Back to Jerusalem — A Great Vision

by Tony Lambert

“Back to Jerusalem!” — this slogan is being widely propagated within China and overseas. The prospect of the Mainland Chinese church sending out its own missionaries along the Silk Road to the Muslim countries of the Middle East is an exciting one. But when and how did this vision originate?

Phyllis Thompson, a China Inland Mission missionary stationed in Chongqing wrote in 1949: “The thing that has impressed me most has been the strange, unaccountable urge of a number of different Chinese groups of Christians to press forward in faith, taking the gospel towards the West. I know of at least five different groups, quite unconnected with each other, who have left their homes in east China and gone forth, leaving practically everything behind, to the West. Some are in Sikang [now eastern Sichuan], some in Gansu, some right away in the great northwest province of Xinjiang. It seems like a movement of the Spirit which is irresistible. The striking thing is that they are disconnected and in most cases know nothing about each other. Yet all are convinced that the Lord is sending them to the western borders to preach the gospel.”

So they went out by faith—Chinese missionaries looking to God in prayer and reliant on him in faith for all their needs. Several reached Xinjiang, but soon after the Communist victory in 1949 they were unable to go any further. Some died as martyrs. Others endured long years in labour camp. Today a faithful few still live in Urumqi and Kashgar witnessing to the Lord, faithful to the original vision.

Over the last ten years or so that vision has been passed on to many younger Chinese Christians. According to our direct interviews with many of them, just as the original vision was given to many different individuals and organizations so today it has spread very widely throughout China. No one organization, whether in China or overseas, can claim to have a monopoly on "Back to Jerusalem" (BTJ). It is much wider than that. Large rural house-church networks have been enthused by the vision. They have much zeal but are hampered by lack of finance and of basic theological education, as well as lack of cross-cultural missions training. In some ways, although they have gained the most publicity overseas their people, being mainly simple farmers, are least qualified to go overseas. But well-educated Christians in urban house churches also have the same vision in many cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. They are far better placed to become effective evangelists overseas. Christian businessmen in Wenzhou, the "Jerusalem of China," are also burdened for cross-cultural outreach. With their business contacts throughout China and overseas—including the Middle East—the well-educated and well-financed Wenzhou churches are poised to make a significant contribution. Some teachers and theological students in the State-supervised Three-Self seminaries are also interested in BTJ. We know of at least one large Three-Self church which has formed a committee to prepare evangelists to go out to tribal people in southwest China in preparation.

The BTJ vision is varied and is being implemented in different ways. China is a huge country, so this is not unexpected. Some people are raising large sums of money overseas. This raises serious questions of accountability. Some rural house-church networks are seeing the flight of most of their young wage-earners to the cities in search of better-paid jobs. So they have turned to overseas sources to replenish their flagging finances. BTJ has become a useful slogan to raise money. However, it is very doubtful whether a missions movement can be "grown" simply by the injection of large foreign funds. In fact, history shows that reliance on foreign funding breeds corruption and the rise to prominence of those spiritually least qualified to receive it. (We think of the sad example of the "rice Christians" before 1949.) It would be tragic indeed if before the BTJ vision was even properly launched, it were to founder because of the unwise actions of well-meaning but ill-informed overseas donors.

It is a fact that some house-church leaders, particularly in the cities, have stated in no uncertain terms that they do not need overseas donations. They are looking to God prayerfully to move the Chinese believers to support a fully indigenous missions movement. This is as it should be.

Different churches are at different stages in their ability to implement the missionary vision. One city-based house-church network has already sent an investigatory team to three countries in the Middle East. Their conclusion? The task is much more difficult than they had anticipated, so they do not see a possibility of sending out missionaries in the near future. Another urban network based in southeast China is more optimistic, but they, too, plan to send out a team to the Middle East to investigate possibilities in the near future.

