Rev. E. Anderson
CHINA
Back to Jerusalem is the name given to the Chinese church’s vision to send missionaries outside their borders to fulfill the Great Commission. The vision was first given to the Chinese in the 1930s, when small groups of brave evangelists headed into the Muslim areas of northwest China with plans to establish churches along the Silk Road in a westward direction, all the way ”back to Jerusalem.” Their efforts were delayed when the Communists took over China in 1949, and slammed the borders shut. Many of the original Back to Jerusalem missionaries (including some pictured above) were imprisoned for many years, and the vision went into hibernation for the next three decades.
Today there is an ever-increasing awareness of the Back to Jerusalem vision among China’s Christians and a growing number are volunteering to go as missionaries. Training schools are operating both inside and outside China and exciting reports of what God is doing through the Chinese missionaries have begun to emerge from the nations where God sent them. .
WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?
The missionary vision of the Chinese house churches has continued to grow steadily over the last several years. One report that came across our desk is from a Chinese evangelist serving in a Muslim country as part of the Back to Jerusalem vision. He wrote: ”During the month of Ramadan, when all Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset. two of us also felt that Jesus wanted us to fast, but unto Him. We fasted for 40 days, and many wonderful things occurred during this time. I met a woman who had breast cancer, and was fearful of dying. I prayed for her, and the next day she went to her doctor and he said he could not believe the results! She went back for further testing and the doctor pronounced her completed free of all cancer! She has now begun to follow Jesus. Praise the Lord.
”In this country there are a small number of Christians, but most of them live in fear of persecution and never share the Gospel with anyone. We have been praying that they would stand up and b bold like Jesus told us to, and not to hide their lights under a bushel. Please pray with us that this would happen”.
Many Back to Jerusalem missionaries are beginning to see God move through them and fruit is being produced for the kingdom of God. The workers have overcome many obstacles, and are learning to be excellent witnesses in the cultures they have sent to.
At the same time there is an awareness that the workers need more thorough training in both the Bible and cross- cultural and language skills to enable them to be more effective on the mission field.
There is a growing awareness tht the most effective way to reach many ethnic groups may be to win some of their people to the Lord in china, and then equip them to cross the border to share the Gospel with their cousins in a neighbouring country, Instead of Chinese evangelist going directly to reach people in Kazakhstan, for example, it would be more effective to send a Kazak Christian from China across the border to Kazakhstan, where he will already understand the language and culture of the target group.
This type of strategy is bearing much fruit. A co-worker in China sent us a report that through his ministry, 320 believers were baptized in 2008, and churches were planted among 13 different ethnic groups.
Barnabas Ministries UK 