Just about six weeks ago, my wife and
I were coming out of China after a
very short, unexpected one-day trip by bus
into mainland China.
And then we went over to Hong Kong,
where we actually got more information, since it's
the real center of so many of the
ministries into China.
And it was a result of that that
I sent a letter or a telex back
to Bromley, wondering if maybe we could arrange
some kind of meeting, just for those who
might be interested, especially in the light of
the possible visit of the ship Lagos to
China.
It was shortly after I left Singapore after
ministry in Malaysia and Singapore and on the
ship with the ship personnel Lagos out in
the Philippines, which is really the main purpose
of that trip, that Peter Conlon, together with
Gotek Chin, one of our Mandarin-speaking staff
members, went into China for a much longer
trip and with definite contacts with top government
-level officials.
God had worked in a very amazing way
to give us these contacts.
And some people, even who have been involved
in China ministries for many years, were utterly
amazed at how God opened the door to
Peter and Gotek Chin to meet with top
government officials about the visit of the ship.
They have given some very definite encouragement toward
the Lagos coming to China, though obviously it
will be a very long and complicated process
to ever get the necessary permissions.
And Gotek Chin will be going back probably
in April, this time invited by the government,
to discuss further the possibility of such a
visit.
Also Stella Chan, another OM team member, just
had a letter from her, will in fact
be going into China probably within the next
couple of days for another visit.
What would be the purpose of this Lagos
visit to China?
Well, I think it's important to mention that
the burden and vision for China came to
us actually before the name Operation Mobilization ever
came to us.
So it goes back to the very earliest
days, when some of us were students and
we were in nights of prayer.
One such prayer meeting back at the Moody
Bible Institute, and we especially had this burden
for China.
And Christian leader, Brother Greg Livingston, who's now
the home director of the North African Mission,
who was with us about 12 years, reminded
me not so long ago that he remembers
us praying over a map of China and
actually assigning different key Chinese cities to pray
for, specifically.
And he shared that he was still praying
for the city that he was given over
20 years ago.
The burden and vision came to us for
China before the burden and vision of India.
Because there were two main areas of the
world that we were involved with or concerned
about the most in our early days.
First of all, the closed countries.
This is why we went to Spain, because
it was closed.
From Spain we launched into the Soviet Union,
and that abortive effort actually led to the
birth, to some degree, of what became Operation
Mobilization.
And then the vision expanded to a much
wider range of countries.
So the early vision was really for closed
countries.
It was for places that others were not
going to, to any great degree.
And the second part of the vision was
for the Muslim world.
Even as far back as 1965, I wrote
a series of chapters for a missionary book
about Muslims in China.
And a little booklet was printed that some
of you have seen about Muslims and Islam
in Southeast Asia.
And of course, to this day, there's a
population of many millions of Muslims in China.
So the burden and the vision for China
goes back to the earliest roots of Operation
Mobilization.
At the same time, we always sensed that
at least for China, from what we could
study, our ministry would have to be one
of prayer.
Prayer for the national church.
Prayer for Chinese believers.
And to some degree, even this evening, with
new challenges and new opportunities, our great burden
is still prayer.
Let me just mention a few other important
items.
I've written in my notes, in very big
print, the China Inland Mission.
We at OM feel a great debt to
this mission, now known as OMF.
And you will find that many of the
books on the book table are books written
by people connected with the China Inland Mission,
or about the founder of the China Inland
Mission.
One of the books I'd like you to
get this evening is called China, the Reluctant
Exodus.
The untold story of the withdrawal of the
China Inland Mission from China.
I believe truly a significant book about China
that needs to be read by Phyllis Thompson.
There are a number of other very key
books about China which are being featured on
the book table.
To China with Love, the lives and times
of Protestant missionaries in China in those early
days.
The Chinese Church that Will Not Die by
Mary Wang.
Excellent, powerful book.
Leslie Lyle, a man that we have a
lot of contact with, I think.
He's not here tonight, is he, by any
chance?
But I know he had an hour on
the telephone with Peter Conlon, especially since Peter
Conlon was the first foreigner to meet with
Ming Dao after he came out of prison
just a few weeks ago.
A man who had been in prison for
21 years and 8 months, Wang Ming Dao,
author of many, many books in Chinese.
In fact, when I was looking through books
recently in Singapore in Chinese samples of which
I brought back to Bromley, I noticed that
he was the author of about one-third
of all the books.
And this is another book that some of
you will want to read, New Spring in
China, by Leslie Lyle, just recently published, A
Christian Appraisal.
It says, This book is an attempt at
an honest appraisal of Communist China from a
Christian point of view, explains the author.
It is for the reader who may be
bewildered by the Chinese puzzle and is looking
for a simple outline of Chinese communism in
theory and practice and its effect on the
Chinese people.
He was, of course, a missionary in China
for many years.
Another close friend of OM and of China
is Jeffrey Bull, When Iron Gates Yield.
We just tend to think these days that
everybody's already read this book.
It's almost a Christian classic.
But we've discovered in our surveys that Christian
young people today don't read many Christian books.
