I love China. This was actually my second time to China; however, last time I flew to my location. That’s not how the World Race does it though. Last month, we flew from Manila, Philippines to Hong Kong. From there we took a bus across the border into Guangzhou where my team stayed in a hostel overnight. The next afternoon we boarded a train to Harbin. Some of you geography buffs may know that Harbin is near the China-Russia boarder. That meant we had approximately 38 hours to kill on our train from Guangzhou to Harbin!
Near Tiananmen Square in Beijing
Once we arrived, our contacts Jake and Steph met us and showed us the city (about 5-10 millions people) and took us to our apartment for the month. Our apartment was on the fifth floor of a huge apartment building. Ash and I were blessed with our own bedroom. The girls were in the other bedroom, and Tim was a trooper to take the floor in the living room. Our kitchen had the essential appliances and our bathroom consisted of a toilet and sink. (For showers, we walked down the block to the church.)
Jake and Steph were our incredible contacts who’ve been in China for over four years. Originally from Ohio and Maryland, they went to China and learned Chinese for two years before doing any ministry. Now, they disciple Chinese men and women, Jake preaches in Chinese and they are actively growing and planting churches. Check Jake and Steph's ministry out at Gospel In China. Jake challenged us daily with his “missiological question of the day.” Jake is so passionate about missions and spreading the Gospel; it was such an inspiration to be around someone with a contagious faith.
Since we were unplugged from the world for a month, I’m sure you’re all wondering what the heck we did. In a nutshell, we shared the Gospel and message of salvation with Chinese college students who had never heard of Jesus. Crazy, right? Never heard of Jesus Christ.
Ashley with Alice and Cindy at Bible Study
How that happened exactly was interesting. We implemented what is known as the Funnel technique. Every Friday, my team would attend an English corner at one of the universities and meet Chinese students who wanted to practice their English. We’d make new friends and plan to meet again later that week. Every Tuesday, we threw a party at our friend’s apartment and invited all of our new friends, which were usually about 50 people. We’d play games, sing karaoke, and bake American snacks. From there, we’d invite our friends to a Bible study on Thursday nights to talk about Jesus and hang out. Through English corners, American parties, and Bible studies, we were able to funnel people who were truly interested in spiritual things to the bottom and spend time with those people.
With our Chinese friends Toby and Sherry at English Corner
The reality is that our Chinese friends are educated, bilingual, funny and hospitable, yet they’re totally ignorant of the Gospel message. It’s not that they rejected it or didn’t believe it, but that they’d never heard anything about the Bible or Christianity or Jesus Christ. Ashley’s and my friends Toby, Devin, Rifle, Alice and Cindy had never had anyone sit down and explain who Jesus was, why he lived, why he died, or that he rose again. We had the opportunity to spend a few weeks discussing life, family and faith with our new friends. We gave them Bibles in Chinese, invited them to church and introduced them to our Chinese pastors there.
Even with our most conservative estimates, there are still over 1 billion Chinese people who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ nor heard a Gospel message.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.”
Romans 10:14-15
Some people say it’s not possible to share the Gospel in China because it’s unsafe and the government will find us and track us down. Well, we did it. I pulled out Bibles in coffee shops, noodles houses, and on basketball courts. I preached in a teahouse and in my friend’s dorm room to his six roommates. I never felt scared or feared for our safety. The risk of not sharing far outweighed the risk of sharing and being punished.
The Lord continues to open doors in China; it’s getting safer, and churches are being planted. My team was able to help plant a church the last week we were there with all of the new contacts we’d made. We flipped an old drug house into a house church in China. Who can say that?
I’ll never forget what my friend Toby said to me the day before we left China. He said, “When I’m with you all and in this church, I feel something. It’s like it’s in the room and I feel it inside of me. I can’t explain it, but I think this must be the truth.” I told Toby that was the Holy Spirit standing at the door of his heart and knocking.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:20
I’m still praying for the day Toby will say yes to Jesus. This is why I’m on the World Race. We give, we pray, and we go because so many people around the globe have yet to experience the life changing love and grace of Jesus Christ.
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Luke 10:2
Representing WVU on the Great Wall of China!
