The Bouyei — An Unreached Tribe

Deep in a beautiful mountain valley in southern Guizhou a young girl is crying: “Father! Mother! I don’t want to leave you!” But then she is carried weeping from her home by her elder brother to loud shouts of “La Ya Ge!” by the onlookers. This is a traditional Bouyei wedding at which the bride expresses her love ritualistically for her parents on her wedding day before being taken to her husband’s home.

The Bouyei number about 3 million and speak a language which is related to Zhuang and northern Thai. In 1956 a romanized alphabet was created but today hardly seems to be used. Many Bouyei are illiterate poor farmers. Many women weave, dye and embroider cloth for their traditional costumes.

The religion of the Bouyei is animistic and centered around ancestor worship. Because they have long had contact with the Han Chinese, there are also elements of Buddhism and Daoism in their religious practices. They worship and fear the spirits believed to inhabit large trees, weird-shaped stones and other natural phenomena. There are many gods—some are benevolent and send good harvests; others are malevolent and send sickness and other disasters. So in both everyday matters and great affairs the spirits have to be consulted through local witches, who call down demonic spirits. At festivals in March and June animals are sacrificed.

Roman Catholicism was preached to the Bouyei as early as the 1840s. By 1921 there were 30,000 Catholics in Guizhou including many Bouyei. Fifteen Catholic churches were set up, some of which survive today. Protestant work in Guizhou never seems to have touched the Bouyei to any great extent. However, some Bouyei were converted and since then the work has grown.

In April 2004 FEBC published a letter from a believer which encourages us to pray for further fruit among this neglected people group: “My husband is a Bouyei. There have been four generations of Christians in our family: grandfather, father, my husband and our children. It was my grandfather and others who brought the gospel to the X sub-tribe of the Bouyei people. In 1981, after the Cultural Revolution, my husband’s tribe resumed their religious activities. Thanks to the leading of the Holy Spirit, the entire group of 1,000 people not only did not deny the Lord during the Cultural Revolution, but had many unbelievers finally converted to Christianity.”

Today, with possibly 5,000 Bouyei believers out of a total population of 3 million (less than 0.2% — see Operation China, page 87), this tribe is one of the least evangelized in southwest China. May God, by his Spirit, rouse more dedicated and qualified workers—both Chinese and from overseas—to reach the Bouyei people to deliver them out of demonic darkness into the glorious light of Christ.

The Back to Jerusalem Vision — An Update

The Back to Jerusalem vision (BJV) is attracting great interest and excitement overseas. Many Christians desire clarification on the true state of affairs within China. We have made extensive interviews with house-church leaders, both rural and urban, and with reputable ministries who have been involved in serving the Chinese church for many years. Of course, no one can claim perfect knowledge of the complete picture. However, a consensus has emerged as to the real situation.

The Back to Jerusalem vision has been taken up by many diverse groups. No one or two ministries overseas can claim to be the authentic mouthpiece for the overall movement. In general, Back to Jerusalem is still a vision and an aspiration for many house-church believers. Many are praying fervently. The number of those who have begun actual training in earnest is still quite small. One China ministry publicly stated recently that the total number across China of those receiving serious training for BJV is about 200 people. We believe this to be an accurate estimate. As the picture is constantly changing and developing, it is possible the number could be higher, in the region of 200-500. The impression some Christians overseas have that 100,000 evangelists are poised to leave China does not tally with the present reality.

The rural house churches find it difficult to train evangelists for their general gospel ministry within China to the Han Chinese. Large numbers of Christian young people who would have been potential leaders are emigrating to the cities in search of work. Many are struggling to survive as Christians. According to very reliable figures for 2003-2004, four of the major house-church “streams” which claim millions of members, have a total of 130 general training schools. Of these, one hundred are one-year training schools which lack even the barest essentials. These groups have a handful of more specialized training schools for outreach to the national minorities and for BJV. The China Gospel Fellowship, for example, claims 2 million members and has one school for BJV with 50 young people in training. The top 100 leaders of the CGF were arrested in Wuhan on June 11 and detained for about three weeks. Although they were later released they are reportedly still under surveillance. This is a reminder that house-church training of any sort has to be conducted in a low-key fashion. Because of this, some house-church leaders are unhappy with the level of publicity and sensationalism overseas about BJV.

In general, urban house-church leaders who are better educated and theologically trained than their rural counterparts are more cautious about BJV. Some have already sent investigative teams to the Middle East. One group sent such a team recently and as a result decided they were not ready for cross-cultural mission to the Muslim world. Other groups are more optimistic, but generally in the initial stages of planning. It makes sense that urban Christians, university graduates and those engaged in business with overseas contacts are more likely to make effective cross-cultural evangelists than farmers with lower education.

We are receiving reports of some house-church believers who have already gone out to the minorities or overseas and have returned disillusioned. It seems many have gone out unprepared and unequipped for cross-cultural ministry. Training in cross-cultural skills and in difficult languages such as Arabic or Turkish are vital. As it takes several years to master Arabic, training is likely to be arduous and will be long-term.

China itself is a training ground for cross-cultural mission with its many animist, Buddhist and Islamic minority peoples. House-church outreach to the minorities is still generally in the early stages. There are exceptions: some house-church Christians went years ago to Xinjiang, Tibet or Yunnan and have been working quietly there, gaining converts. However, although there are 1 million Hui Muslims in Henan (a center of house-church growth for over 30 years) there has been little or no serious outreach to the Hui in that province. Similarly, in Xinjiang those Chinese Christians who are working there effectively are generally very low-key to avoid antagonizing the local authorities and the Muslims. We hear of one village where about 20 Uyghurs came to Christ, but this appears to be exceptional. More often, Uyghurs and Kazaks there are won individually to the Lord.

Chinese house-church leaders are concerned that there is a gap between the realities of the grassroots situation concerning BJV and the sometimes high-profile reporting overseas. BJV is important, but there is a danger that Christians overseas turn their attention away from the continuing long-term task of evangelizing and discipling China’s 1.3 billion people, most of whom have never heard of Jesus Christ.

Let us pray that those genuinely called by the Lord to engage in cross-cultural mission from China will receive the empowering of the Spirit and solid biblical and cross-cultural training. May they manifest the fruit of the Spirit in sacrificial love and be equipped with all the gifts of the Spirit needed for ministry to those who reject the claims of Christ.

Copyright 2004 OMF International