Definition of the Need

This far east country is the largest country on Earth and is home to 1.3 billion people. The figure of born again believers is approximately 50 million. The pressure by the government is constant. People are still jailed, beaten, and even killed for their faith. There are many recognized churches in the country that are part of what is called “the Three Self Church.” The name is supposed to make reference to indigenous churches in a country—self governing; self funding; and self propagating. In this country, the government sees itself as the authority of the church to decide how it governs itself, and how it funds itself, and more importantly, how it propagates itself. The government decides what preaching it allows and what it does not allow. They censor the preaching in everyone of these 15 churches. Evangelism is heavily affected, if allowed at all. The number of believers according to the government is somewhere around 15 million people. The other Christian movement in the land is the “House-Church” movement. The figures calculated by Chinese scholars are not unanimous or accurate, the low estimate is 50 million, the high estimate 75 million. If the number of believers were to reach three hundred million it would be tantamount to the entire population of the US becoming saved. Even in this joyful scenario the bad news is that we would still lose one billion people to hell!

Why the Project is Necessary

There is a small window of opportunity in this far east country which will remain open as long as it is in transition from an agrarian, to an urban society. In the words of scholars at Singapore’s China Consultation, “secularization is the Siamese twin of urbanization.” When the transition is made the attitude of the people will make it much more difficult to reach them with the Gospel. A new emphasis on materialism will probably undermine the current climate of sensitivity to the Gospel. The local pastors in this country are anxious to seize this open window and have a new generation of leaders ready to enter the harvest. They are asking for our help to train these new leaders and deploy them strategically. So we feel a pressing need to train and deploy equipped believers to evangelize as broadly as possible during this prime opportunity.

Step-by-Step Description of the Project Activities

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites