March 2005

Topping the news of China this month is the announcement that the Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa has resigned with two and a half years still remaining of his term. He has been offered a chairmanship post in the Chinese Government that may be China's way of dealing with the problem of an under performing official. It appears this may be an effort to sideline Tung since he has been a very unpopular Chief Executive with the people, and the last two anniversaries of Hong Kong's handover saw major demonstrations in the streets involving hundreds of thousands of people calling for more democratic laws and liberties. A correspondent from Hong Kong says that the new Chief Executive will be faced with many sensitive issues concerning democracy as the people are demanding the right to elect their leadership and then hold them accountable for their actions. Everyone concerned about China and Hong Kong needs to be praying for God to overrule in this situation and bring to this important position a person who will be sensitive to the desires of the people and keep the door to democracy and freedom open.

INTERCEDE FOR THE CHURCHES OF HONG KONG

The growth of Christianity in Hong Kong has been phenomenal with many churches having multiple services with as many as 4,000 people in attendance. These churches have been actively spreading the gospel within Hong Kong as well as outside. Dr. Jeff Lee who publishes the "Idevote" e-mail report states that many churches in Hong Kong are involved in missions to neighboring China as well as to Muslims in many parts of the world including Central Asia, Africa and South America. The Chinese church all over the world sees itself as a present-day sending church, not only to Chinese people scattered around the world, but cross-culturally to many lands. This spirit has been born of God and needs our earnest prayers as the burden for evangelism grips the churches. This is in keeping with the burning desire of many church leaders to raise up an army of 100,000 Chinese missionaries in the Back-to-Jerusalem Movement to carry the gospel through the Buddhist and Muslims lands all the way to Jerusalem. Let us earnestly pray that the vision will expand and funds will be supplied for Chinese Christians to reach millions of unreached peoples around the world.

CHINA ABOLISHES RESTRICTIONS ON MIGRANT WORKERS

For decades, China has imposed travel restrictions on migrant farmers seeking to move into the city in their search for better jobs. Extending back to the early days of the Communist takeover, travel was restricted as a means of controlling the masses. In recent years, millions of people have sought relief from poverty in the big industrial cities, and much like illegal immigrants in the USA, they infiltrated the cities despite restrictions, bias and penalty fees. With the removal of these restrictions, there will be many new problems developing as the unemployed list grows and crime increases and slum areas grow. Despite China's tremendous economic boom, twenty-nine million Chinese are still working for a pittance and struggling to make ends meet. Another great need in the cities is developing as millions of rural people invade the cities and seek a church. The phenomenal growth of the church has been in rural areas. As the people move to the cities, there will be an urgent need for the churches to expand, but this may attract the attention of the authorities and cause repercussions as many are from the house church movement and will not register with the government. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide the leadership of all churches and groups so the great awakening will continue unabated.

IMPORTANT BRIEFS TO PRAY ABOUT

Recently an outdoor evangelistic meeting took place in Jiangsu that attracted thousands of people without interference from the government. However, in other places, unregistered church sites were order to shut down. Some important house church leaders have been arrested and detained, some sentenced to three years of hard labor, others to life in prison. Pray for God's protection on all Christian leaders and for the early release of those held in prison.

AIDS is increasingly being recognized as a major problem for China. For years, the number has been downplayed, but the rise and spread can no longer be concealed. Pray for some Christian foreigners who have been welcomed by the government to help in the crisis. Pray for wisdom, courage, and the supply of funds to meet the challenge. In Taiwan there are more than 6,000 cases of infected people, mostly men in the prison system. Several groups in Hong Kong and Taiwan, have extensive ministries to the afflicted. Pray that funds and personnel will be available to meet this challenge.

Nearly one million copies of "New Children's Songs" has been released to teach children in Beijing schools. This is a collection of 400 songs sponsored by the Communist Party that promotes patriotism, nationalism and civic duties. Very few Christian songs have been written for children partly because there have been restrictions on teaching children the Good News of salvation. Pray that Christians in China will do something special for the children Jesus loves so much.

