Cultural Orphans

To a Chinese person, the idea of accepting the message of Christianity can produce some real anxiety. One of the main reasons for these feelings is a fear of isolation. After all, many Chinese people have no family members who are Christians, no co-workers who are Christians, no neighbors who are Christians, and no friends […]

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Evangelism: How Long Does It Take? (Part 2)

So we’re talking about how long it takes for the average Chinese person to make a decision about the Gospel message. Last post looked at two extreme positions, one of which says that Chinese people are incredibly open to the Gospel and decide to trust Christ very quickly, and the opposite one which says that […]

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Evangelism: How Long Does It Take?

One of the more common questions I field about ministry in mainland China is about how long it takes the average Chinese person to make a decision about the Gospel? While plenty of anecdotes might be supplied, the question remains a difficult one to answer. I do care to attempt a response, though, because questions […]

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March 2013 – Project China Update

Recent News from the Project China Team Please join us in prayer and praise for these recent developments within our team. If you would like to get in touch with one of the Project China missionaries concerning any of these updates, please contact us here. John‘s family just found out that his mother and his […]

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Ecclesioporosis, Part 3

To recap after a long intermission, by ‘ecclesioporosis’ I mean the new generation of Western believers’ lack of confidence in the local church as the vehicle for realizing change in the world. In the first post, we looked at some of the factors contributing to this condition. In the second, we examined some reasons that […]

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The Role of the Foreign Missionary in China

Recently I had the privilege to teach a modular course at the Our Generation Training Center in Georgia. The OGTC provides the best missionary training that I know of in the States. I personally have benefited immeasurably from the teaching and challenge of the missionary team associated with the OGTC. Whenever I meet a student […]

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Ecclesioporosis Case Study: Adoption

Well, nothing like a nine-month hiatus to get your thoughts together! I am terribly sorry about that, for those who might have wondered where I’d gone. There have been a couple big things in my life that have kept me from writing. The first of which is the adoption of our daughter, which has had […]

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Ecclesioporosis, Part 2

Again, what I mean by this is the lack of confidence in the church so prevalent among recent generations of Christian workers. There was a good amount of feedback to the last post, but interestingly, no one seems to have too much doubt about the basic premise: many Christian young people don’t dare place the […]

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Ecclesioporosis

Recent generations of overseas Christian workers, especially in ‘frontier’ mission fields, have been plagued by a brittle bone ecclesiology – a lack of confidence in the church to effect change in the world. Instead, many missionaries seem to believe in a fragile, fractured church that is unable to support the weight of the body of […]

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7 Reasons to Get to the Mission Field Before You’re 30

1. Languages are hard to learn It is very rare to meet a missionary who learned another language later on in life. A foreign language is not an opponent you want to underestimate. It will handicap you for the rest of your ministry unless you take it down early. Facing the challenges of learning a […]

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