Reflections on East Asian Missions
In 2000 A.D., the author and his wife visited a coastal city in China for several months and felt that the spiritual situation was like that of late winter and early spring, not far from prosperity. Sure enough, today, eight years later, people everywhere are seeing revival for the Lord. We received the Lord’s grace and went on missionary trips many times. Every time we saw the power of the gospel, we were so excited that we couldn’t control ourselves for a long time. However, in spiritual warfare, we inevitably see some disturbing phenomena. On the journey of missionary work, although we are just beginners, we cannot stop the urge in our hearts to record what we see, think, and talk with senior missionaries below. I look forward to reflecting on, praying for, and making corrections with my brothers and sisters.
Five Reflections on Mission
1. All short-term missions can only be regarded as short-term observation. At most, they can only be used as airborne troops, and infantry is indispensable.
2. Using evangelism alone as a banner, it is easy to fall into the illusion of numbers, and more importantly, long-term investment.
3. You must use the language of your heart to understand and cultivate others. The language of the heart is love and the local language. Missionaries should understand the needs of local people from the perspective of local people, and sincerely communicate with them and become friends.
4. In mainland China, Satan often uses "numbers, money, and opportunities" as weapons to seduce people, keeping believers busy until they are spiritually exhausted. When single men go to the workplace, or when married brothers go alone, they need to pay special attention to avoiding the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It is best to have a strong team of intercessors and support behind them.
5. Be careful about using money to support local preachers. Those who are entrusted with the support funds must not just "go to the field to spread money", but also need to keep in close contact with the recipients of the support and visit them frequently.
What is not needed for missionary work in mainland China?
1. Cultural superiority.
2. The allure of expats. They can do gospel preparatory work, but what is most needed now is discipleship.
3. How to hold meetings, lead hymns, preach the gospel, and teach old and new hymns. These are all feasible, but they are probably already doing it better than we are.
4. Missionaries and short-term mission teams who are not serious enough. The author has witnessed bad missionaries bringing some bad things to the mainland.
What is most needed for missionary work in mainland China?
1. Go over a long period of time and live in their daily environment (not a hotel). Teaching English and playing table tennis are two great ways to engage with them. Every Chinese has a skill or two at table tennis and has something to talk about. As for learning English, many middle-aged and elderly people have relatives abroad and want to learn some English so that they can take care of their children in the future.
2. Suffer with them, rejoice with them, and learn with them.
3. Christians who can speak Mandarin (or local dialect), love the Lord, are spiritually mature, and have pure faith and discernment.
4. Excellent, confident, and humble missionaries lead them to pray, go deeper, rest in the Lord, seek wisdom, and pray for them for a long time.
5. Teach how to deal with Satan’s temptations and attacks, including in friendships, marriage, education, career, money, etc. It is best to go with some experienced Christians who live out correct values.
6. To bring knowledge that helps social development in all aspects of politics, economics, and education, especially to demonstrate the love from God.
Dispelling the myth of “career overshadowing”
In the past, missionaries who went there often talked about "using their career as a cover," but in my humble opinion, this was unacceptable. A synonym for cover is cover. It is disgraceful to give people the wrong impression that you are a preacher or missionary. Of course, in today's social and political atmosphere, there is nothing wrong with keeping a low profile. Even in Christian countries, one should not be proud of being a preacher.
At least "secular" offices should not be regarded as "coverings." Our covering is only the Lord Jesus Himself. "Secular" work should be viewed as: a tool for serving society; a source of self-sustainment (just like Paul making tents); a channel for self-realization; and a bridge for evangelism.
I hope that preachers will take “covered missionary service” as their main occupation and work hard, solidly, and dedicatedly to glorify God and serve people.
The future trend of missionary work in mainland China
According to the author’s humble opinion, missionary work in mainland China has gone through the following stages:
1. Short-term and medium-term training for preachers.
2. Enter by major or business. Use medicine, high science and English teaching as bridges (I don’t say cover) to preach. This includes social work such as poverty alleviation, but current policies are very sensitive to non-governmental organizations.
3. Use psychological counseling, marriage and family counseling as a bridge. Now that Satan is wreaking havoc on families in mainland China, there is clearly a great need in this area.
4. Be a gospel immigrant. As spiritually mature elderly people live, the Lord can bless and use them. It is best to be a professional who retires early and is committed to serving in the church, because you can make a living on your pension and it is easy to obtain a residence permit.
There are a lot of resources in big cities and the Internet is very convenient. In medium-sized cities, it is easy to copy spiritual materials yourself. It's good for us to go in and take good materials to more remote places. But this baton seems to need to be taken up by teaching local co-workers. Not only do we need money and materials, but we also need people!
In summary, it can be seen that middle-aged and elderly people with a certain spiritual depth are most in need. Unfortunately, middle-aged and elderly people are often subject to various external restrictions, and there are not many places they can go. As for young people who are interested in missionary work, they should imitate Timothy and not underestimate their youth. They should humbly study, serve and build churches with local Christians. Of course, they will also be greatly pleased with the Lord!
Author profile
The author is a professor of mathematics and computer science. He grew up in Taiwan and was saved by grace when he was a sophomore in college. In the United States for more than 20 years, he often participated in evangelistic work for scholars and students in mainland China. The couple was sent by Maryland Chinese Bible Church to serve as missionaries in East Asia for two years (2002-2004). I also worked in East Asia for half a year before. After that, I went back to visit every year and witnessed many wonderful deeds of God. This article summarizes what I have seen and heard from 2000 to the present, and I hope to encourage readers.