Healthy missionaries come from healthy churches
Interview with Pastor Wang Zhengzhong of Chiang Mai Mission Training Center
Interview╱Liao Meihui‧Photo provided╱Wang Zhengzhong
In 2021, spring seems to come very early in New Jersey. On this day, I attended the sixth opening ceremony of Thailand’s Chiang Mai Mission Training Center (CMTC) via Zoom. Young students are like buds on magnolia branches, containing vitality and will bloom when the time is right. After the ceremony, reporters conducted an exclusive online interview with Wang Zhengzhong, a Korean pastor who trains Chinese missionaries.
praying mother
「遍佈全球的韓國宣教士約有三萬多名，幾乎所有的韓國宣教士都有一個共同的故事—背後有位禱告火熱的母親。」
Pastor Wang Zhengzhong said that he is no exception, "I have a mother who loves the Lord and prays every day! She can even pray nine hours a day!"
"Among Korean missionaries, about 70% are eldest sons!" Wang Zhengzhong grew up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, during the great spiritual revival of Korean Christianity. While he was still in his mother's womb, his mother dedicated her future eldest son to God. Wang Zhengzhong recalled that when he was a child, his mother went to church for morning prayers at 4:00 in the morning. When she got home a few hours later, she wiped her tears and snot on Wang Zhengzhong’s head while he was sleeping. The mother hopes that one day her son will become a servant of the Lord and even die as a glorious martyr for the Lord.
Born in a fourth-generation Christian family in South Korea, Wang Zhengzhong admitted that before the age of 25, he did not live in Christ, but lived in the habits and traditions of his faith. He compared himself to the eldest son in the biblical story of the prodigal son, living a fake Christian life in the church. At the age of 25, I experienced God’s vision and call, gradually understood the heart of Heavenly Father, dedicated my life from the bottom of my heart, and fulfilled my mother’s prayer. So I began to actively equip myself and focus on cross-cultural missionary work.
▲Aerial view of Thailand’s “Chiang Mai Mission Training Center”.
At the age of 33, he was sent to Xi'an, China, to learn language and culture. Five years later, he left China and came to Thailand due to political reasons. The burden God gave him was to train young Chinese missionaries. During his several years in China, Wang Zhengzhong observed that China has a large population and although Christians are growing rapidly, the training of missionaries, especially cross-cultural missionary work, is still insufficient. With the vision of "from missionary China to missionary China", he came to Thailand and established CMTC, a missionary training center focusing on cross-cultural discipleship training.
Looking for “little tigers” with missionary DNA
The main reason for choosing Chiang Mai is geographical considerations. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand, with a population of about 1 million. It is the most important political, economic and cultural center in northern Thailand, and one of the cities with the largest number of missionary institutions in the world.
Wang Zhengzhong said that the most worthwhile place to go to learn cross-cultural mission is Chiang Mai. The location is close to the Chinese border, making it easy to travel; there is freedom to preach within the territory without political interference.
CMTC currently has four missionary families responsible for six major ministries, including: training cross-cultural missionaries; caring for Sabbath year missionaries; missionary research; discovering the next generation of missionaries; missionary promotion; and prayer mountains.
CMTC officially started missionary training in 2007, and with the support of churches in different countries, it has entered its sixth session. There are a total of 49 graduates, 21 of whom have been sent to different countries such as North Korea, Afghanistan, Turkey, Ghana, Cambodia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan.
"My burden is to find and train "little tigers" with missionary DNA!"
It turns out that the so-called "little tigers" in Wang Zhengzhong's mouth must possess four basic qualities in addition to the most basic health: first, youth: between 14 and 33 years old; second, commitment: willing to dedicate themselves to the Lord. Put yourself first; third, character: humble and able to endure hardship; fourth, obedience: willing to accept equipment.
Where to find tiger cubs with missionary DNA? Wang Zhengzhong said that it mainly comes from recommendations from church leaders. Applicants go through recommendations, filling out application materials, testimonials, interviews, exams, etc., especially personal calling, inner life and faith in God, which are the key factors for whether they can enter the training center.
CMTC has a training called "Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane", which involves learning about Jesus and praying all night long. At the beginning of the training, some students did not adapt well. Some students burst into tears and even protested, "I have never encountered such a cruel teacher!" Some students said,
"Sleeping until midnight and being suddenly woken up by an attack is like a devil's training camp." Wang Zhengzhong emphasized that in the cross-cultural mission field, any situation can happen, so students must be trained in flexible response and emergency handling abilities. In the past ten years, about 20 students have dropped out due to maladaptation.
For the CMTC graduation exam, students are divided into groups of two or three and travel penniless to four different cities in Thailand to preach the gospel. If you can return safely after two weeks, you can graduate. Every student who passed the test had a great increase in confidence and testified that they experienced miraculous deeds during the two weeks of "Graduation Examination".
Perhaps it is because strict teachers produce good students, and every student after graduation maintains close contact with Wang Zhengzhong. About 60 people attended the sixth opening ceremony held in the cloud in 2021. In addition to church supporters from all over the country and co-workers from Taiwan, graduating senior sisters who were already at the mission field also witnessed this glorious moment. Pastor Qiu Xianzheng, director of the Mission Center of China Evangelical Theological Seminary, was also invited to encourage new students online.
▲In early March 2021, the sixth CMTC opening ceremony was held on Zoom.
CMTC training content includes six parts: discipleship training, biblical theology, missionary courses, missionary internship, language training and prayer meetings. The previous sessions were held once a year, but now they are held once every six months. Wang Zhengzhong said that before officially entering training, if trainees have short- to medium-term missionary experience, the results will be better. The training instructors are mainly retired missionaries and seminary teachers.
