+Pc the China Challenge — George Verwer

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.

Operation Mobilization’s Opening to China

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. Christian leader, Brother Greg Livingston, who's now the home director of the North Africa Mission, 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.

The China Inland Mission and Christian Literature

I've written in my notes, in very big print, the China Inland Mission. We at O .M. feel a great debt to this mission, now known as O .M .F. 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.

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, 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 ten 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 readied in simplified Chinese. So that's another enormous prayer challenge. This ministry is led by Paul Kaufman 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.

The Purpose and Limits of a Ship Visit to China

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, though 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.

Peter Conlon’s Journey Through Mainland China

In March 1980, two of Operation Mobilization's ship lineup 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 gray Mao uniforms are now giving place to more brightly colored jackets and clothes, and thoughts of Mao Zedong 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 arrived 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 worshipped 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 Zedong, and where the cross had been, you now see the poster of Mao Zedong 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 Gotek 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 Tek 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. Tek 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.

Protection, Christian Fellowship, and the Church in Peking

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, it was after midnight, and we were to visit this Christian brother on the and deliver scriptures to his home, and as we crept down this dark alleyway, suddenly a torchlight 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 Tehchin, 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 had been caught wandering around the side walls of that security center, and then just a few minutes later, as we were 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 some, 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.

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 gives 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 worshipped 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. Jesus, my heart's dear refuge, Jesus has died for me. Firm in the rock of ages, ever my soul shall be.

Here let me wait with patience. Wait till the night is o 'er. Wait till I see the morning break of the golden show. Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on his gentle breast, there by his love all-shedding, sweet, 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? I'm at peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in him to dwell. For I know what e 'er befall me, Jesus wills all things well.

For I know what e 'er befall me, Jesus wills all things well. All the way my Savior leads me, here's his winding path I train. Give me grace for every trial, peace will weigh the living bread. Though my worries test my pow 'r, and my soul athirst may be, gushing from the rock before me, lo, a spring of joy I see, gushing from the rock before me, lo, a spring of joy I see.

China’s Christian Witness and the Call to Prayer

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 would 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 laborers worthy of his hire go 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.

The Persecuted Church and God’s Sovereignty

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 and 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 Chinese mission, or 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 two to four million, some say ten 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 ,000 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 that we can understand a little better some of these statistics, and some of these important factors that we need to keep in mind.

The Need to Send Bibles into China

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 ten closed countries over the past two decades.