As I write this blog, I feel as if words cannot justify the experience that I had during my time in China. I had a very small glimpse into what it means to be a part of the persecuted church.
While in one of the cities in western China, we were tracked by the equivalent of the “FBI” in China. So trust me, your going to want to read until the end.
Leaving Nepal, we entered in through Tibet which was the first time AIM has ever sent in a World Race team. It was an absolute honor to be one of the first to pioneer the way through unknown and unchartered territory! Tibet is a closed country, and for various reasons we were not able to openly share the gospel. Instead, we spent the majority of our time praying for this country and for strongholds to break, paving the way for teams in the future. In Tibet, I saw the beauty of the Lords creation in so many different ways. Unfortunately, because we were so high in elevation, I did experience altitude sickness first hand. I spent two days of our journey on the floor of the bus inhaling oxygen. (s/o to my squad, they did a great job of taking care of me!) Many other squad members also felt the effects of the high altitude. In these moments of sickness plaguing our squad, we decided to cover it with positive thoughts. We played the “thankful” game, where we would each name off several things we were thankful for to counteract any negativity in our minds. After Tibet, I split off with team Shebrews. We went to Jiayuguan for a couple of days to see the Great Wall of China and then headed to a city in western China. ( For security reasons, I feel as if it is best that I do not reveal the actual city name.)
This is where the story gets good.
On the train to our new city, we were questioned by the police in our first couple hours of travel. The police asked for our passports and information, which was a little odd because this does not typically happen. This was our forewarning of what was to come in the following weeks. We hopped off the train, and immediately started looking for transportation to take us into the city to look for lodging accommodations. We got about 10 steps out of the train station down the road, and were quickly stopped by military officials, as well as their S.W.AT. team. (WHAT?!) Through broken English spoken by one S.W.A.T. team member, they informed us that they needed to check our identification. They seemed shocked that we had come to this city, and almost fearful of our presence in their city. While they checked our information, they were kind enough to feed us bread and water. After about an hour, they let us go.
We arrived in the city, and started looking for housing for the night. (This is not typical, when we come into a new place we usually have a plan of where we are going to stay). We split off into groups and walked through the city trying to find a place. Soon realizing, this was going to be very difficult because everything was out of budget and next to no one spoke English. Feeling a bit defeated after our experience, we prayed for an English speaker to help us find accomondations. This is when we met our friend Snow, and soon after Robert (undercover FBI). They were able to help us find a place to stay for the night, and even took us out to a night market for food after a long day of travel. The next morning, we went downstairs, ready to explore the new city and were met by our new friends. They had two cars and an itinerary for the day. Completely naïve to the situation, and the alterior motive we agreed to go with them. (to keep us all together, so they could monitor us) We spent that entire day, exploring new parts of the city. That afternoon we asked to go back to the hotel to rest because of the previous day of travel. That evening we split of into different groups to go eat. While we were at the restaurant, we began to notice some oddities in behavior by some of the locals near to us. (We later learned they were undercover FBI/cops sent to follow us). The moment it became obvious to us that we were under meticulous survailance, is when Leah and I headed to find a coffee shop and we had a cop chase us down (and even sit in the coffee shop with us to monitor our conversation.) NO JOKE. After that, we always had a entourage with us. We no longer at the freedom to go anywhere by ourselves. In these moments of realizations, we began to understand the gravity of our situation.
That morning we met with the team, and recognized that this was going to be a very different month. For the safety of locals, we were not going to be able to have more than surface level interactions. We discussed the fact that we were being heavily monitored, therefore we were going to have to filter our words, as well as our actions. Our rooms were bugged, a factor that came out through some later interactions with our new “friends”. As we moved housing locations for financial reasons, our new “friends” also followed us and even had two rooms right across from ours. Mostly, so they could watch our every action. We were not able to do anything without their knowledge and supervision. I had never experienced anything like this before, I felt caged. During a time of prayer in the morning (which continued every day), and some revelation from the Lord we decided to change our attitudes towards this month. Yes, it was going to look a little different because of the seriousness of the situation, but maybe our new “friends” were the people that the Lord had put in front of us this month. We were going to choose love and grace instead of fear, and hate. We actually ended up getting close to some of the FBI “friends” that were sent to go everywhere with us. I think I may be experiencing a little bit of Stockholm syndrome now. (Never thought I would be saying that.)
I wish I could explain everything in detail that happened throughout the next week, but that would take ages. Lets just say simply, I felt as if I was in part of a movie. Everything we talked about, did, and even thought about was known. However, there was some benefits to our situation. We had free transportation the entire week we were there, as well as a lot of free food. During our time there, we also met one fellow believer (definitely a God thing).
This situation has given me a deeper respect for the underground church in China. We have absolutely no clue what they go through on a daily basis, or what it actually means for them to follow Christ. They are under unprecedented persecution. Despite those factors, surprisingly China is poised to become the largest Christian country in the world due to the movement of the underground Church. As Americans, we often take for granted the freedom that we have to openly express our beliefs, as well as share them. We face no persecution. We face no penalties for sharing our faith. We do not face jail time. So why is that China is outnumbering us in their movement of the church? So yes, I am currently wrestling with somewhat jaded eyes the poor urgency in sharing the gospel in the U.S. I think as a whole, churches have done us a disservice by the lack of importance placed on sharing our faith. If anything, I hope that you take two things from this blog.
A want, a desire, and an urgency to make God known. To share the gospel. To share your faith.
and
Gratitude towards the freedom we possess.
Friends and family, will you join me in prayer for the persecuted church?
- Please pray persecuted believers would know the hope God gives
- Pray the Holy Spirit would strengthen them
- Please pray persecuted believers would know how much God loves them
- Pray they would know how to share the gospel
- Please pray persecuted believers would fearlessly tell others about Jesus
- Pray that their ministry would be fruitful and multiply
- Pray for the Lords hedge of protection over the church
Also, I am $3,000 away from being fully funded! (SO CLOSE!) Will you consider donating to my trip to help me reach my goal?
