From our International Director

Posted on 31 January 2012.

Regular readers of this China prayer letter will know that every two months Day Seven contains an editorial written by me. The alternate months contain ‘local' news from our different national bases. During the first half of 2012, I want to address specifically some issues that have been raised concerning our ministry to China.

The first issue is that some readers have shared that they feel this letter, the China Prayer Letter, is too critical of China. The argument is that we ought to say positive things about China. Obviously this understandable comment comes mainly from ethnic Chinese. One of the attractive national traits of China's citizens is that they love their country.

Let me however respond with some comments:

1. The China Prayer Letter is written by an overseas national who lives inside China. The team behind it also lives in China. Thus, the core content of this letter is written and edited by those who have chosen to leave their own countries, and to live and work inside China. The simple reason for that is we love China and desire to serve this great nation. The purpose of the China Prayer Letter then is to serve the nation and to see it prosper and increase through prayer and answers to prayer. And that in turn springs from a love for China.

2. There is no desire at all to say that China is worse than anywhere else. As I write these words, I am in London, the capital of England (I can't say it is the land of my birth, as I was born in Scotland, whose capital is Edinburgh!). But when I was a child, my family lived thirty miles from London, and I have four daughters living there now. Were I to write a prayer letter on London, it would probably be more "critical" than the China Prayer Letter. One of my daughters commented yesterday about her horror at the number of random murders which took place in the UK over the Christmas season, including an unmotivated racial killing where the alleged perpetrator told the court his name was ‘Psycho'.

3. It is also worth considering the motivation behind the different information in this letter. For example, take 'Urban Poverty'. The reader might perceive that as being negative - that China's cities have slums, which are riddled with prostitution, drug problems, poverty, etc. But the thrust of the information is about those who have chosen to enter that territory, to set up a community centre, and to try and serve and help those who live in those situations in order to see their lives changed and bettered. It is a description of a starting place, not an ending place. The work began because a couple who work with us met a young Chinese couple who were job-hunting in the city. But they were poor and could not find work. So the net result was that they became dirtier and less likely to find work - because they could not afford proper accommodation. So, the initial intent of the community centre was for folk like them to have somewhere to go to clean up for a job interview and have a chance at betterment.

4. We fervently believe that every nation needs prayer. The Lord Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives..." (Matthew 7:7-8). So our prayer letter is designed to show the areas where we need to ask the Lord God for blessing on the land of China. If we do not ask, we will not be given.

There are, of course, multitudes of wonderful and positive things to say about China, and from time to time we seek to say them. China's amazing people, its incredible land, its richness and variety, its economy, its stature in the world and many other things are an incredible achievement, only a few decades after the Cultural Revolution. But our heart's desire is that China should not stop there but should continue, as God works powerfully in her midst, to improve as a nation. So please ask with us; let us pray for China in unity together.

Give THANKS for the Chinese people and nation, and for the important role they play in our world today.

Give THANKS for the progress that China has made over the last few decades, lifting so many out of poverty and improving the lifestyles of many.

Give THANKS for the amazing work of God there has been in China, with the explosion of its Church and the impact of its Christian people.

ASK God to do all of these things more and more!