Blog Entries by Si Shi (四石)
Successes, Setbacks, and Surprises in Chinese Medical Missionary Sending
This article is a follow-up to a series of articles written by this author on Chinese medical missionary sending in 2017, published by ChinaSource. Reflections expressed herein grow out of the successes, setbacks, and surprises encountered after the implementation of many of the ideas conveyed in that series of 13 articles.
Understanding the Times to Facilitate Chinese Missionary Sending
Christians of today need to hold the Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other. Understanding both, with attention to the thrust of meaning of each, Christians can be a bridge facilitating God’s purposes in today’s world.
Re-balancing the Seesaw
Can Chinese missionary-sending organizations help re-balance the seesaw and increase the effectiveness and sustainability of cross-cultural missionaries from China?
See One, Do One, Teach One
“See one. Do one. Teach one.” A pathway to developing mission-sending capacity in China?
Wise Financial Partnerships
The Need for a Framework
How can financial resources be shared effectively? What needs to be considered?
Coming Alongside
Elements of the Chinese church are passionate about participating in the great commission. There is a freshness, an enthusiasm, an excitement about taking the gospel of Christ to unreached parts of the world. To what extent should the international church, an older, more experienced church, undergird these efforts? Come alongside in a supportive role?
Chinese Sending Organizations—Are They Necessary?
The same difficulties that local churches in the west have had in sending out workers cross-culturally are being seen in Chinese churches as they send missionaries beyond their borders. Are mission-sending organiszations needed to minimize those difficulties?
Nurturing Marriages and Raising Children—Challenges for Chinese Missionaries
Family needs, particularly the needs of the spouse and children, are among the causes of the high attrition rate among Chinese long-term missionaries.
The Key to Chinese Missionary Service—Calling
The Chinese church is vibrant and has growing passion to participate in missionary sending through undertakings like the Back to Jerusalem (BTJ) movement and the Indigenous Mission Movement from China (IMM China). Chinese Christians feel God calling them to long-term mission service. The principal factor encouraging them to long-term sustainable service is calling.
Raising Support—an Uphill Struggle
For a missionary, raising support is no easy task. When we were preparing for our first term of service, I wasn’t sure how we were ever going to raise the required budget. But for Chinese missionaries, the task is even harder. Coming from a culture that is not accustomed to supporting missionaries, obtaining financial backing is an uphill struggle.