And so I'm sure many of you have
not yet read this outstanding Christian book, When
Iron Gates Yield.
Another new book on China, The Chinese Connection,
especially for young people, an introduction by Brother
Andrew.
Of course, you all know The Small Woman,
the story of Gladys Ullward.
And there's a number of other books about
China.
Can't take time to mention them all now.
We'll mention a little more about those books
later on.
We especially felt in the early days of
our work, in the light of great missions
like the China Inland Mission, that our job
should be to stand behind these people in
prayer.
That if China ever opened, certainly it would
be people from the China Inland Mission and
others, especially overseas Chinese people, who would lead
the way in terms of the action.
But that any of us, even those of
us who seem so unsuitable for places like
China, couldn't be involved through prayer.
In speaking to 700 young people in Singapore,
I was quite amazed to discover that it
seemed that I knew more about China than
most of them, even though they were all
overseas Chinese.
And many of them, I think at least
50 to 100, signed up for a Chinese
prayer challenge letter that we hope to send
out in the future, because there's such an
interest in China.
Many overseas Chinese are not even aware of
how easy it is for them, especially to
return to China, even to buy land or
to study or to do something else.
So in a real way, our vision is
still firstly one of prayer and one of
encouragement.
We just want to stand behind some of
the existing groups that are involved in China.
One of those groups is the China Research
Organization.
I have one of their pamphlets that I'd
be happy to show you at the end
of the meeting.
They have a number of leaflets about China.
They have a China prayer letter that's free.
They have China in the church today.
They have a magazine about China in Chinese.
They have some occasional papers for those who
really want to get into heavy studies.
Then they have some other material that comes
out.
This is led by Jonathan Chow, who I
had a very wonderful time of fellowship with
when I toured the China Research Institute.
They have also launched a new China ministry
to help evangelists within China and to begin
to supply some literature in China.
I feel that the China Research Center is
doing one of the most significant pieces of
work for China.
And for those of you who are interested
in in-depth information and study, we would
be happy to link you in to the
China Research Center.
Another group in Hong Kong that we feel
is doing a significant work is Asian Outreach,
who we will be working somewhat with if
the ship is able to go into China.
I had a list of some of the
materials that they have made available as one
of the really pioneers of Chinese literature in
simplified script.
It's important to understand that most Chinese can
still read the old script, but it's difficult,
especially for the younger generation.
The language has basically not changed so much
in terms of speaking, but in terms of
actual Chinese script.
That's why you will discover at present there
is a demand for old Chinese literature, and
there are many books translated into Chinese.
But there's also demand for literature in the
new script, especially for any kind of evangelism.
And the new Bible, which Asian Outreach has
published, they've worked on it for 10 years.
And this is a little list, again that
I'd be happy to show some of you,
of just a few of the materials in
simplified Chinese.
Not more than 20 pieces of literature are
ready in simplified Chinese.
So that's another enormous prayer challenge.
This ministry is led by Paul Kauffman, and
also there are, of course, many Chinese people
working together with him.
I read recently in one of his prayer
letters how he went back to some of
the places he lived as a child.
David Adeny also told of some experiences like
this when he went back.
He has been one of the main ones
to challenge us about China, as he was
a missionary there as an author and was
the chairman of the Lagos Ship Committee in
Singapore, where he was a principal for many
years of Discipleship Training Center.
Then there's the Chinese Church Coordinating Office, and
I had the opportunity to share at their
devotions.
Their main ministry has been to overseas Chinese,
and it's amazing what God has been doing
in building solid overseas Chinese churches all over
the world.
And one of the greatest breakthroughs in the
history of OM has been the entrance of
this large number of Chinese background people into
the work full-time.
Over 120 Chinese young people are full-time
in OM tonight.
Many of these speak fluent Mandarin, the language
of mainland China.
We don't believe this is an accident in
God's sight and in God's working, and that
one of our ministries in terms of China
will be to give overseas Chinese young people
the kind of training and spiritual foundation that
we hope will enable them later on to
move into an effective ministry in China, not
necessarily with Operation Mobilization.
Another major influence of OM in the Far
East has been to challenge the Chinese Church
and have an influence on the Chinese Church
concerning cross-cultural evangelism outside of their own
Chinese people.
The tendency among Chinese churches is to think
only in terms of evangelizing the Chinese.
In fact, in the main Chinese Christian Church
magazine, one of the American missiologists said that
this is really the main thing and that
Chinese people don't need to think in terms
of working outside their own culture.
A message I gave in Hong Kong a
few weeks ago is the exact opposite of
this, as I very strongly feel that Chinese
people can be reaching out to the Muslim
world, to Africa, to Turkey.
We have a number already in Pakistan, even
going to South America, and we feel strongly
about this.
A number of the Chinese leaders have now
expressed sympathy with this strong conviction of OM,
and they will probably reprint the entire text
of this rather strong message in the Chinese
Church magazine within the next few months, which
should bring a few interesting reactions.
Keep in mind that if overseas Chinese people
are to go back to China, they will
in fact be engaged in cross-cultural evangelism,
because apart from the face and the language,
they are going to a totally different culture
of people that have had over 20 or
30 years of a whole new culture.
