Many Changes in China - But Some Things Remain the Same

Ian R, CCSM UK. Posted on 10 August 2010.

It is twenty years since I first started serving the Church in China.

June 1990 was when I made my first trip to China. Many of you will have heard of my first trip and how the Lord changed my life. I did not enjoy my time in China. I was homesick; it was too hot; I didn't like the food; and I just wanted to go home. I sat on the plane at the old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong, looked out of the window as the plane took off and waved goodbye to Hong Kong, saying, "You will never see me again." As my plane touched down in the UK, I was starting to plan my next trip. The Lord had obviously done a major work in my life on that journey from Hong Kong to the UK. From that first journey I started making four or five trips each year, taking teams of people to carry books and Bibles.

I look back now at how things have changed. Of course many things have changed in China in the last twenty years.

When I first crossed the border into China, I looked around and it was as I imagined - some big buildings, as China tried to move with the times, but many old shacks, which was what I thought was the real China. When I make that same trip now, all you can see are big modern buildings. A huge change.

I remember on my early trips that we used to carry books and Bibles over the border into China because most of our books were printed outside of China. I used to dress in shirt and tie and suit and go into China as a business man. I would carry a suitcase and holdall and these would be filled with books and Bibles. I even put small books down my socks to try to get as many books into China as possible. We would do many border crossings and take the books to a hotel room where they would be stored until we had enough to move on to other parts of China. Now all of our books are printed inside China. This means that we don't have to carry the books over the border and also the books cost us less to print, so we are able to print more. That is one change that has taken place.

In 1990, AM-CCSM printed 20,000 Christian teaching books. In the last few years we have printed one and a half million books annually and we aim to print a further one and a half million books this year. That is an enormous change that has taken place and one that we have managed to do through the generous giving of our supporters. AM-CCSM has now printed over ten million books and we are also providing DVDs of Bible teachings.

I remember those early days of meeting our contacts as we handed over the bags of books. Memories that will stay with me forever.

The young student girl who had travelled for hours to meet us. She looked so small as she met us outside the hotel. When she saw the bags of books that we had brought for her, she was overwhelmed. She just wept and said thank you, thank you.

The pastor I met in central China. We sat in a hotel room talking and he told me how he used to work with Gladys Aylward (the "cockney sparrow"). As he spoke of her, he began to weep. We prayed together and he continued to weep. This humble man in his seventies continued to cycle around the villages of China preaching the Gospel.

The young man I met in Beijing. We handed over bags of books on many occasions to this man and he distributed them to believers. He could not speak English and I could not speak Chinese. We sat across a table eating a meal and just smiling at each other. No words needed. I became good friends with this man and his family over the years.

The street cleaner we met. We arrived at his home at around midnight so that we were under cover of darkness. We took the bags of books into his house and stored them in cupboards in his bedroom. As we drank tea together, he asked if we would do a Bible study with him and his wife. This was in the early hours of the morning and he had to be up at 4.00am to go to work. Such was his hunger for the word of God.

I could go on and on telling of the people I have met with in China. The hunger and the need for good quality Christian teaching books was so evident as I met these people. So, as I am talking about change, what has changed? Well, I have to say, very little.

I still meet people whose hunger and need is the same as the people I met in the early years of my life of serving the church in China. It would be easy to say that things must have changed and become easier for believers in China. Well, like all things in China that would probably be true somewhere in China. There are some areas of China where people can get Bibles, but there are other areas where the Bible remains out of reach. There are some areas of China where people seem to be able to meet together without too much trouble from the authorities but there are also areas where persecution is tougher now than ever before.

So what of the people I meet now? On one visit to China my colleague and I met a very influential lady who had travelled nine hours to meet us. She told us that in her area they were building a new church and they had a Bible school, but they desperately needed teaching books.

We arrived at 4.00am in one city and then travelled to a village to meet the people there. We gave books to the pastor and shared in the village church. During the meeting I noticed a man crying and at the end of the meeting I was able to speak to him. He was a pastor in a church in the city. He had been leading this church for twenty years and had never seen a Christian teaching book. It was so moving to speak to him and to hear how he had led the church without any teaching books. He was keen to get hold of more books and asked us to visit his church.

Again, I could go on and on about the people I have met, but what I want to say is that one thing has not changed and that is the need for more and more teaching books.

It is our desire to try to meet the need of the church in China. I know this is an almost impossible task, but we want to do all we can. We can now offer over forty different books, as well as a set of thirteen DVDs of David Pawson's teachings on ‘Unlocking the Bible'. We have many books that focus on building up the church in God's Word. We also have books that will help married couples enjoy a fulfilling married life and books that help couples to bring up children in a Biblical way. We continue to add new books to our list as we seek to meet the need.

So although many things have changed in China, some things remain the same:

• The hunger of the believers for the Word of God remains as firm as ever.

• The hunger for more teaching books to help them grow remains as firm as ever.

Let me finish by sharing some words from some of our contacts in China:

"A team of your workers came three months ago with bags of goodies for us all. When we saw it was books, we were so overwhelmed with joy as we had been praying for the Lord to send us more materials so we could learn and grow and be better Christians. After reading these goodies, we have given them all away and pray now for more. Please send us more soon."

Another said,

"When I read the Bible, I cannot understand it, so I would like you to bring your books that will help to explain God's word to me."

One pastor wrote:

"We got 18 boxes of books yesterday. That's a really big meal for us! Thank you! But there's a little regret that we didn't get the prayer booklet. We see a lot of brothers and sisters who lack teaching on prayer and declaring God's Word. We're deeply concerned about that! The prayer booklet is an anointed one. It can bring fire in prayer, but now the supply falls short of demand. Even I don't have one in my hand now."

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