Good Friday greetings to you! Never is the idea of Immanuel, God with us more poignant than today. I received a voice message from a pastor in China who does a lot of ministry to one of the least-reached groups in that land of over 1.4 billion people. It is a reminder that there are still hundreds of millions of Chinese (including some ethnic minority groups who few known Christians) who have never heard of the Saviour who entered into our suffering, and who took away the sins of the world.
This pastor states (paraphrased from audio message into written word):
“During our recovery from CoVid-19, there is a great need to pray for the church in China. We are worshipping online, but of course this is never as satisfying or complete as the joy of meeting face to face. Some people struggle with the technology.
The greatest tragedy is that outreach to unreached places has stopped as a result of the shutdowns. Evangelists and missionaries with a burden to reach unevangelized areas and reach unreached people groups (like the Hui, Uyghurs, Tibetans, etc) are not able to go to these places – heightened security and lockdowns prevent them, the economic downturn that struck China means that there are no funds or free time to go to these areas any more. Virtually all such people are have to work a job to support themselves, and already have many people under their spiritual care.
This pastors asks that God would put a greater burden on the hearts of Westerners to lift up the Church in China, and that the Church in China might be given a hunger and zeal to pray for the unreached groups in their nation.”