And this is why we feel cross-cultural
evangelistic training is so essential, even for overseas
Chinese.
We were just thrilled with the response to
the ship visits to Hong Kong.
The ship Lagos right now is in Taiwan,
another one of the largest manpower sources for
overseas Chinese people.
Taiwan, and the same is true of Malaysia,
are not really happy about their people going
back to China.
I think it's against the law in Malaysia,
but in fact when you go into China
as an overseas Chinese, you don't even need
your passport.
They have other ways to welcome you, and
so you can still go in to those
countries.
I think it's to understand some of the
dangers as China becomes somewhat, I re-emphasize,
somewhat of an open door, and I'll be
bringing out some of these dangers later on
in the evening.
As we think about a possible ship visit,
I think it's important to understand what we
would want to do.
Number one, we would want to encourage the
believers.
I might insert here that if any of
you are journalists or media people, that you
somehow not put this into the press.
It probably won't do much harm, but we
prefer not to take the chance, because so
often the things get out of context, and
so it may end up in the press.
We would prefer to keep this rather quiet,
even though of course it will all be
done openly.
It's just that people so easily get things
mixed up.
There is no plan for any large-scale
evangelistic invasion of China on the part of
Operation Mobilization.
Our burden is to go, first of all,
to carry on an educational book exhibition, which
we trust will allow at least a few
Christian books.
It will be a miracle, though in fact
the Chinese government has shown an interest in
this type of book exhibition.
We believe that with the ship Lagos, and
people living together, and the Chinese government already
knows that we're Christian, and what we practice
in simple lifestyle and community living on the
Lagos, that this will be a demonstration of
the reality that there is in Jesus Christ.
Chinese, Americans, Europeans, Africans, Australians, all living together
on this ship.
There's unlimited opportunity for personal work in China
right now, whether you're a tourist, overseas Chinese,
there's very little hindrance in just carefully sharing
Christ personally.
We also would like the ship visit to
be an encouragement to the Chinese Church.
This will all be done by word of
mouth.
There would be no great publicity, but people
traveling on the inside within China, once it
becomes a reality, will just spread the word
around, and they will come.
I met a lady in Hong Kong who
had just come out of China, now working
in Hong Kong.
She heard with great joy and praise on
the radio, one of the great ministries into
China, about the ship Lagos ten years ago.
And she just was so thrilled to know
that there even was such a ship.
And of course, with so many Chinese young
people working on the ship, it also has
enormous possibilities.
Keep in mind that many overseas Chinese do
not speak Mandarin.
Though even in Singapore right now, there is
a major drive to get all the Chinese
people in Singapore learning Mandarin, which is the
main language of China.
Many overseas Chinese speak various dialects.
Hong Kong, the people mainly speak Cantonese.
The China Graduate School of Theology is all
taught in Cantonese.
And so, even the Chinese have to do,
in many cases, some language learning if they're
going to be effective in mainland China.
Keep in mind, of course, also in China,
many people, especially older people, speak these dialects.
There are many, many other non-mainline Chinese
languages spoken in China.
I was just reading an article about these
minority groups, like the Tibetans and the people
up along the Mongolian border.
Many, many other minority groups.
And they represent some of the most unreached
people in all the world.
Even if the ship does not go into
China, there are great possibilities of teams, in
a very informal way, going in from Hong
Kong and just doing what they can to
help and encourage the Church.
We'll be talking a lot more about that
later on.
I think at this point, however, it would
be good to go to our slide presentation,
especially since I haven't seen it myself.
And we just wish that Peter could be
with us in person this evening, as he
is responsible for helping develop China, especially in
connection with a ship visit.
But we're happy that he made this tape,
even when he was feeling ill.
So we'll go to that right now.
Millions of Christians around the world have been
praying for Communist China during the past 30
years.
In March 1980, two of Operation Mobilization's ship
line-up men made a visit to Communist
China.
Gotek Chin and myself, Peter Conlon, from England,
were able to make this journey, which took
us many thousands of miles, around mainland China.
We began our journey in Hong Kong, as
we boarded this Communist Chinese train that was
going to take us into Canton, the city
on the Pearl River.
And then from Canton, we flew up to
Guilin City, central China, and from there on
to Peking, many hundreds of miles north.
And from Peking, across to the coastal city
of Shanghai, before returning to Canton, and then
back to Hong Kong.
The night before going into China, we packed
our suitcases with Bibles and New Testaments and
Gospel tracts, and asked that God would give
us opportunities, not only to meet the government
officials that we needed to meet with to
discuss the visit of the Lagos, but opportunities
of meeting His people wherever we went, and
sharing the Gospel with those that had never
heard the name of Jesus.
Praise God, as we sped from Hong Kong
to Canton on board this Communist train, our
baggage was never searched, and we were able
to take in the Bibles and hymn books
and the tapes and many other things that
we had brought for the Christians that we
were to meet on the way.
And arriving in Canton City, one of the
first things you become aware of is that
all that you've heard about China is partly
true, but then there are changes taking place.
