Chinese Diaspora Ministry
Where will your love for the Chinese take you?
(It's different than you think.)
China has the largest number of overseas students in the world, with a record 1.27 million studying abroad at the end of 2010, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Education. About 285,000 of them were new students who began their overseas studies last year, up 24 percent over 2009. ( Source )
It is clear that most of China’s future leaders will emerge from the thousands of scholars who have studied overseas. Both Deng Xiao Ping and Zhou En Lai (past Chinese leaders) studied in France. What might China be like today if these leaders had heard and come to know the love of God in Paris?
Currently, more than 3 million Chinese students, scholars and their families are scattered abroad, temporarily living outside their homelands - all ages, from every part of China.
The vast majority of these Chinese arrive overseas without any previous exposure to the gospel. For many of them, going overseas means freedom for the first time. And yet these new freedoms and challenges cause many to seek for purpose and meaning in their lives—and become open to the gospel. “He determined … the exact places where they should live ... so that men would seek him” (Acts 17:26-27).
It is now widely estimated that of those who go abroad each year, 10,000 return to China with faith in Christ! However, these returnees” face many challenges to their faith:
- Pressure to renounce their faith and marry unbelievers or compromise morally in a competitive business climate.
- Being resented because of their overseas experience.
- Accepting and being accepted by local churches.
OMF Diaspora Ministries is committed to preparing and equipping returnees so that they can overcome these challenges, flourish spiritually and impact China and the world for Christ. Diaspora means “the scattered.” We are an international team, and our workers are involved in making creative contact with Chinese students, evangelism, discipleship and church planting.
Our vision is to see the worldwide flow of Chinese diaspora peoples reached and discipled to take the gospel back to China and the rest of the world.
(Inspired Yet?)
Where will your love for the Chinese take you? We are looking for people called by God to join our team reaching out to these scattered Chinese—in Europe, Asia, Australasia and North America —as volunteers or as fulltime career workers.
