China is a closed country.
This means it is illegal to share the Gospel and illegal to gather in religious meetings that are not sanctioned by the state.
There are some state sanctioned churches, but we learned from some ministry partners that these churches are very monitored by the government and restricted on what they are allowed to preach. They do not allow the churches to meet outside of Sunday morning service (this was a new law that was recently passed).
Nevertheless, the Lord is moving.
My team, “Daughters” came into China with the premise that this month would be mostly involving prayer and interceding for China. Praying for chains to be broken, praying for openness and willingness, praying for the government, and praying for people’s hearts.
Prayer is the most powerful thing we can do as believers. There is such power in the name of Jesus.
MINISTRY IN CHINA:
Our month was filled with prayer to the Father, but a lot of other amazing things happened that we didn’t plan on (isn’t that how it always goes)!
We built so many wonderful relationships with fellow travelers at our hostel and with people from the community in Xi’an. We met friends from all over the world.
Kati & I had built one of our friendships through going to the park to dance every morning. We met Jenny, a sweet, intelligent 14 ½ year old. She learned that we were Christians and said she was interested in the Bible, but she had only ever known one Christian so far in her life- an old teacher of hers. She had never seen a Bible though; she knew they were difficult to find in the area.
This opened the door to begin meeting and studying together. Almost every evening, Jenny came over to the hostel after dinner, and we introduced her to Jesus through the Gospel of John. We prayed with her, and we even had the opportunity to guide her in saying her first prayer ever. We asked Jenny how she felt after hearing the stories of Jesus and praying together; she said she’s never experienced so much peace before in her life.
Even though my team is now in Nepal, I am still in contact with Jenny! She is listening to more of the Gospel through audiobooks. And she said she is almost ready to dive into a new part of the Bible to learn more.
Please pray for her faith to continue to grow and for her to find community and support in Xi’an, and for her to be a light to her family and friends.
We also had the opportunity to build a wonderful friendship with a friend from Hong Kong, who we found out was the only believer in his family! We went on adventures with him in the city, shared a hot pot meal, and a few of us even had the privilege of doing a 4am Bible Study before he left. We talked about being born again and baptized (the next step in his faith journey).
Our whole team had the privilege of getting to know Jacob, who is an American that works in China as an English teacher. He became a great friend of ours, and we adventured with him too around the city, hung out with him at our hostel, and we were able to share our stories with him and his with us. He grew up in the church, but he has been burned by “religion” and has walked away. Tamara shared her testimony with him. We are still in contact with him today too. Thank goodness for technology as such a beautiful tool to keep us connected to the new friends that we meet along the way.
Through connections of World Racers in the past, we met some wonderful kingdom workers in Xi’an. We were so encouraged by their ministries. We climbed a mountain together and through their connections had the opportunity to put on a concert in the community (which wasn’t necessarily legal by the way). Every single team member contributed through their own talents and abilities:
- Bella and Denise beautifully sang worship songs and other contemporary classics.
- Tamara shared an original poem about Xi’an!
- Laura played the piano (in the dark by the way)–she was a champ!
- Kati joyfully played the ukulele.
- And I, with my lack of musical talent, shared a story over FEAR of course. And how the Lord is greater than our fears. (This is the theme of my current season).
We stepped into boldness and interceded over the event for safety and to not be flagged. We had a few hundred guests show up outside as they heard the music–the police only showed up once, but thankfully only to tell us to turn the music down a bit. The Lord protected us and praise to the one true King was lifted up on the streets of Xi’an. Truth was exclaimed. It was a wonderful evening.
My team made so many rich friendships in Xi’an, far beyond what I’ve been able to write in this blog. Saying goodbye to all of our new friends in Xi’an was very challenging. We know that the Lord is still moving though with or without our team there. Seeds were planted, seeds were watered, and fruit will grow from it.
I am so expectant in how the Lord will continue to use us and stretch us!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please pray for all of our friends in Xi’an! And specifically lift up our ministry friends there; for the Lord to multiple their work. For blessings upon blessings to cover them. And for the name of Jesus to be made known throughout all of Xi’an.
My whole squad just finished up our first Debrief in Kathmandu with our coaches and squad leadership! (Blog coming soon over all of the new ways I’ve experienced the Lord in Debrief).
We are now starting a week of further training before we are all sent out to our ministries in Nepal!
Thank you so much for your prayers, encouraging words, and support!!
Blessings,
Hannah
Check out my sweet sister and teammate, Kati Simpson’s blog on Ministry in Xi’an to hear more: https://katisimpson.theworldrace.org/post/a-day-in-the-life-in-xian