And even the green and grey Mao uniforms
are now giving place to more brightly coloured
jackets and clothes.
And thoughts of Mao Tse-Tung being replaced
by other thoughts.
Mr. Gao was our Chinese guide for Canton,
and we had many wonderful opportunities of sharing
the Lord with him as we talked about
his life and about China.
He told us that you have to be
28 if you're a male in China before
the government will allow you to get married,
and 26 if you're a female.
And we arrive now from Canton by air
to the beautiful city of Guilin.
One of the results of the Cultural Revolution
was the removal of all signs of rank,
and you can't really tell a general from
a private except by the number of pockets
in the tunic.
That apparently is the way you can now
tell a person's rank.
Our taxi driver in Canton, when asked what
she would like from the West that we
have that they don't have in China, she
answered with one word, liberty.
It's the older people in China that still
remember Christianity, and it was some of the
older folk that we talked to that told
us about the church that was there in
Guilin many, many years ago.
And they told us that now it had
been turned into a printing press.
In fact, during the Revolution, they took over
the church and began printing communist propaganda from
inside the church.
After quite a search, we finally discovered there
behind this modern building, you see the general
outline of what was once the Evangelical Church
in Guilin, and how sad to go inside
and see the printing presses churning out the
propaganda.
And where once hundreds of people had gathered
and sang praises to the Lord Jesus and
prayed together and fellowshiped and together, now just
the clatter of the communist printing presses.
Where once texts had been up on the
wall, now just the thoughts of Mao Tse
-tung.
And where the cross had been, you now
see the poster of Mao Tse-tung and
Chairman Hua actually themselves beginning to disappear.
We asked the people in this printing press
if they knew what the building had been
used for in the early days, and they
laughed and they said they thought it had
been an American Jesus house.
The following day, we departed by riverboat on
a seven-hour journey, which would take us
down the river to the famous limestone mountains
of Guilin.
And finally, we arrived at the village of
Yangzhou, which is 2,000 years old.
And Goh-Tek Chin and I prayed that
the Lord would give us an opportunity in
this village to get away from the tourist
group that we were with, and to meet
the people.
Children came to us wherever we were.
Of course, they wanted their picture taken.
God gave us the opportunity of meeting this
doctor who was the village doctor, and he
told us that he had never, ever seen
a Bible in his life.
He had heard just a little about Christianity
from what he called the past generation, but
he said his generation knows nothing of Christianity.
And when Tech Chin shared his testimony with
him, Dr. Yang was visibly moved with what
he heard, and said that he himself was
searching for fulfillment in his life.
He very happily received a New Testament from
us, and promised that he would read it.
Back in Guilin that evening, we visited a
local opera.
No longer the revolutionary operas of the past
30 years, but during the past few months,
the government have allowed the more traditional folk
operas and love stories.
After the performance, we went backstage and had
a chance to meet the stars and talk
to them.
And then the Lord gave us an unusual
opportunity.
In the theater was a piano, and we
played the piano.
Tech Chin sang hymns, and the people loved
it, and they invited us back the next
night to be part of the program to
play and sing some more hymns.
Some of the older people appeared to recognize
the tunes that we were playing.
To my great delight, I discovered a table
tennis club there in Guilin, and this particular
section is for training up to six-year
-olds.
Then they have another section for up to
12-year-olds.
And in China, the way they produce world
champions is they get them when they're young
and train them, and of course that's how
they also train them in communism from a
very early age.
And then on from Guilin, a five-hour
plane journey through Peking.
We really felt that people were praying for
us on this journey, especially one night after
midnight, and we were to visit this Christian
brother and deliver scriptures to his home.
And as we crept down this dark alleyway,
suddenly a torch light flicked on, and a
voice rang out, where are you going?
What are you doing?
And then in the same moment, floodlights illuminated
the whole area, and then soldiers surrounded us.
And I said to Teck Chin, quickly, ask
them the directions for the Peking Hotel.
And he asked them in Mandarin where the
Peking Hotel was.
They started laughing and looking at me as
a foreigner, and obviously lost and wandering around
the alleyways off the Forbidden City.
And finally the lights went out and they
pointed us in the right direction, and off
we went.
I discovered later that the lights were attached
to the side of the building which we
were next to, which was the main security
headquarters for all of China.
And we'd been caught wandering around the side
walls of that security center.
And then just a few minutes later, as
we're walking back to the hotel, down a
small road, one man came walking towards us,
and it was this brother Wong.
He told us that he'd been in his
home praying, and the Lord had just burdened
him to, he thought there was something wrong,
something had gone wrong.
And so he left his home, and he
went into the streets to search for us.
And he found us, and we arranged then
to meet him the following morning, and deliver
scriptures to him.
And we felt many, many times on this
trip that the Lord's hand of protection was
upon us as people were praying.
The following day we were able to go
into the Forbidden City, which is the ancient
home of the emperors of China.
Now it's a tourist attraction.
Again in Peking, we found that the older
people were happy to talk about Christianity, and
the days before the Cultural Revolution.
