What God has taught me in China - Part One

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favour
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion -
To bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called mighty oaks,
a planting of the LORD
for the displays of his splendour."

Isaiah 61:1-3


So as many of you will know, I have just spent 2 months of my summer holiday out in China, teaching English with a Christian organisation. Before the trip, this is all I believed it would be. I knew it would be a fulfilling time for me, and God would very much be the centre of the trip for everyone involved, but i didn't think it would be quite the way it turned out to be!

The first week was spent in Beijing - an orientation week. Here, I thought we would be taught how to teach english well to the children. Instead we were taught how to evangelise effectively to the children. I believed that the purpose of the trip was to teach the children english and then maybe have the odd conversation with a child about Jesus. No. English teaching was a major factor of the trip, but evangelism so much more so. We weren't just there to show the love of Christ - we were there to proclaim it to every single person we met. I wondered how this would be possible, seeing as most of the children we would come in contact with would not have sufficient english skills to understand words such as "forgiveness" or "sin". We were given a Chinese/English phrasebook of Christian words to solve that one. I soon discovered that it was very easy to explain the gospel with such limited vocabulary and understanding. And pictures of course. God has no limits. So what if a child you are speaking to doesn't speak the same language as you. God speaks the language of the heart -  a universal language that can be spoken between even a Chinese and English person!

At first I was a little shy with my evangelism skills, as I was trusting too much in my own ability to say the right things. It's a big cliche among Christians saying that "it's God who does all the speaking. You're just a vessel". It's so true though. There was one instance in Guan Tao (my last camp) where i was frantically trying to explain the concept of sin and our need for God's forgiveness. This little girl just stared at me blankly for about 5 minutes. Then all of a sudden, she went inside, grabbed my counsellor (translator) and got him to translate what she wanted to say: "I am very bad and deserve hell. So are you. Jesus loves me and died on the cross and now all the bad things i have done God does not see. I will be in heaven when i die now."  It was amazing! I could go on for hours telling all the similiar stories both I and others on my team experienced, but maybe that should be for another day.

The point is, I was able to see just how important evangelism is. At uni I am unfortunately not involved with the CU because I have choir on the nights that it falls. I wasn't too bothered about this last year because I was still able to get fellowship and Bible teaching from my church, and a small Christian group at my college. The only problem was, neither of these groups are actively focussed on evangelism. Of course, we're encouraged to share the gospel and invite people along etc, and they're great for what they are. But they're not evangelical.

This summer I was blessed to learn the urgency of the gospel. In China it was slightly different because it was likely that we were the only Christians some of these kids would ever meet, and therefore it really was now or never. The urgency of the gospel, however, is equally urgent here. If not more so. Yes, we'll see our friends and our family many many more times, but why does that mean we should save that awkward Jesus conversation for another day? Another cliche but Jesus really may come back tomorrow, and what will we be able to say about our friends to him? "Oh sorry I didn't talk about you with them Jesus, I was too busy talking about going out, or shopping, or a boring lecturer." Somehow I don't think that will really cut it. And there's no real reason why we don't talk about Jesus to everyone we meet, just that we're afraid or embarrassed or just don't think it would be appropriate. But what's more appropriate than talking about something which has not only changed our lives, but which our whole lives are focussed on? Why are we embarrassed of a God who has given everything for us and who we love with all our hearts? Why are we afraid when we have the God who created the universe not only on our side, but actually speaking on our behalf?



"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes..."

Romans 1:16