Educators in Sichuan Province have discovered that half of the population of one county (330,000 ) people, are working in the cities but only twenty percent have been able to take their children with them. It is estimated that there are 100 million "left behind children" in China. Most grandparents are unable to help the children with homework or to control them, and consequently, many fall into delinquency and sexual abuse. Pray for the church leaders who have failed to provide any significant ministry to children, partly because of government restrictions. Pray that there will be a significant breakthrough and the children will be reached.  

INTERCESSORS NETWORK OF TEN TOP COUNTRIES FOR PERSECUTION

OPEN DOORS' World Watch list of Persecuted Christians has the isolated nation of North Korea in first place for the third straight year. It is considered the most repressive nation in the world today. Saudi Arabia continues in second place followed by Vietnam, Laos, Iran. Maldives, Somalia, Bhutan, China and Afghanistan. It is important to note that of the top ten, five are Islamic-dominated countries, four have communist regimes and one is Buddhist. We can rejoice that Turkmenistan and Myanmar dropped out of the top ten to 12th and 17th respectively. Unfortunately Vietnam rose from 4th place to 3rd, and Somalia and Afghanistan moved up into the top ten. The Open Doors' list is based on evaluation and testimonies obtained by their indigenous contacts, field workers and members of the persecuted church. The balance of the top 25 are mostly in the 10/40 window which is in the direct path the Back-to-Jerusalem missionaries. Pray that these repressive regimes will have a change of heart and allow for religious freedom for their people.

CHINA OUTREACH MINISTRIES

Exciting reports come from China Outreach that works on many college and university campuses in the USA. Conversions are regularly taking place among Chinese students at our universities through the dedicated efforts of staff people who devote themselves to ministry on these campuses. One group reports taking a group of students on a trip and along the way having tapes, CDs and conversations about Christianity. One scholar in the car was moved by a taped message and prayed to receive Christ as Savior. China has committed about 500,000 of it's best students for training in American universities. Pray that every campus witness will be effective, and many will turn to Christ.

UNEXPECTED ENDORSEMENT OF RED RUNS THE RIVER

Dr. Ray Pritchard, pastor of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois wrote the following review in his daily web log message on Crosswalk.com/ He wrote on March 8, 2005, "Just before we left Florida last Friday, someone recommended a novel called Red Runs The River by Anthony Bollback. I started reading it on the flight back to Chicago and found myself engrossed in the story of Meiling and Anching, two young people caught in the chaos that engulfed China in the late 1940s as Mao Zedong and the Communist Party came to power. The story rings true because Anthony Bollback and his wife Evelyn served as missionaries to China during that very turbulent period. They were among the thousands of missionaries forced out of the country when the Communists took over. This book tells in fictional format how the Communists began their brutal campaign to destroy the Christian movement in China. For a long time, it looked as if they might succeed. We now know that in spite of (some would say because of) fierce persecution, the church grew from several millions in 1940 to 80-100 million Chinese Christians today."      

If you haven't ordered your copy as yet, do so immediately and be challenged by this story of total commitment to Jesus Christ. And watch for the publication of the second book in the series called Exiles of Hope that will be released within the next few weeks.

Red Runs The River is available from the author for $16.00 postage paid or 5 copies to the same address for $65.00 postage paid. This price represents a savings of $18.10 over a single copy. The book and all of the author's other books are also available on Amazon.com or through him personally. Contact him at Kahu@juno.com.

By the next issue of CHINA CLIPPINGS, it is expected that Exiles of Hope will be available. Watch this spot for news or go to the web site http://www.bollback.com

PRAY FOR EVELYN

Many of you have been praying for my wife Evelyn who is suffering from ulcerative colitis. Since the last issue she had to be hospitalized for two days, but gradually she is making some progress. Your prayers are urgently needed at this time.

YOU CAN HELP BY PASSING THIS ON TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE

Please, take a moment to forward this report to your pastor, praying friends and mission leaders. Encourage them to pray for China. Send me the e-mail addresses of those who would be interested in receiving this report. Thank you for doing this and welcome to all the new readers this month as a result. Let's spread this message and generate a great volume of prayer for China.

As always, anyone wishing to be deleted from the mailing list should simply send an e-mail to that effect.

Anthony Bollback