Here we are approaching the Wall of China,
but before we get to the Great Wall
of China, we find a remnant of the
ancient Wall of China, the first attempt to
build a wall across China.
But then we now come to the Great
Wall of China, the only man-made object
visible from a satellite.
That's the statistic that the Chinese government give
you, that it's the only man-made object
that you can see from outer space, if
you're looking at the world, at the globe.
When we finally made it to the top
of the wall, the Lord gave us a
wonderful opportunity to have an open-air meeting,
and share with these young Chinese students that
were up there on the wall, and then
to give them gospel tracts in their own
language, which they of course were very excited
to receive as a souvenir of our meeting
with them.
Brother Wong had given us directions for getting
to the one and only church, at least
the one and only government-approved church in
Peking, which was opened last year.
It's a part of this building, and the
morning we were there, 140 people packed the
church room out, as we worship together.
And the pastor, in the employ of the
government, is welcomed by some of the Christians.
He is suspected by others of being a
government agent.
All we have to say is that the
morning we were there, he preached an excellent
message on sacrifice.
One man came to that church service in
desperate need of a Bible, and when asking
the pastor afterwards if he could have a
Bible, the pastor said, we have no Bibles.
And Teck Chin, who understood what was going
on, spoke to him and said, we have
some Bibles that you can have.
And this man had traveled more than 400
miles in the hope of getting a Bible,
and we were able to give him.
The morning break of the golden shore, safe
in the arms of Jesus, safe on his
gentle breast, there by his love forsaken, sweetly
my soul shall rest.
All the way my Savior leads me, what
have I to ask besides?
Can't I doubt his tender mercy, whose life
I dream I guide?
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in
him to dwell.
For I know water before me, Jesus with
all things well.
For I know water before me, Jesus with
all things well.
All the way my Savior leads me, cheers
each winding path I train.
Give me grace for every trial, peace with
weight and living bread.
Though my weariest days may falter, and my
soul a thirst may be, gushing from the
rock before me, no offspring of joy I
see.
Gushing from the rock before me, no offspring
of joy I see.
Little did my wife and I realize when
we came out of China, and we took
the risk of asking this meeting to be
organized, that we would have such a testimony
as we just had tonight.
To many of you who are young and
who perhaps do not know about China, it
may not be as significant, but to some
of you who have been around and perhaps
even a few Chinese missionaries, then you know
the significance of what we have just been
able to see and witness.
When I arrived in Hong Kong, it was
just being whispered around the whole city confidentially
that Ming Dao had been released from prison.
Truly this is a great challenge.
Let's just commit this final 20 minutes of
our time together to the Lord as we
bring this challenge of China and the world
to a close.
Lord, just really guide us now as we
come to the end of our time together,
as we focus on your word, as we
continue to consider other major facts about China
and about the world.
I will just give you the praise in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Luke chapter 10, verse 1.
After these things, the Lord appointed other 70,
also and sent them two by two before
His face into every city and place where
He Himself would come.
Therefore said He unto them, the harvest truly
is great, but the laborers are few.
Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that
He would send forth laborers into His harvest.
Go your ways, behold, I send you forth
as lambs among wolves.
Carry neither purse, nor bag, nor shoes, and
greet no man by the way.
And into whatever house you enter first, peace
be to this house.
And if the Son of Peace be there,
your peace shall rest upon it.
And if not, it shall turn you or
to you again.
And in the same house remain eating and
drinking such things as they give.
For the laborer is worthy of his hire,
though not from house to house.
And into whatever city you enter and they
receive you, eat such things as they set
before you.
And heal the sick that are there and
say unto them, the kingdom of God has
come near unto you.
But into whatever city you enter and they
receive you not, go your ways out into
the streets of the same and say, even
the very dust of your city which clingeth
to us, we do wipe off against you.
Notwithstanding, be ye sure of this, that the
kingdom of God has come near unto you.
But I say unto you that it shall
be more tolerable in the day of Sodom
than for that city.
What an amazing challenge.
The harvest truly is plenteous and the laborers
are few.
In Matthew 9, it's followed by that command,
pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest,
that he will send forth laborers into the
harvest.
I come back from China and Hong Kong
and that part of the world, first of
all on a note of praise.
And I hope you will return to your
home tonight.
On a note of praise.
God has greatly answered prayer in China all
during these years.
In fact, they estimate today that there's still
two to four million Chinese believers.
Most of them have been meeting in secret.
Many of them during the Cultural Revolution around
1966, many were imprisoned, some were killed, Bibles
were burned in bonfires and every vicious wild
thing that one could imagine in terms of
persecution took place.
But now this is considered a great mistake
by the present Chinese government.
And they are very much open about saying
that they don't believe this was right, that
which took place in the so-called Cultural
Revolution.
It's an amazing thing how God protected his
people during that time.
Many were put in prison and are only
coming out of prison now.
I met a doctor in Hong Kong, just
out of prison, been there for some six
or more years.
No one knows, no one ever will know,
the total story of all those who have
been in prison for their faith.
But certainly that alone is a challenge that
we cannot forget.
