My team and I have successfully finished one week of ministry in China. Our ministry this month consists of partnering with a Christian organization that has a foster home for babies with disabilities, a learning center, and a factory that creates décor that’s sold in China and the United States. It’s been such a blessing getting to partner with them. We have 3 of our girls working in the foster home with the babies, 2 more helping teach at the pre-school, and the rest of us helping tutor and working at the factory.
Arriving to China and learning the customs for foreigners was my very first “culture shock” moment. I think that when I was in the states I really took for granted all my freedoms. Entering into a communist country and having to submit under their authority made me feel a bit scared. Not because I feel threatened, but because I understood the oppression the citizens of China deal with daily. I understood the power of the Chinese government. The locals are nervous that there’s a group of Americans walking around their village. They’re scared that if something happens to us the government will come into their village and arrest whoever they think was involved, and the local policemen’s lives will be at stake. This is how the Chinese government operates.
It breaks my heart to think that these people have no choice but to live under such authority. Yesterday my team and I went to a lake to sightsee and shop around. We decided to grab lunch and the owner of a little shop set up two tables on his front patio so we could sit together. It was 8 of us. As soon as we finished ordering, two policemen approached the owner and argued back and forth until we were asked if we could please sit inside the shop. We had to split up and sit on separate tables. As soon as we moved inside, his little patio was shut down and they put all the tables and chairs away.
I felt angry with the policemen, I felt defeated because there was nothing I could do to make the situation better, I felt for the shop owner because he was going to lose out on business for the rest of the day. I thought to myself “Why are we even in China? How are we supposed to bring kingdom? We’re so restricted. I can’t even approach people and pray for them. I can’t do anything.”
I spent some serious time with God trying to understand why we’re here. He said to me “This month you’re my servant, not my messenger. Serve my people Norma.” That’s when I understood that my ministry was to serve and help the people who are long-term missionaries here. That in a country like China where you’re constantly being monitored by the authorities, the best way to share Jesus is by building a relationship with the person you’re ministering to. And I was here to take some work off their hands so they can focus on their outreach and building those relationships.
I also remembered the story of Jonah. How all it took was one man to deliver a message and the great and powerful city of Nineveh turned to God. I remembered that God is in control. That just like Nineveh, God wouldn’t forget about China. It was a beautiful realization I came to. I began to pray for the authorities of China. I prayed that the Lord would soften their hearts, and that the enemy wouldn’t deceive them. That gaining power by creating fear is something satan does, and I rebuked that fear in Jesus’s name. I prayed that our missionary friends could continue to spread the Gospel and eventually for God to transform the hearts of those high in power so China can proclaim Jesus’s name.
I invite you to pray with me.
Bless the authorities of this nation.
“The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes…Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
