The Gospel in China

When I was first interested in coming to China, I talked to a man who was sort of a missionary-evangelist. He was a loud voice for missions in America, and he also traveled around the world in leadership-training efforts. So I was surprised when he told me it was unnecessary to go to China as […]

It’s been a blessing having a few college students with us here for about a month and a half this summer. They were a fantastic help and encouragement to my wife and I. I wanted to put some of their testimonies on the blog so you can get someone else’s view on life and work […]

Like I wrote yesterday, reading the Bible in a different language makes you notice some different things than usual. For instance, I was reading John 9 a couple days ago about the blind man that Jesus healed, and I had a thought that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. So, here […]

Personally, I think one of the greatest experiences a missionary gets to have is to experience the Bible in another language. That may sound a little strange, especially when you consider the nightmarish work that goes into it. I honestly hadn’t really given THAT part much thought. As a Christian, we should continually strive to […]

We had our Bible study again last night. And when I finished teaching, it was one challenging conversation after another. First, it was someone who wants to believe in God and in evolution. Then it’s someone who wants to read the Bible in English because the Chinese is too hard. Then I have (to try) […]

I don’t know how I’ve survived for so long! By my estimations, I should have died (and taken some others with me!) a long time ago! One of the most frustrating things about entering a new culture is taking all the criticism about what you do wrong. Cultural adaptation is of course extremely important, but […]

“Is it okay with God if I pray in Chinese?” We’ve heard this question several times. It doesn’t bother some people; they just put two and two together: God is all-powerful, so He is not limited linguistically. But some people’s only contact or experience with the ideas of Christianity has been in studies of American […]

Almost everyone knows that there’s a lot of professing Christians in China. The majority of that number is made up by members of unregistered, underground churches. But a large percent (12 million people in 1999, growing about half a million every year) belong to the Three Self Patriotic Movement’s Protestant churches. Here’s some quick bullets […]

Yesterday my wife and I were walking up the stairs to our fourth-floor aparment (no elevator – what a blessing!). I had to pause outside the door to fish my key out of my bag. While I was doing so, an older guy who lives a few floors up from us was making his way […]

The short summer break is upon us. School is out for about a month. Most of our closest friends here have returned to their hometowns for a few weeks. But this gives us even more time to focus on our language learning, so that’s hardly a bad thing. I told you yesterday that on Thursday […]