Just this one testimony we've seen and heard
on the screen, I believe should cause each
one of us to search our own hearts
about our own walk with Jesus Christ, and
whether we're really committed to the kind of
Christian faith these people know about, or perhaps
just caught up in some culturally twisted, saturated,
secondary type of Christianity that, as Tozer says,
has little relationship to what we read about
in the New Testament.
So first of all, I come back with
a note of praise.
Churches are opening.
A number of the official churches are opening.
Some of them are having attendance of one
in two thousand people.
Some of the people in the underground or
the house churches see this with mixed motives.
The Three-Self movement again is coming into
a more significant role, the sort of official
church-control organization that originally persecuted especially some
of the stronger evangelical leaders.
The situation in China has always been complex
and will continue to be very complex, and
that's why I want to try to avoid
any generalizations or heavy statements that I'm not
sure about in my challenge this evening.
I have been researching China to a very
small degree for many years.
I especially have been doing my homework over
the past weeks.
The more I read, the more complex the
situation seems to be.
Many people in their writings about China are
very strong about the mistakes made by missionaries
30, 40, and 50 years ago.
It's true, great mistakes were made.
Someone pointed out that the excess amount of
money in the early evangelization of China created
weak Christians in some cases.
One out of every seven Christians in China
was working for the missionaries to China or
the institutions.
Liberalism and liberal missionary work was very strong
in China and quickly divided the church.
Some of the groups in China went into
extremes, and of course, no one will ever
know all the stories.
I personally like to emphasize God's sovereignty.
I'm sure missionaries have always made mistakes.
I'm sure they made mistakes in the book
of Acts as well.
I'm not excusing those things.
It's not for me to do that, but
I believe God sovereignly ruled, and though mistakes
were made, the fact that there's 2 to
4 million, some say 10 million believers today
is an indication of what God did and
what has continued, especially through prayer over the
years.
I was told by one of the leading
research authorities in Hong Kong that he had
just been in an area, a province, where
there were 1 to 2,000 house churches
meeting.
Again, these statistics seem almost unbelievable.
On the other hand, when we realize the
size of China, one-fourth of all people
in the world, I think then we can
understand a little better some of these statistics
and some of these important factors that we
need to keep in mind.
I was encouraged and challenged by this little
article that I read in a periodical.
I was told of one church in Shanghai
led by an 84-year-old pastor who
could no longer walk because his feet were
shot full of holes during the Cultural Revolution.
He requested one Bible for his congregation of
1,000, saying they will copy the Bible
in its entirety by hand.
He said he would return the original copy
if the Bibles were not readily available.
It seems unbelievable.
And so I come back with a note
of praise, but then also I come back
with a burden to see the Scriptures going
in to China.
OM has been involved, and to some degree
indirectly involved, in taking large quantities of Scriptures
into a number of closed countries, about 10
closed countries over the past two decades.
Even when we first started in Spain, all
of our distribution had to be carefully done
through the post and through other methods.
We have always had this strong conviction that
the Word of God needs to go into
every nation.
If especially the National Church within China is
requesting Scriptures, and if they are more than
willing to make the connections to collect whole
suitcases filled with Scriptures, then it would be
a great mistake on our part not to
supply them.
It will be complex.
In some ways, it will be controversial.
Keep in mind that at present, these Scriptures
are not generally being smuggled in.
There may be some smuggling, but one of
the instructions on one of the leading groups
carrying Scriptures into China is, number one, do
not try to hide literature in your luggage.
We are not smugglers.
People are just loading their entire suitcases with
Bibles and just carrying them in.
And as far as I know, in most
cases, they are not telling any lies.
Generally, they're not asked to even open the
suitcases.
How long this will last, only God knows.
But certainly, this is the hour to take
advantage.
If you know anything about literature distribution into
the Soviet Union, you will know that it
is probably ten times that hard to get
literature into the Soviet Union.
I was with a man in Finland who
used to carry it in on his body.
He was quite a heavy man and would
go on radical, heavy diets, losing enormous amounts
of weight, reload himself with Scriptures, and go
into the Soviet Union.
A number of women tried this as well,
and some of them were caught.
But no one knows all the heartbreak and
all the struggles in attempting to get Scriptures
into the Soviet Union.
At present, China is incredibly easy, and it
doesn't even take any kind of smuggling operation.
This will continue perhaps to be controversial, but
almost all the major groups I was involved
with in Hong Kong at present feel this
is something we should be doing.
Some feel that mainly we should just take
Bibles.
One of the burdens and visions of OM
has always been to try to emphasize, together
with the Scriptures, other powerful Christian books, helpful
books for pastors and Christian leaders, challenging books,
and generally we have found that the national
believers agree.
They would like other books as well.
So far there is very little material, and
so one of our goals will be to
work with a number of different groups in
an attempt to see some outstanding Christian books
going into the new script and distributed within
China.
The most famous book in China, next to
the Bible, is Mrs. Kalman's book, Streams in
the Desert.
Keep in mind also that many of the
older Chinese believers especially can read the older
Chinese books by Ming Dao and by many
other men of God.