The situation of the rural churches is complex. One large network claiming over two million members already has about 50 young people in training. There are varied reports of other networks training young believers in English and even Turkish. A word of caution is necessary. Those from a rural background have huge difficulties in adjusting to the hectic, materialistic lifestyle of Chinese cities when they migrate to the cities in search of work. How much harder will young, poorly educated rural Christians find coping with the gigantic cultural adjustments needed to settle, work and witness effectively in a hostile Islamic environment in the Middle East. Their lack of education may prove a serious handicap. One Arab Christian who went to China recently to teach prospective house-church missionary candidates Arabic had to reject 90 percent of those who came to her as unsuitable. It may well be that the focus should be on training rural believers to survive and witness effectively in China’s growing mega-cities than to thrust them out relatively untrained to the Middle East.
The rush by some to churn out thousands of Chinese missionaries over the next few years may be counter-productive. We are already receiving disturbing reports of some who have gone out to do evangelism to the Muslims in Xinjiang, the minorities in Yunnan and even to Moscow, who have returned disillusioned. Their unrealistic expectations have been dashed by lack of adequate training—not least in solid biblical theology which would prepare them for the hard grind of long-term cultural adaptation. And what about the pastoral care of these colleagues?

Yet there are encouraging signs. Quietly, with little or no publicity, Chinese Christians are reaching out to national minorities in Tibet, Xinjiang and the Southwest. Some are deliberately "migrating" to remote areas. We learned of two Han Chinese Christian families now living in a small village in Xinjiang who have already led several Uygurs to the Lord. Some are going into Vietnam or Mongolia. The Spirit of God is at work.

We see the preparation and equipment of the Chinese church for worldwide mission as a long-term task. Chinese Christians are leading this movement. Some are asking foreign friends for theological and cross-cultural training and the necessary books. (Books on Islam written from a Christian perspective, for example, are virtually unobtainable within China.) The danger is that those who provide funding will also insist that they have a say in strategy and end up controlling what should be a fully indigenous Chinese missions movement. We know of at least one large North American church which has made this mistake.

The Chinese church has been providentially prepared by God to reach out effectively to other people groups. The years of suffering and persecution make it better prepared than comfortable Western churches to reach out effectively to closed countries or to those areas where the church is a persecuted minority. The existing worldwide network of Chinese churches and Chinese business and finance is also surely a providential preparation for a major step forward in worldwide mission. We look forward with expectancy to what God will do this new century!

ILLEGAL CHRISTIAN EMIGRATION
“I am in great danger. I am up to my chest in water. Tell the family to pray for me. I am dying.” These were the last words of Mr. Guo to his wife 5,000 miles away in Fuqing in Fujian province. Guo was one of 19 illegal Chinese migrant workers in the UK who died on February 5 while gathering shellfish on the notoriously dangerous beach of Morecambe Bay with its treacherous currents and quicksands. Their deaths highlight the plight of illegal Chinese workers not only in the UK but in the US and many other countries. They pay over their life savings—often as much as US$27,000—to "snake head" gangs who then smuggle them to a supposedly better life overseas. But on arrival they often find themselves working for a pittance and living in terrible conditions as virtual slaves. Many of the shellfish collectors came from Fuqing where 200,000 of the total population of 1.2 million are practising Christians. (Daily Telegraph 11 February)

According to a knowledgeable Chinese academic many Christians have been smuggled by "snake-heads" from Fujian to the United States. Some obtained letters from church elders and "underground" Catholic bishops to seek political asylum claiming religious persecution. These letters can actually be purchased and in some cases their holders are not even Christians. Many go for economic reasons. Reportedly some local churches even helped them contact the "snake heads" and to acquire false documents. There are also reportedly smuggling rings operating out of Wenzhou to get people into Europe via Russia.

Many Chinese Christians are planning to go overseas to obtain theological training or to engage in evangelism. Recently it has become much easier for Chinese citizens to obtain passports legally and to travel overseas. Many are able to go as tourists or businessmen. Restrictions on tourism from the Mainland have been largely lifted in Hong Kong and are likely to be lifted in the near future in the European Union. This presents unprecedented opportunities for Chinese Christians to obtain short-term theological training in these countries quite legally.

Hudson Taylor rightly said that “God’s work done in God’s way will not lack God’s supply.” We believe that there are those in China who are truly called to cross-cultural mission. They will prayerfully seek God’s face for direction and begin to undertake the arduous preparation needed for this great task. Legal passports and work-permits, proper academic or business qualifications, the necessary linguistic and cross-cultural skills—all will be provided in God’s timing and in God’s way.

Copyright OMF International 2004