching books and CDs, amongst other things. As we grow, we are very conscious of the need for your prayers. Without that support in prayer, we will not be able to complete the task that the Lord has given us. Can we therefore ask whether you would be willing to commit to regular daily prayer specifically for the ministry of AM-CCSM? If you feel this is something you can do, we would be pleased to send you our monthly ministry update, which gives many more details of all that we are involved in. Please let your local AM-CCSM office know if you would like to receive this.

Large numbers of Chinese are now travelling overseas for tourism, as well as for study and work. However, they do not always return with as positive an impression as the writer above. A recent newspaper report said that airline companies working out of Singapore had criticised Chinese tourists for talking loudly and being rude, and that people from Hong Kong had complained that those from the Mainland lack manners and social graces. Chinese tourists are also reported to be staying away from Malaysia because of allegations that the country's police and immigration are targeting Chinese women, suspecting many are involved in prostitution.

Many of us in different countries around the world have a great opportunity to be good witnesses to the Lord by providing a warm welcome for Chinese people visiting our country. Who knows whether our helpful manner and friendly words may prove to be a key to opening a heart to the Gospel?

“Foreign couples planning to adopt Chinese children need to have stable marriages, sound physical and mental health and comfortable finances and must not be overweight,” the ‘China Daily’ newspaper reported. “We want to pick the most qualified so that our children can grow up in better conditions,” commented the director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ China Centre of Adoption Affairs.

The majority of children who end up in China’s welfare institutions are either female or disabled boys. The United Nations Children’s Fund believes that as many as 70 percent of the children are sick or disabled. While healthy baby girls are often put up for adoption, few prospective parents are willing to take on disabled children.

We therefore praise God for the growing number of foster homes that are being set up by Christian groups for disabled children in China. Amongst them are two AM-CCSM co-workers who are engaged in caring for a small group of severely disabled children and have recently been given permission by the authorities to expand this work. As a ministry we are also looking at the possibility of setting up a foster home near the central Chinese orphanage where we have long been involved. Please keep these plans in your prayers.

A Christian lady from the UK wrote to us recently. She is involved in providing hospitality to foreign students and shared with us her concern about one of those students. She told us: “A lovely Christian Chinese student has just returned to ‘B’ city after finishing her studies here at ‘Y’ University. Naturally she is missing the church here and her many friends like anything. She is having a sort of reverse culture shock as she readjusts to pagan lifestyle, thought processes and attitudes, so she is needing a lot of encouragement.” We were pleased to be able to put this student in touch with some other believers in her city in China and we trust that they will help her through the many adjustments she needs to make.

This young girl’s experience is typical. We praise God that many Chinese people are coming to know the Lord whilst studying overseas. Yet we know that their return to China is rarely easy. An article in ‘China Source’ listed four of the challenges they face:

1. Busyness
   Many Chinese businesses require their employees to work very long hours, often twelve hours a day, which can make it difficult to prioritise time for fellowship or personal Bible study and prayer.
2. Faith/Life Conflict
   Employers may expect staff to do immoral or illegal things for the sake of the company. This may mean dishonesty in negotiations or taxes, or perhaps encouragement towards sexual immorality or greed.
3. Fitting In
   After learning a new culture overseas and becoming more Westernised, they may find it hard to adjust to Chinese ways of worship, leadership, decision making, etc.
4. Security
   House churches are officially illegal gatherings and those who join one will need to face the possibility of persecution.

China Source comments, “The bottom line for returnees facing these difficulties is that too many of them gradually fall away from the Lord after returning to China.” One Chinese returnee wrote, “I underestimated the situation when someone told me in general terms about this when I was in the US. The returnees need specific admonitions on what to avoid and how to live a victorious life.”

Despite the challenges, there is an urgent need for Christian students to return from overseas to share the Gospel and disciple other intellectuals.

Firstly, prayer is something that we need to continue earnestly. Prayer then is something that should continue – it is ongoing and should never cease. That takes earnest endeavour, otherwise known as hard work, on our part. That does not fit with the “I only do it if it blesses me” mentality. Breakthrough at home or in China happens when we decide to behave like the earliest church on earth – the first Christians of whom we read in Acts that, “They devoted themselves... to prayer” (Acts 2:42).

Secondly, the target of that earnest prayer is that God’s servants (in China or elsewhere) are strengthened to do what God called them to do. The implication in Paul’s comment is that, if we do not pray earnestly, then our brothers and sisters in China will not be released in the Spirit to win the battle to preach the Gospel and save men and women. Paul says he “ought to speak” but needs prayer to make it manifest. Could you take a few minutes to meditate on that and think through the implications of Paul’s statement?

Thirdly, Paul says all of this even though he is in chains. In other words, when we pray earnestly, we reach a totally different level of possibility. God makes possible the impossible through prayer. The man in chains can still be used of God (see the testimony in Day Two). That is why prayer for China is so important.

Fourthly, Paul says to add the spice of thanksgiving. There is so much that the Lord has done in China through His faithful people there. There is so much He has done through AM-CCSM in answer to your prayers. Why stop now?

Selwyn Hughes, talking about growing in prayer, said: “Fix in your mind the fact that a vital prayer life ought to be close to the top of your list of spiritual priorities… Commit yourself to deepening your life of prayer by organising your day around your prayer time rather than the other way round. Make it the top priority of the day.”

Add Paul’s revelation about prayer to Selwyn Hughes’ challenge to make it central and we have a possibility of change in our lives that could change many in China and beyond.

 

Ross Paterson