So the challenge for literature is very, very
great.
At present there is quite an enormous supply
of literature in Hong Kong.
One edition of 100,000 New Testaments, 70
,000 remain.
Most of the people agreed with me at
present that the bottleneck again was distribution.
To go in as a tourist is expensive.
In fact, generally speaking, any kind of work
in China at present is expensive, travel and
all the rest.
And so it's not just a matter of
trusting God to release finance for scriptures.
That generally comes somewhat easily, at least in
some countries, but to also see God releasing
personnel and also the finance that we may
see people go into these countries, especially overseas
Chinese.
I also came back with this burden, which
I've already touched on, to see overseas Chinese
returning to China.
In fact, Goh Teck Chin was the first
person I was able to have a strong
go at as he was planning to go
off to seminary in the States for a
year.
I felt quite strongly that I felt in
the light of the challenge and the open
door of China that such a move right
now would be the height of the ridiculous,
and I'm glad he agreed.
This is the hour for overseas Chinese people,
especially who have had some training like Goh
Teck Chin, to think in terms of mainland
China.
Overseas Chinese people can go in very easily.
They can buy property.
Many of them know the language, and it
is an amazing opportunity.
And I feel we must stand behind the
overseas Chinese in every way possible.
Recruiting, challenging, encouraging, teaching, supplying with literature,
buying suitcases.
We have a good contact for suitcases.
I just brought about 15 more back from
Switzerland.
Whenever anybody gets a damaged suitcase with Swiss
Air, they get a new one, and somehow,
indirectly, OM gets the old one.
We also have this burden to somehow launch
a ministry of cassettes.
Again, this is just beginning.
Ming Dao shared with Peter Conlon his vision
for cassettes.
There are not so many cassette recorders in
China, but there are some.
Cassette recorders can be purchased in Singapore at
incredibly low prices.
In fact, I just purchased another 50 at
less than 12 pounds sterling for a cassette
recorder.
We long to see cassette recorders and cassettes
going throughout China.
Some of you know about the burden we
have for Super 8 film ministry.
Already, in sharing this with a few leaders
in Hong Kong, it seems to be a
fantastic possibility.
Pilgrim's Progress is already in Chinese.
Can you imagine the impact of Christian films
within China?
By using a Super 8 projector, you have
something that's very small, can be carried in
a briefcase the size of mine, and the
film isn't much bigger than a reel-to
-reel audio cassette.
And so we long to be able to
do something in the area of Super 8
films.
It'll be a long time, probably before video
cassettes are very much used in Communist China.
One of the things that hit me in
the time that we were in and though
we were there only a short time, we
had a unique tour because it was overland
to villages and towns.
And we saw several different villages and brigades,
as they call them, the very unique Chinese
work structure, and then quite a large city.
And we just saw that this is still
an incredibly poor country, very much reminded us
in some ways of even villages within India.
And if you think that China is some
great advanced nation and have worked their way
out of poverty, obviously you haven't been there.
The masses of China are still very poor.
I think the miracle of China, and the
government has to be given credit for that,
is as far as we can see most
people are eating.
And most people have at least some degree
of shelter.
It's a very, very big challenge when we
think of one-fourth of the population in
this particular condition.
Some of the dangers I believe we will
have to face, and I'm speaking now of
the whole Church as we think of China,
are something that I'd like to mention at
this point.
First of all, there's the danger of making
the same mistakes as in the past.
I can't go into this in detail, but
anyone interested in China should do research, should
go through orientation, should study some of the
problems, should get to know Chinese Communism, and
should understand the wrong image that Christianity had
back in 1947 and those years in many
parts of China.
I feel, and many other Christian leaders feel,
this is important.
Another great problem is the danger of a
China bandwagon.
We don't want this meeting to be part
of a China bandwagon, though the people who
are using that expression, they need to be
careful, because there's always a danger in making
some strong pronouncement about avoiding the China bandwagon,
that we will avoid China altogether.
What does this man mean by bandwagon?
We certainly must be interested in China.
Some of us have been for many years,
ex-Chinese missionaries who we've been involved with
for two to three decades.
I don't think it's a bandwagon for these
people.
Men like David Adney, who's returning again within
the next few months, are mature Chinese-speaking
men.
And so, this is an area where we
need to find balance.
It will be a deadly mistake if at
present we think that large numbers of Western
missionaries can return to China.
As far as we can see, there is
no open door for standard Western missionary work
in China.
If that door does come, it will make
the situation even five times more complex than
it is at present.
Because a mad rush of all the different
denominations, and all the different groups especially, who
often fight among themselves, back to Communist China
could be a very distasteful thing, and result
in an enormous backlash that could even set
the Church back.
A greater need is to stand behind the
National Church, to give them the tools to
complete the job, to send in perhaps some
people on short-term visits, especially if they're
delivering scriptures, or if they're in some specific
ministry, especially after they've had basic training and
orientation.
One man who went into China and wrote
something of China during the Cultural Revolution, and
who saw the commitment and the discipline of
the Red Guard, and then went back to
Hong Kong, and compared it with the lethargy
and the lack of discipline among the average
Christian young person, felt that somehow there was
a great imbalance between the kind of committed,
fanatical Communists, and the kind of person we
find shuttling in and out of the sanctuary
in the 20th century.
Perhaps a study of the writings of A.
W.
Tozer, and men like Watchman Nee, Ming Dao,
and others, would be basic in preparing people
for a really effective and disciplined ministry within
China.
There could be a sudden change.
This very easily could happen, which would result
in even more people being in jail, and
even some people who went in as overseas
Chinese suddenly might find themselves unable to come
back and facing prison or something else.
The situation, I'm sure, is unpredictable in a
number of ways.
Another danger is, I believe, giving too much
publicity to China.
I was frightened as I saw an advertisement
in an American Christian magazine about a million
Bibles for China.
Personally, I feel these kind of advertisements, which
should give the impression that suddenly hundreds of
people and millions of Bibles are going to
come pouring into China, that if this kind
of thing gets released and gets into China,
could bring a quick backlash that will tighten
things up.
The fact of the matter is, we are
nowhere near even getting toward the first million,
as far as I can see in the
research that's being done of most of the
groups that are taking scriptures into China.
We are talking about tens of thousands at
present, maybe soon a couple hundred thousand.
But false impressions can be given.
There will definitely, I believe, appear on the
scene within the next year, totally false groups
raising money for China.
It happened in connection with the Soviet Union.
One of the most chaotic missionary fields and
missionary enterprises I know of is the work
into Eastern Europe.
And it certainly will happen with China, because
people who are just looking for easy money,
probably in North America, and not over here,
because that's where the big money is, they
think anyway, there will be false or unethical
groups raising money for China and for Bibles
that probably will never get there.
And I think we need a warning to
do our homework and to do our research
and to cry out to God that somehow
wrong publicity will not go forward.
Another great challenge in connection with this whole
work and also the vision God has given
us is in connection with overseas Chinese.
There are still millions and millions of overseas
Chinese and most of them don't know Christ.
Let's reach these people for Christ.
Let's increase all of our efforts to reach
overseas Chinese with the realization as these people
get converted to Christ, and this includes people
from mainland China who are studying overseas, though
they are only a small segment of overseas
Chinese, it includes them.
In some countries there are a lot of
them.
To see some of these people reached, converted
to Christ, and sent back to their own
country certainly would be one of the great
miracles in answer to prayer.
Also, let us stand in fervent prayer for
the continued radio ministry into China.
The radio stations beaming into China are getting
more letters back than ever before, and it
really is an encouraging thing.
This is a ministry that some of you
have been behind for many years, and I
trust that it will continue.
I trust that as we go to our
homes we will be able to take a
little extra time in prayer for China.
You may think suddenly OM is going to
become mainly at work in China.
No, after we left China and we went
back to our first love, the land of
India, and God opened the way because we
were on a ship, famous British ship, to
spend two days in Bombay with our leaders
who gathered together from all over the country.
The fact of the matter is what I
saw in China, what I read about China,
what I learned in Hong Kong, only gave
me a deeper conviction that the primary target
of our work and our manpower at present
still must be the subcontinent of India.
India is where China was, perhaps in the
1930s, in some ways wide open.
Yet there are probably 200 million people in
India that have yet to have the gospel,
especially considering the 75% illiteracy rate.
Through a new advance forward with films, we
hope to soon have 25 projectors and teams.
Through an increase of literature, we placed another
order for 15 million pieces of literature.
Through the army of 350 dedicated workers in
India, we are faced with an open door
that is staggering to the imagination.
And I hope it doesn't seem like a
contradiction because I hope it will just be
a paradox that as we go from this
meeting about China, it will be with a
continued burden for India.
Because this is a place where British people
can go.
You can be there by next October and
you can stay there the rest of your
life.
And you'll be accepted and you'll be understood.
And it is by far still the greatest
challenge facing the Commonwealth people, the only people
who can go into India without much difficulty
in the present situation.
The challenge of India, together with Bangladesh, Pakistan,
and the surrounding countries, even in terms of
population, is almost as great as China.
And yet it's 100 times easier to reach
a person in India for Christ right now
than it is China.
If we fail to reach India, I believe
it will be a tragedy that bypasses anything
that ever happened in China.
Let's commit ourselves, yes to China, yes to
India, to the Muslim world, but really to
the whole world.
And this is our first burden for tonight.
You've heard some information that up to now
not many people have yet heard.
What will you do with it?
C.S. Lewis said we have the tendency
to think but not to act.
We have the tendency to feel like when
we see slides, but not to act.
If we go on thinking and feeling without
acting, someday we will be unable to act.
I pray that none of us will get
into that state when we think of challenges
so ripe, so tremendous as China and as
India.
For so many churches today, world missions is
a matter of token commitment.
It's been proven a hundred times over, but
it is my prayer that those of us
who have been brought together in God's providence
tonight will go from here with a total
commitment.
As Maxwell says in his book, world missions,
total war, and that demands total commitment.
Let us pray.