Post-Redemptive Amnesiac

Well, no writing from Beijing, so now I’m even more behind. Our summer team of students is now here with us, and they are really off to a fantastic start. We had a packed two-and-a-half days in Beijing – we fit in all the major tourist sites, plus had several team meetings to prepare for their time back here with us. We pushed them pretty hard the first few days, but I think they’ve all won the battle with jet lag now.

Right now, in their first week in the city, we’re encouraging them to make as many contacts as possible. To “widen the funnel” if you will – meet lots and lots of people, in hopes that a few of them will be interested in the Gospel. They went to an English corner last night – stayed pretty late, so I don’t really know how they did at making contacts.

They did a great job on Sunday – really helped generate some excitement at our services, plus they about doubled our normal workforce. A lot of visitors that probably would have slid by under the radar instead got to hang out with a Christian for a while. Great attendance Sunday – both services – probably a little over 70 not counting repeats. It was hot, though – hot enough to make me seriously consider getting an air conditioner for that room. Seems like a large expense, but it’s a one-time expense, and I don’t think anyone would argue that it will help people focus more on the message.

Of course, the way we get around stuff like that a lot of times – especially here, it seems – is to say that if they really want to worship God, study the Bible, etc., they won’t care what kind of chairs they have to sit in, what the temperature’s like, how long the service goes, etc.  Not often a lot of disagreement in our church over this, but every once in a while, someone who’s been in church for a while now will try to save us a buck or some hassle by saying something like that. But it’s also true that we want lots of people to come to our church that DON’T care to worship, study the Bible, etc. If we completely ignore them in our preparation, they’ll ignore us in our execution. It’s amazing how quickly we (Christians in China, America, or anywhere else) forget what it was like to be on the outside of the church and what got them inside.