The missionary who "disappeared" over the horizon
【I love "Mu" more and more】
After returning from field visits to several countries hosting refugees on the Syrian border, I once again sat in a quiet, spacious and comfortable church to worship, but I was deeply concerned about the children in the refugee camps. Because of the war, they have been unable to receive normal education for many years, and tens of millions of them live in the wilderness with poor environment and sanitation... They rushed to take photos with us, gesticulated and curiously surrounded us. They smiled with satisfaction when they lined up to get small gifts, and their innocent and cute figures lingered for a long time...
There are more than 60 million refugees in the world, most of them in the Middle East. The refugees in some Middle Eastern countries account for 1/3 of their total population. Most of the refugees live in tents and can only maintain the most basic necessities of life for many years. They are hungry and have no food to eat, but they have many children. Many families have more than a dozen children. Children have difficulty receiving normal education, which becomes a social problem and the vicious cycle repeats itself.
However, there is a group of young Chinese who are willing to leave their hometowns with their families and come here all the way to learn the language of the refugees, live with them, care for them and provide education. This group of young people are Chinese missionaries, contemporary disciples of the Lord Jesus.
Why choose to “disappear” on the horizon
Before the visit, I contacted and interviewed missionaries from more than a dozen pioneer areas. After completing all the interviews, the precious and fulfilling experiences of the past few months kept floating in my mind, and I unconsciously recited the words "It's not China, it's Christ." This is a famous saying by Hudson Taylor when he was 27 years old. The entire sentence is: "If I have a thousand pounds of British gold, China can withdraw all of it; if I have a thousand lives, I will never leave any of them to China. No! Not for China." , but for Christ! Can we make enough sacrifices for this precious Savior?”
This is also a passage on the wall of the recently opened Hudson Taylor Memorial Hall in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China on June 5, 2018. Today, we see that those who are willing to make sufficient sacrifices for Christ are not only Western missionaries, but also countless Chinese missionaries, including missionary pioneers who are silently committing themselves to the Chuangqi area at this moment.
In this age of distorted values and rampant materialism, I was surprised to see that this group of people, at such a young age, have already had many years of theological equipment, discipleship, and cross-cultural missionary training, and they have no regard for personal life and death and want to be poor. He only did one thing in his life - to lay down his life for Christ. They don’t want fame or profit, they only talk about Jesus and love.
Most of these young people from the area where they were originally founded were raised in Christian families. Their parents dedicated them to the Lord as soon as they were born, and they received the call and took on the mission in their teens. Some of them were once persecuted and sent to prison, but now they have become pioneers with a mission, leading Christians younger than them to choose to go to the people who have not reached the gospel, and strive to copy the horse-drawn ceremony more than two hundred years ago. Everything that Johnson and Hudson Taylor did in China.
Two hundred years ago, the gospel entered China; two hundred years later, the gospel left China. This is no longer a slogan but a ongoing process. When you go to the front line, you will find that many Chinese and Western missionaries around the world are working together to inherit the past and join the mission field. However, most churches still only stay within four walls to worship and praise the Lord, and do not pay attention to the Middle East. The area is still rife with fear and misunderstanding.
This group of modern apostles in cross-cultural missions has traveled to more than 20 countries. Wherever they set foot, there are remote villages where customs have not yet been developed, and many more are unreached places where evangelism is forbidden, and even areas that have been rebuilt after wars or disasters. area. They cannot contact their families at will or forward prayer letters online, as if they have "disappeared".
They bring their wives and children with them, no matter how high the cost, they have to stay in these places for a long time that ordinary people would be frightened by hearing about them - the environment and climate are extremely bad, the political situation is unstable, terrorists are rampant, there will be war or riots at any time, and people live in general poverty. . The countries that host the largest number of refugees in the world are not in Europe, the United States, or Asia, but in these places where no one wants to visit. These missionaries do business there, run schools, take care of refugees, and ultimately hope to turn over and change these countries through missionary work.
The true story of the incarnation of the Word
During my visit, I heard many touching testimonies that I had never heard of before, but they were commonplace there. For example, Jesus himself appeared to them in a dream. Once they prayed, the evil spirits left, the sick were healed, the lame could walk, the mute could speak, the blind could see, and even the dead were resurrected. We say how is this possible? ! But these actually happened.
