Expectations for new missionaries as well as for their sending bodies should include a long-term developmental perspective that recognizes on-field difficulties as expected and as the normative shaping events God intentionally uses to develop cross-cultural ministry capacity.
![Right then and there, in our apartment, [two Chinese friends] made the decision to follow Jesus. Something he said that evening has stayed with me for the past 25 years. He stated, “I always knew he was there. I just didn’t know his name.”](https://media.chinasource.org/uploads/2024/03/China_Source_Cross_Cultural_Hong_Kong_240311-300x150.jpg)
Right then and there, in our apartment, [two Chinese friends] made the decision to follow Jesus. Something he said that evening has stayed with me for the past 25 years. He stated, “I always knew he was there. I just didn’t know his name.”
“If the… global body of Christ can be there and say, ‘We are together here with you. I have my struggles, and you have your struggles, but we are together, praying to God together and seeking his guidance and help together,’…that can be very comforting and can be an encouragement.”
China is open for business, and a lot more. What is God calling you to do with that information? What might you try?
The Apostle Peter’s ethnocentric conversion exploded into fullness through an unanticipated personal interaction with Cornelius, a gentile military officer who lived out his fear of God in household leadership, generosity, and constant prayer (Acts 10:1–2).
Robert and Betty went to the untamed Tibet and built relationships, preparing for themselves and others to move and live in these new areas. Robert was a visionary with deep understanding of the cultures, but also brave, as the title says, facing local robbers, politics, and later, war-haunted China.
Ministering cross-culturally is critical for fruitful missionary engagement. As the Chinese missionary movement matures and expands and goes where no man or woman of the gospel has gone before, cross-cultural ministry praxis will become increasingly critical.
In the face of adversity, we were asked a profound question: Are we willing to pay the price to follow Jesus? This period of persecution became a crucible, testing our faith and convictions.
We begin 2024 with thanksgiving to God for his provision through you, our steadfast friends!
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