You will remember that approaching this month we had to get very secretive about where we were going, about the level of contact (or lack thereof) we could have, and so on. This is because China is a closed country where missionaries are not allowed and so we had to be careful not to inadvertently jeopardise our ability to get into the country, or potentially the work of those that we were going to be with this month.
Our teams (H.O.P.E. and R.I.) are fortunate in that we don’t have to be too secretive about where we are or what we are doing, but this has not been the case for other teams and so we have had to treat certain things, such as internet access, with a blanket ban for the protection of those teams. Whilst we can be slightly more open about where we are, as I will explain below, other teams are more at risk, or at least their ministry contacts are. One team, after less than a day in their location, were stopped and questioned by the police and moved to a different area. Nothing bad, they played the we’re-tourists-and-so-we’re-happy-to-move-to-where-you-suggest-is-a-better-place-for-us card, and then pretended to be snap-happy tourists for a day because of the likelihood of being watched, but obviously this made it harder for them to do the ministry work they had initially had arranged for them. As such, obviously I’m writing this blog (these blogs I should say) now, but am uploading them and backdating them later, once we have moved on.
For our teams in this location, the Chinese government is obviously aware that the organisation running Eagles Wings is an organisation supported by overseas donations and volunteers and they welcome that. The local establishment are aware that Donna and her family are Christians (for one thing they attend a church for foreign nationals that has had to gain permission to gather once a month in the city of Zhangzhou) and are likely aware that a lot of donations come from churches. It is not illegal to be a Christian in China, so we’re not at risk in any way in that sense, but it is illegal to proselytise (that is actively go out and preach or evangelise anywhere) and it is illegal to discuss religion with children. This means that our ministry here is not overt in the ways it was in the Philippines or the ways that it will likely be in the other countries we visit.
As such, our presence – the decision to have come here and care for these children – is the main way we preach the Gospel this month. Opting to use our time to play with, teach, feed and care for these children, as well as help in the development of their homes, is something that isn’t done much for them by anyone here outside of the Eagles Wings staff.
We can’t teach about religion and we can’t actively start conversations about Jesus but we can wear Christian t-shirts, Dusty doesn’t have to cover his tattoo that says ‘Jesus’ in Chinese, we can be honest in saying we have been to church, etc., and we can talk about anything to do with faith if we are asked about it by someone first. So we take St Francis of Assisi’s phrase, the title of this blog, to heart during our time in the city.