Here, some people believe in the Lord but cannot make it public because it will lead to death without a burial place; some are sent to prison or even shot for preaching the gospel. These vicious and brutal killings are not prohibited by law. In such a dangerous place, the missionaries are not worried about their own safety at all, but are more worried about how to stay and preach permanently and "disappear" here.
Among them, there are also missionaries from the West who are working together with them. They are teachers who specialize in training missionaries. One of them had zero Chinese proficiency when he went to the northwest of China to preach the gospel 14 years ago. Now he can speak Chinese. Preaching and training. He was almost charged with espionage a few years ago. In order not to affect other co-workers, he quickly left the factory where he had served for 12 years and retreated to Taiwan. It has been two years now.
He had tears in his eyes as he shared this story. Some of the young people mentioned earlier were trained by him personally and worked together for several years. There are about 4,000 full-time missionaries in his mission. If including part-time missionaries, there are 7,000 to 8,000. There are also many other missionary training institutions involved in training. The Western missionaries who had been buried in these pioneering areas for decades were very happy when they met these young disciples and would say to them: "Finally we have waited for you!" It is precisely because they are as beautiful as clouds. Only by witnessing can there be a new generation of followers.
As I write this, I have mixed feelings. I originally thought that the history of missionary work in modern China described only historical stories; but now I understand that the missionaries who are writing the history of contemporary missionary work can only be buried underground and quietly fulfill the great mission entrusted by God until these areas are opened up. And that probably won't happen in their lifetimes. What they did cannot be remembered or mentioned. This Great Commission is not only accomplished through biblical knowledge, but must be accomplished through love, as Luke 10:27 says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. "You must also love your neighbor as yourself." To love your neighbor with unconditional love and to travel through every city and village in the form of the Word incarnate is the most basic requirement for missionary work.
And this is very simple to say, it seems that you do not need a high degree of education, as long as you have love and are willing to go out; it is also difficult to say that even if you have read the Bible and been trained in the church for a lifetime, you may not be able to do it. , or what it means to truly practice mission. But living out the love of Christ and fulfilling the Great Commission, isn’t it the goal that every Christian should pursue in his life? If you can't, you can at least participate in missionary work and support them from the rear.
Supporting the “disappearing” missionary
Each of these real and touching things, a record of tears and praying together on the knees, has so much content that it could be written into a book; but out of safety, I can’t say anything, but I look forward to more support from the rear. , so I can only share some general thoughts here, and hope that more Chinese churches and institutions around the world will participate, so that those who cannot be pioneers can support from behind; so that those who cannot be missionaries can care about and participate in missionary matters. .
In addition to prayer and financial support, what they currently lack most is not theology or discipleship training, but the assistance of professionals, such as various talents and resources in business, medical, education, psychological counseling, etc. Business is for mission, but mission is not for business. If you are willing to do your part, you are welcome to contact us through KRC, or communicate face to face, or hold missionary forums from time to time, or even organize a group to visit caring missionaries, and mobilize Christians to go to these areas for short-term missions, or conduct cultural exchanges. Use more Practical ways to connect the resources of the Kingdom of God and provide them to these pioneering areas more effectively.
God is an omnipotent God. He can mobilize all things. He does not lack your or my participation. However, through these services, we can expand our horizons and change our lives. Being able to participate in it is actually ours. pleasure.
People often ask why they go to the Chuangqi area to carry out such dangerous cross-cultural missionary work. Why don’t they just preach the gospel in their own hometown and take care of their own homes? If you want to know why, you have to ask yourself, why did Western missionaries such as Morrison and Taylor come to China to preach? Why did Dr. James Ma and Dr. Ma Kai come all the way to Taiwan to preach?
Yes, two hundred years later we have seen the results. It is not for China or Taiwan, but for Christ, for the Great Commission, for the gospel of the kingdom to be spread throughout the world and to be a witness to all peoples, and then the end will come. Isn’t this what all Christians hope for the Lord’s return? I really hope that Chinese Christians and Christians around the world will work together to embark on this missionary road!
Note:
Creative Access Nation: refers to countries that prohibit or restrict Christians from entering as missionaries to do evangelistic work. Although they do not welcome missionaries, they do not completely refuse entry to foreigners. The methods of missionary work must also be creative and inspiring. (China Gospel Mission's "Visiting Missionaries in the Chuangqi Area",www.cemusaonline.org/sharing/can/1.html)