The following plea for laborers comes from one of Vision Baptist Mission’s missionaries serving the Lord in mainland China.
It’s official. The Lord has answered years of prayer. As of Wednesday, March 15, 2023, China’s Immigration Bureau has re-opened its borders to all pre-pandemic visa types – including tourists. For the first time in three years, foreigners may once again come to China for work, business, study, and travel. The hold placed on visas issued pre-pandemic has also been lifted, meaning that those visas issued before March 2020 are once again in effect. Praise the Lord – China is once again accessible to many here in the States! The doors are open and gospel messengers can again come in with relative ease! The need for the gospel in China is great, and now the opportunities are great as well!
What China needs now is a surge of missionaries.
What China needs is an influx of gospel-heralding laborers. What China needs is a flood of “ready scribes” armed with the Word of God to enter preaching the saving message of Jesus Christ.
Young preacher, would you be willing to join such a surge? Would you be willing to come to China as a preacher of the cross? Would you be willing to devote your life to making Jesus known throughout China? Take a moment and consider these questions.
As you consider them, recall Ezra the priest. Described in Ezra 7 as a “ready scribe in the law of Moses” (Ezra 7:6), Ezra brought the preaching of God’s Word back into Israel post-exile. He, along with a group of some thirteen men and other Levites, “read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused [the people of Israel] to understand the reading” (Nehemiah 8:8).
The task of Ezra and these other men was rather straightforward. They read the Bible, they gave the sense of the Bible, and they caused the people to understand the Bible. They read the Word, explained the Word, and helped the people understand the Word.
Young preacher, would you consider devoting your life to doing the same in China? Would you consider spending the bulk of your remaining days on this earth reading the Bible in China, giving the sense of the Bible in China, and causing Chinese people to understand the Bible?
Would you be willing to read the Word in Chinese, explain the Word in Chinese, and help Chinese people understand the Word?
Yes, it will take some time to learn Chinese. Yes, it will take some time to learn to eat with chopsticks. Yes, it will take some time to raise support. And yes, if you haven’t begun already, it will take some time to prepare yourself spiritually for such a task.
Yes, it will take time. But it will be immensely worth the preparation.
Again, I challenge you to consider Ezra the priest. In Ezra 7, just after being described as a “ready scribe”, he is noted as a man who had “prepared his heart.” The Bible says that he “prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgements” (Ezra 7:10). Ezra prepared his heart to seek the Bible, to do the Bible, and to teach in Israel the Bible — all long before he went to Israel and actually preached it.
Young preacher, would you be willing to begin today preparing your heart? Would you prepare your heart to seek the Bible, do the Bible, and teach in China the Bible? Would you begin now to get yourself ready to seek the Word of God, to obey the Word of God, and to teach in China the Word of God?
When the people of Israel understood the Word of God after Ezra’s explanation, they made “great mirth” and were joyful “because they had understood the words that were declared unto them” (Nehemiah 8:12). Be assured, young preacher, that the people of China would equally make great mirth and be joyful if they were to have someone cause them to understand the Bible! They would rejoice if you would come and explain the Words of Life to them!
So what are you waiting for? The doors are open!
China can be entered once again! China needs gospel preaching! China needs men who will read the Bible, explain the Bible, and help them understand the Bible.
Young preacher, will you prepare your heart and come to China preaching Christ?
If you or someone you know is interested in missions in China, please contact Vision Baptist Missions to start a conversation with a missionary about how to take the next step on your path from where the Lord has currently placed you all the way to proclaiming Jesus Christ in China.
The one thing that impressed me the most when I first arrived in China was the masses of people. It is not like I had never been in a large crowd before, but in China the large crowds are everywhere you go. You might as well abandon the love of personal space if you decide to travel to that part of the world.
It is really hard to grasp the number of people that live in China. 1.4 billion is a number too hard to wrap one’s mind around. Breaking it down into more manageable parts helps a little. Think of a city with a population of one million, and then imagine 1,393 of those cities. In each of them there are a million personalities; a million souls for whom Christ died. From that perspective, the scope of the need seems overwhelming. In many missions-minded churches you’ll find a wall map with pins showing where missionary families are working. We have to be careful not to let that pin distort our perspective on the proportions of the need. One thumb tack can cover an area of several million people. No wonder Jesus said to his disciples,
“…the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
A recent article published by lifesitenews.com explains some new regulations that the Chinese Communist Party may enact as a means of choking out foreign religious influence in China. The Chinese State Administration for Religious Affairs drafted the new law that enforces greater restrictions on religious activities carried out by foreigners and exacts certain punishments for law breakers. Some say that the new regulations treat any unauthorized religious activity as a form of espionage. The new law would not only try to restrict missionary interaction with Chinese people, but also attempt to restrict the flow of religious material brought in by foreigners.
The CCP, of course, explains the new law as simply a way to make China more self-sufficient and less dependent on foreigners. Most believe, though, that China is restricting religious activity because it does not want any authoritative influence in China other than the Chinese Communist Party.
On the surface it may seem like just a political move by China to tighten control over its people, but we know that the spirit behind this banning of missions work in China is ultimately Satan and man’s rebellion against God. Just like it says in psalms chapter two about the nations desiring to break free from God’s authority, these efforts are a rebellious act against the God of heaven by attempting to keep silent the His Word and to keep the Gospel from being proclaimed. On the other hand, as we consider the need for the gospel in China, we must remember that our highest authority is Jesus. He gave us the command to take the gospel to all nations.
The Free Republic reports on October 7th, 2020, that threats came from Bejing’s ambassador to Canada, Cong PeiWu, over Canada’s willingness to protect political activists in Hong Kong. The move to shelter these activists came after the Chinese Communist Party in recent months enacted the new National Security Laws which target pro-democracy activists. The ambassador stated that the Canadian government’s willingness to provide asylum to “violent criminals” would put the lives of all Canadians in Hong Kong at risk. The Canadian government found the comments “unacceptable and disturbing” and responded with a statement that they would stand to protect the rights of Canadians all over the world.
They Need True Freedom and Safety
A life of freedom and safety is what people desire. We live in a world that is corrupted by sin and so there is never any real guarantee of security. There is one, though, who can give us true freedom and security no matter where we live on this planet. Christ offers forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternity in heaven. That is what the people of Hong Kong need. Regardless of what threats may come, with the hope of the gospel, people can live with joy and peace. Who will go and tell them?
Threats of war against Taiwan have been the rhetoric coming from the Chinese news media lately and from the Communist Party Leader himself, Xi JinPing. The warnings came as U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, visited the region on Oct. 6th making comments affirming the strong ties the U.S. will maintain with Taiwan.
Taiwan, of course, did not take the threats lightly, and according to an Epoch TImes report, called on the Communist Party to stop threatening and to engage in “meaningful dialogue”. Despite the call for a civil discussion, Xi told troops during a recent marine base visit that they should prepare for war. According to the Epoch Times, some believe that XI has the intention of leading his country into war to gain the legacy of a great leader. Whether that is true or not, only time will tell.
The Greater War
In all this talk of war, we cannot forget the greatest battle of all. That is, the war of sin against man’s soul. It is a war that has eternal consequence. The good news is that there is One who has fought that battle and purchased victory for all who believe. What the people of China and Taiwan need most is not the “peace and safety” that comes from military might, but the true peace that comes from having ones sins forgiven. They need to hear the gospel. Who will go and tell them?
