…and in the midst of persecution. i lived in china from 2001-2004, and was amazed at the chinese who were open to the gospel. as one chinese young man put it during one of our studies, “everyone is running after something. most of us chinese just don’t know what is actually worth running after. so we chase money and power and respect. we should be chasing God.”

i didn’t tell him americans often chase those very things, but all the while calling it chasing God.

Wow. That’s such an insightful comment. When you lived in China did you get up close and personal with any of the infamous house church movements?

i’m not sure i know which house church movements are infamous, but, no, i wasn’t in contact with many other groups evangelizing in china. and what we were doing wouldn’t count as a movement, as there were 2 or 3 house churches planted per small group of missionaries (at most).

but with 40 of us in that one city, there were a lot of small house churches that started, and i know of lots of instances in which chinese christians brought others to Christ, and even a few cases in which a group got big enough that it had to split in order to stay under the government radar. but in retrospect (and probably at the time as well) it’s clear that our church planting was neither sustainable nor easily reproducible. i suppose, though, that’s the nature of working with college students who are present only for a time.

if i had it to do over again, i’d take less (as in zero) leadership in the local church and, rather, teach groups how to interpret scripture themselves, in their community, and be obedient to it. of course i’d also probably start a business in country, instead of teaching english.

James, your work in China sounds fascinating. I’d love to hear more about it!

Another comment as well…Chinese immigrants right here in Nashville are hearing the gospel and becoming followers of Jesus at a very rapid rate. For example, there is a relatively large gathering of Chinese believers that meets at Brentwood Baptist Church. The vast majority of these people, as I understand it, first heard about Jesus after coming to America.

What kind of business would you start?

rjohns–thanks for sharing that Nashville link. Encouraging.

Josh, I appreciate you highlighting this, it’s just another part of the wider story that avoids my normal myopic world. The truth of our faith defies easy generalizations, and exists in the most surprising ways, everywhere!

I wonder what kind of talk radio those christians are influenced by.

Steve, This is encouraging to me (the story of China) because it’s easy, as you note, to have such a short or limited view of what God is doing. JG

i’m sorry. i lost this comment string, and didn’t find my way back until your new post today, josh. [i'll take this moment to say that were it an option to subscribe to a line of comments on your site, i would.]

rjohns, thank you for the kind words, but my work in china was short-lived and small. God did, however, do some really great things there despite me. i’d be happy to talk with you about china. i still have a great passion for the chinese people, and hope that God will allow me to return there in the future. my email is harrisonsingeita[at]gmail[dot]com — feel free to contact me.

josh, not sure what kind of business. what i’d really like to start is an adventure company. some of that is just beginning to take off now in china — mountain climbing, kayaking, rock climbing, etc. but i don’t know if that sort of business would put me in contact with those to/with whom i’d most like to minister. i’m still toying with ideas in my head, in case i get the chance to have another go.

no worries