▲In mid-March 2021, Pastor Wang Zhengzhong was invited to share missionary missions at the Bethel Center morning prayer meeting.
Healthy mission cycle
During the interview, Wang Zhengzhong accidentally mentioned the concept of "healthy church" many times. "A healthy church is very important, because healthy missionaries come from healthy churches." Wang Zhengzhong continued excitedly: "Some missionaries were 'killed' after a few years in the mission field. They became 'missionary orphans' because they had no Get the support and care of the mother association!”
What exactly does a healthy church mean? Wang Zhengzhong analyzed each of them in detail.
First, a healthy church understands the heart of its Heavenly Father. Church leaders have a correct, comprehensive, and kingdom understanding of missions. The eyes of mission must be opened, there must be concrete actions for mission, an open mind, and a willingness to cooperate across churches or with mission agencies.
Secondly, in addition to teaching basic truths, the church’s discipleship training for believers must also “deliberately” train and cultivate young people, including spiritual life and character, discovering gifts, and giving young people a stage and opportunity to serve. In addition, cross-cultural Mission training. In this way, when we get to the mission field, we can minimize the failure rate.
Wang Zhengzhong pointed out that the number of believers in the Chinese church may reach 100 million, but there are very few full-time missionaries who have been engaged in the field for more than ten years. Although there may seem or sound like a lot of Chinese missionaries going out on missions, a large number return home within five years.
"The target we want to train is tiger cubs, not kittens; the DNA of the tiger cubs comes from a healthy church." Wang Zhengzhong even said sternly that although some churches or groups hold large-scale missionary gatherings regularly, the results are anticlimactic and a failure. There are only missionary slogans but no missionary action.
Regarding how to avoid falling into the hollowing out of missions, Wang Zhengzhong proposed that healthy churches are willing to pay the price and establish a healthy missionary cycle model. Through training → sending → caring for the Sabbath year → promoting mission → mobilizing → preparing the next generation → mission research, etc., we will discover the little tigers with missionary DNA, and then step by step into a healthy cycle through training.
"Missionary work is not an option, it is a must!" Wang Zhengzhong describes himself as a swimming coach. Seeing so many people who have never heard the gospel "drowning" in the water, can Christians remain indifferent?
His current main job, in addition to training missionaries, is to promote missions. Since the epidemic, not only has the missionary work not been suspended, but more missionary work has been carried out in Thailand and online connections with other churches have been carried out. Wang Zhengzhong, 53, petitioned God to train 1,000 cross-cultural missionaries in his lifetime.
If missions is a marathon, how far is the Great Commission? In fact, it is only "one step" away. From being moved to taking action, the real "first step" is the most difficult step, but it is also the most critical step.
"The entire church cannot be Moses without Joshua!" In March 2021, Wang Zhengzhong was invited to share at the Bethel Center (BRC) morning prayer meeting. He called on churches in North America, where talents and resources abound, to rise and shine, value cross-cultural missions, and cultivate and pass on to the next generation. He specifically called on Christian mothers to pray for their children and be willing to dedicate their children to be used by God.
"Rise up and shine! for your light has come! The glory of the Lord is shining upon you." (Isaiah 60:1)
Yes, the world is paying attention to how Chinese Christians fulfill the last step of the great missionary mission! Let’s start with ourselves, rise up and shine; let’s start with healthy churches, train, send out, and care for healthy missionaries!
Connecting Resources for the Great Commission
At the beginning of 2021, Elder He Mingzhi of the "Boston Suburban Chinese Bible Church" had just completed the "Seize the Moment" (Kairos) missions course, and the seeds of cross-cultural missions began to sprout in his heart. One day I received a call from Pastor Wang Zhengzhong, and I got to know him better, and regularly participated in CMTC’s online prayer meetings every Friday morning. After listening to the sharings of Wang Zhengzhong and many CMTC graduates, He Mingzhi said that most Chinese churches may be unfamiliar with this organization. Although CMTC is not large in scale, it has great confidence.
"They have strict practical experience, a solid foundation of truth, and a clear vision of the Great Commission. A Korean pastor is willing to dedicate his life, loves the Chinese so much, and specializes in training Chinese missionaries; he obeys God and focuses on cross-cultural missions. Why not Touching!" He Mingzhi called on more North American churches to be willing to know, support and connect with CMTC, and to invest resources in the Great Commission through practical cooperation.
Bethel Center Mission Promotion Specialist Wu Limin, who has contacted hundreds of missionaries, had heard of Pastor Wang Zhengzhong as early as 2019.
At that time, Wu Limin met a couple who were missionaries in the Middle East. They were facing great physical and mental bottlenecks on the field, so they came to Thailand CMTC through introductions. After half a year of rest and training, I finally regrouped and set foot on the missionary field again. Wu Limin observed that her missionary friends seemed to be "resurrected from the dead". After returning to the field, their service results were even better than before. "CMTC is a rare training institution that values and cares about Sabbatical year missionaries."
Wu Limin also participated in CMTC's online prayer meeting and felt Wang Zhengzhong's speed and efficiency. During the prayer meeting, Wu Limin saw a video of CMTC sending out graduate missionaries. When the young missionaries held flags in their hands ready to go to the country, sang hymns in their mouths, and bravely stepped forward with both feet, and Wang Zhengzhong prayed and blessed each missionary like a loving father, Wu Limin said that she was moved to tears. .
"No wonder he is specifically looking for tiger cubs with missionary DNA, because he himself is also a brave tiger. On the one hand, he has a nature of being fast and accurate, and on the other hand, he has a fatherly heart and love, which is really commendable!"
Liao Meihui, an award-winning journalist, graduated from Chinese Evangelical Theological Seminary of North America (CESNA), and is a special writer for this publication.