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the NEWSLETTER YU, XIAOYU
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HOW DID I COME TO KNOW JESUS?
Who am I? My name is Yu, Xiaoyu, but in England people call me Connie. I am from Qingdao, on the east coast of China. I grew up as an only child of loving parents.
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Brought up in communist China, I was taught there is no god. When I went to university, I took English as my major. Every summer, there would be a team from the US teaching English to local children and they based their camp at our university. One summer I was helping on that camp as a teaching assistant for the American team. Through living and working with them, I saw, for the first time, that life could be so different. It wasn’t about their American lifestyle, but the way they lived their lives, their attitude towards people and the world around them. Although I had lived a happy life and tried to be a kind person, there seemed to be something more in the lives I saw in them. I shared this with the American teacher I was helping, and she said it was all because of Jesus, but she didn’t say much more. Those of us who were helping on the camp had been warned by the university authorities to be wary of religious issues when working with ‘foreigners’. Perhaps the American team had also been warned of this, and were therefore careful not to say too much. However, each day as I worked with them, my heart was touched by interacting with them. At the end of that summer, this American teacher gave me a bilingual New Testament, saying, ‘You can find the answers to all the questions you asked about life and this Jesus in this book. E-
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mail me if you have any questions after reading this.’ And that is what I did! Although I didn’t understand all of what that book says, I was drawn to it, and wished this Jesus was real so that I could belong to him. However, because of my atheist background, it was very difficult for me to believe in anything spiritual. Even though I would have loved this Jesus to be God, I found it hard to believe. Still, I read it every day. One night I read Matthew 11:28: ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.’ At that very moment, it felt like God was speaking directly to my heart and, strangely, I didn’t need any evidence of God’s existence anymore because he had just spoken to me! The next day, I went to tell my Christian friend who had also helped on that camp and she was so excited, saying, ‘We have been praying for you ever since the English camp!’ After that, I joined the student fellowship on campus, which had to keep a low profile. From time to time we received threats from the university authorities and opposition from friends, but God used that fellowship to guide my first baby steps in my Christian walk and I am so grateful for the love and growth I experienced in that group of lovely brothers and sisters.
Reaching the Chinese to Reach Europe
WHY DID I GO INTO THEOLOGICAL/MISSION TRAINING? Although I came to the UK to do an MA in Education, I knew that wasn’t what my heart was longing for. I was more interested in learning more about God and wanted to do more for God. At that time, I was worshipping in a mission-minded English church, and I shared this with the elder. He encouraged me to seek God’s will and gave me some information on mission and mission training. The first time I looked at the prospectus of the mission college I later went to, things suddenly became clear. This was exactly what I had been looking for: to know more of God and serve him in mission! Bless my dear parents, they gave their life savings to send me to the UK to study, hoping I would have a brighter future with the education and experience gained here. Of course, when I finished my masters, they expected me to go back to China and get a good job. All they wanted was the best for me. However, I turned my back on their
expectations, and planned to go in a direction totally alien to them. But I love my parents and was very grateful for what they had done for me. I found it very hard to see them disappointed. I asked God that, if this was the way He wanted me to go; He would let me go with my parents’ blessing. I phoned my parents and told them about this change of plan and, after some silence on their end, they asked me what I could do for a living after mission training. I said I didn’t know. They said, ‘We don’t have the money or power to support you in the future. You are an adult now. It’s your life, and if that’s the way you choose to go, we hope you walk it well.’ I thank God for such loving and understanding parents. I pray one day they will come to know this God I serve.
WHAT AM I DOING WITH COCM? Now God has called me to COCM since I graduated from Redcliffe College. I struggled in the beginning because I thought cross-cultural mission was what God had called me to, and that I should go to the materially and physically poor. But God showed me that it’s not about cross-cultural mission or mission to my own people that He cares about most. What He cares about is my heart and character, whether I love him enough to obey. And as important as it is to help the materially and physically needy, we cannot ignore the spiritually poor ones just because they are what this world considers rich. One of the trends in mission today is the shifting of mission fields: the UK and continental Europe, which used to be sending countries, have now become mission fields. In the past, there were many humble men and women who obeyed God’s call to give up their comfortable lives in Europe and go to live with the poor
in other parts of the world, bringing God’s hope and love. Many among succeeding generations, however, no longer acknowledge the God for whom their ancestors shed blood and tears, but turn their hearts to idols. I find this sad and I believe it grieves God’s heart also. What is more, increasing numbers of my fellow Chinese come to this spiritually poor land, many with the hope of a better life and future. What can this country offer them? Can money or rejection of God bring them happiness? God is the only source of hope and we have the responsibility to point them to the only right way. COCM’s vision is to reach the Chinese to reach Europe. I believe that God will continue to use COCM to deliver those who yet sit in darkness without knowing it. I am thankful that God would use someone as weak and simple as I to accomplish His purposes.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN ME ON THIS JOURNEY? I know I cannot do this on my own, and I believe it is not God’s purpose to establish a one-man mission. He wants to see His people united in one heart and spirit to strive side by side for the sake of the gospel. Are you willing to be the one standing by me in any way in which God calls you? Whether it be by prayer, care or financial support, I would love to hear from you. My financial needs will come to about £2400 per month. In addition to various contributions from churches, I am praying that God will give me:
RESPONSE SLIP Dear Connie, I want to partner with you as you begin your ministry of ‘reaching the Chinese to reach Europe’. By God’s grace I will stand with you in the months ahead. My faith commitment is to: Pray: I will lift you up □daily, □weekly, □monthly, or as God prompts me (please tick one) Care: I will do something to support and encourage you □weekly, □monthly, □annually (please tick one)
5 families/individuals to support me for £100 per month 10 families/individuals to support me for £50 per month 20 families/individuals to support me for £20 per month 100 families/individuals to support me for £10 per month
HOW TO CONTACT ME: Connie Yu 2 Padstow Avenue, Fishermead, Milton Keynes MK6 2ES, UK
connieyu@cocm.org.uk
www.cocm.org.uk
Give: enclosed is my gift of £____ Give regularly: I will send regular support to COCM, referenced for your ministry, in the amount of £____ □monthly, □quarterly, □annually (please tick one) Your name: Address: Phone: Email: Please return this slip, with your cheque payable to COCM, 2 Padstow Avenue, Fishermead, Milton Keynes MK6 2ES, UK