Mordecai's Challenge To Us

Ross Paterson, AM-CCSM International Director. Posted on 30 October 2009.

The intent of these articles is to inform and challenge.

We want to inform you - to share with you some of the things that God is doing in China. We can only look at a few elements of what He is doing through the AM-CCSM team each time we publish. But that information contains two cardinal factors: that God is doing amazing things; and that He is using ordinary people.

Consider for example John's article on the David Pawson material. That material is being hugely appreciated in China because it is helping a church that is often ‘untaught in the Word of God' to understand God's Word more clearly. As we distribute David Pawson's teaching about the books of the Bible on DVD, we know that we are helping the Church in China to grow. We have done that for over 20 years, producing millions of books and large quantities of audio-visual materials. We are making a difference.

Or, consider the testimonies of those who have been on teams or the Antioch School of Missions. See what God is already doing in their lives, and through their lives to others in China - orphans, the poor, students etc.

We do not want this information to be a secret in a generation where world mission is being downplayed. These things are too good to be hidden. Please enjoy the updated version of The Acts of the Apostles that you read here (except it is the "Acts of Ordinary People"!).

But we want also to challenge. As I was about to write these words, one of our team members who has laboured in China for 10 years, enduring considerable hardship as well as blessing in order to reach a totally unreached people group, emailed me. She was excited about a new door that God had opened, to serve orphans in one of the poorest parts of China - children who, in some cases, are scrambling to find food for the day because parents have died or, as in one case, remarried and left the child with grandparents who cannot afford to care for him. In the midst of her email, as she shared her excitement, she quoted Esther 4:14: "And who knows whether you have come to this kingdom for a time like this." Mordecai challenges Esther not to be concerned for her own well-being or safety, but to put her life on the line for the Jewish people.

We want to bring that challenge to you - not just to inform, but to change your life! How many reading this page need to ask whether Mordecai's challenge might not be the Word of the Lord to you - for China, for its church, its orphans and poor, for its students and for many others - and to consider whether there is a place for YOU in this great nation? Who knows whether you should come to the Middle Kingdom "for a time like this". Or at least to learn, pray, give and get involved.