From the Field – Outreach from China – Feb. 4, 2019
Update on ‘Back to Jerusalem’ movementToday there exists an organization of Christians to help the Chinese Christians to evangelize. It is not just to go back to Jerusalem, but to move from the East westward through the areas dominated especially by Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu countries. From their website here is a quote.
“Many mistake the idea of Back to Jerusalem as a movement of the Chinese church to evangelize Jerusalem. However, Back to Jerusalem is the goal of the Chinese church to evangelize the unreached peoples from eastern provinces of China, westwards towards Jerusalem. The vision was birthed among the Chinese in the 1920s, and since that time, the churches of China have strove and even suffered persecution to fulfill what they believe is their integral role in fulfilling the Great Commission… to not only evangelize the religiously oppressed areas of Asia, but to also train and send Chinese missionaries into the unreached regions of the globe, including Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu nations.”
God is at work in myriad ways. Praise be to Him who loves a world gone mad.
We must never underestimate our God. India and China each have a population of over 1.3 billion. India has been a democracy since it was granted freedom after the Second World War. China was behind the Bamboo Curtain for long years with Mao, then had some freedom, and now is back under Communist pressure against Christians. Yet, it may well be that the Christians in China number more than the Christians in India! It is estimated that there are 30 million Christians in India.
I reported this back in 2011.
China – While we in the CLC and our sister churches are not involved in mission work in China, we can only rejoice at what Chinese Christians are doing to reach out. Many of these Chinese are pentecostal and of course therefore we do not agree with some of their teachings, like God speaking to them in dreams, we still acknowledge God’s work through them. Also the figure of 1 million grown to 100 million are both the upper limits of Protestants in China, whereas the Roman Catholics would be in addition to this, though of course no one but God knows the exact figures of believers.
The Spreading FlameThe News that is Fit to Print Back on Feb. 3, ’11 in the Washington Post this appeared. “Although today is the dawn of the Chinese New Year, most people are unaware that Chinese Christians are gearing up to be the world’s most potent missionary force. China? Christians? Sure enough. For decades now they’ve had plans to evangelize the Muslim world that lies along the old Silk Road route. This could be one of the most ambitious missionary enterprises in 2,000 years of Christianity. No national church has amazed the world as much as that of the Chinese. From 1 million at the time of the Communist takeover in 1949, it’s grown to 100 million followers, a breathtaking growth in 60 years. Evangelical Chinese Christians have come up with a way to evangelize a large portion of the world that will never see a western missionary. These are countries with large Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu populations, most of them located somewhere along a 7,000-mile route stretching from Xian in central China to the cities of Jerusalem, Antioch and Istanbul in the Middle East. Those were the ancient terminuses of the famous Silk Road. Mission experts estimate there are some 2 billion people in these countries who’ve never heard of Christianity. And what nationality has businesses and enterprises in every nation on the Earth? And which is the most populous country with the fastest-growing church? Starting several decades ago, Chinese Christians began to strategize how to secretly plant churches along this Silk Road through an initiative called the Back to Jerusalem movement. The idea was to start businesses in countries from India to Iran that would never suspect that the Chinese grocer or restaurant owner down the street would like to convert them…” God is at work in myriad ways. Praise be to Him who loves a world gone mad.The Spreading Flame #2 The following is an article by Mike Turner in ‘LifeBrook’“…This article, however, is not so much about the persecution of Christians in China as it is about the heroic efforts of Chinese Christians to spread the gospel beyond the borders of the Middle Kingdom. The fact that these brothers and sisters in Christ plan and execute these missionary efforts is especially remarkable, considering the political environment in which they have to operate.I lived and worked in China for over five years, serving as a “tent-maker” missionary. During this time, I became acquainted with many Chinese Christians, both members of underground house churches and the official Three Self Patriotic Movement, the government sanctioned church in China. It was through my friendships with these remarkable Christians that I first learned of the “Back to Jerusalem” project. Since returning to the States I have learned that very few western Christians are aware of Back to Jerusalem, so I want to share a bit of information about the movement in hopes that these brief words might motivate readers to pray for these courageous missionaries who, quite often, place themselves in the mouth of the lion.Briefly stated, the goal of the Back to Jerusalem project is for Chinese Christians to evangelize all the nations between China and Jerusalem. The proponents of the movement understand that Christianity spread westward from Jerusalem and eventually to Britain and America. The faith then traveled from these two countries to China. The Chinese Church now feels it has both a call and a mandate from God to take the gospel message all the way back to its origin. In a geographical sense, the good news will have spread around the world.The vision for Back to Jerusalem actually was birthed back in the 1920’s, but due to the ever-shifting nature of Chinese politics during the first half of the 20th Century, the movement fell off the radar for a number of years, only to resurface with great passion as the century drew to a close. Often hamstrung by a lack of funds, the proponents of the project never gave up. Against all odds, the initial missionary team was formed and trained.In March, 2000, a team of 36 Chinese missionaries left the country for the mission field. A number of them never returned, but the project continued to move forward. Relatively unknown in the West, the Back to Jerusalem movement continued to arouse passion in the Chinese Church. Many of the initial missionaries had been subject to torture, deprivation, and ill-treatment in their home country, so they were well-prepared for what they might face in other lands that were hostile to Christianity, especially Muslim nations.The Islamic countries are a high priority for the Back to Jerusalem missionaries. As I talked to people involved in the project and reflected on what I learned, I arrived at one salient awareness: Perhaps the Chinese are much better equipped to evangelize Muslim nations than we westerners, particularly Americans, are. The fact is, Americans have a bad reputation in the Islamic World. Whether this image is justified or not is not the issue here. The reality is, a Muslim is more likely to listen to a Chinese Christian than an American one.Space does not permit a detailed analysis of the movement here. I would like, however, to encourage Christians here in the States to pray for these missionaries, their families, and for the success of Back to Jerusalem. Believe me, these folks need all the help they can get, spiritual and material. If you would like more information on the Back to Jerusalem project, visit the website:”The Spreading Flame #3News from Lausanne Word Pulse in Sept. ’11 this appeared. “Chinese Missionaries Today Chinese missionaries serving in Muslim countries have much more freedom to witness because they are not from the West. In 2005, teams of Chinese missionaries went into Pakistan after the December 2004 massive earthquake. They took blankets, tents, food, Bibles and Christian literature in Urdu. The Pakistani people were very open to the gospel during this time. When the Chinese NGOs would approach in their Jeeps (which had Chinese flags on them) the locals would yell, “The Christians are coming!” They would run toward the Jeeps, eager to receive the help that was offered in the name of Jesus.Today Chinese missionaries serving in Muslim countries have much more freedom to witness because they are not from the West.Church leaders in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are asking for Chinese pastors and missionaries to come and teach on suffering. The years of suffering under the hand of the Communist government have placed Chinese church leaders in a unique place to help these young pastors who are facing arrest, imprisonment and harassment in Central Asia. Few joys have surpassed that of participating in two days of teaching in an underground training center in west China. I translated for one instructor as he taught a group of Chinese missionary candidates how to reach out to Muslims. At the end of our time together our Chinese hosts took us to a feast of roasted lamb in the heart of the downtown bazaar. After sharing a meal and laughter, they eagerly asked if the instructor would come to the Middle East to help train their workers. They invited him to return to west China to train more Chinese missionaries on how to reach out to Muslims in the name of Jesus. We thanked God for one more glimpse of the work he is doing through Chinese believers…” We come up with innovative ways to reach out. The Lord who is over all has ways we did not think of and successful to boot.