Jan – April 2015
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Innovative, Indigenous & Inclusive
The Jerusalem of China Retrospect and Prospect
150 Years of Innovation
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Heart for Asia. Hope for billions.
We serve the Church and seek to bring the gospel to all the peoples of East Asia. We help place Christians with professional skills in China and other Asian countries, and share the love of Christ with East Asians worldwide. Through God’s grace we aim to see an indigenous, biblical churchplanting movement in each people group of East Asia, evangelising their own people and reaching out in mission to other peoples.
From The Editor 2
On 25 June 1865 in Brighton, James Hudson Taylor’s desire to see China’s millions reached with the gospel became too much for him to bear. Running from the comfortable church service to the beach he called out to The Lord.
There he prayed for a boatful of men and women to return with him to China. Through God’s faithfulness Hudson Taylor left an incredible legacy. Around the world people attribute their involvement in mission to his story, across China many recognise the pioneering work of Taylor and the China Inland Mission as crucial to their own knowledge of Christ. As we celebrate 150 years of CIM and OMF we are going to explore the rich history, which shapes our work today. In this first edition we will focus on the start of the CIM's journey and try to discern what God may want to teach us through it today. We hope that you enjoy taking this journey with us. Chris Watts Editor – chris.watts@omfmail.com
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News
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The Jerusalem of China Wenzhou, China
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Innovative, Indigenous & Inclusive Hudson-Taylor
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Retrospect and Prospect Nomads and Neighbours
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A Faithful Investment Wang Lae-dj端n
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The Spring – ‘Standing on our own feet’
News Selected snippets from OMF's work with East Asians around the world. Seeing God’s Love through life’s twists
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‘As a cross-cultural worker in East Asia I was in pole position to see the Father’s loving work. I watched him love a local young friend – “Stella” – into healing and hope, despite the agonising twists and turns of her life. Stella was born in a remote, disadvantaged and dysfunctional family. Hurt and disillusioned, she still managed to escape into successful study. This led to her first experience of the Father’s love; being taught English at a College by a foreign believer. Stella was intrigued. Then an exciting opportunity for further study came her way but was quickly followed by disaster. Stella was ignominiously sent away for mental health treatment she didn’t want, to a strange city she didn’t know. But the Father’s love did not leave her. A mutual friend put Stella and I in touch. We talked and Stella revealed her pain. She told me of several unavailing attempts to become a Buddhist! So when Stella truly grasped the Father’s offer of love, her answer was a definite “Yes!” It was in that strange city that Stella joined a church, celebrated her first Christmas, was baptised and found another study opportunity. This time she focused on Public Health Studies – and triumphed! Stella’s most recent email told me of the great job she has been given in a bustling city. Now Stella aims to pass on the Father’s love to those around her. Just as it was passed to her.’
R. B. Harrison
‘I grew up in a Christian home in the South Taiwan, and studied in China Evangelical Seminary and married Shu-Hua during my second year. One day I saw a homeless man looking through a rubbish bin for food in front of a large church in Taipei and I wondered, "Are there any churches who welcome homeless people?" Not long after that I heard about The Spring, an OMF ministry to the homeless. After completing an internship with The Spring, I was invited to return as a full-time worker. This was the wish of my heart, but at times it was hard work; seeing change amongst the homeless can often take a long time. After 12 years, most of my fellow students from seminary are well-respected pastors of churches in Taiwan, but I am still in a struggling church with few workers. Many are surprised to hear that I am still in the same church. When the OMF workers left The Spring, they handed responsibility to me, which sometimes feels very heavy. At the moment we have three Bible college students helping us. My goal is to train them to do the ministry, and to pass on the things I have learned. I have made many mistakes and want to prevent them from making the same mistakes. Concerning the future of The Spring our goal is not “bigger and bigger”, but that churches all over Taiwan will learn to care for the homeless in their neighbourhood, in a sense that “The Spring will no longer be needed”. OMF raised us: now we have to learn to stand on our own feet. I hope we can pass on the good practices that we learned from OMF’s work.’
Wu De Li
Making Disciple Makers
Over 80 OMF members and co-workers from around the globe converged on Colorado Springs, USA, for the third triennial OMF Diaspora Ministries conference from 19–26 October, for equipping, mutual encouragement and prayer. Reflecting our nature as a global, borderless field, the OMF workers came from their places of ministry in 12 different countries across four continents, where they are reaching out to the Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Indonesian diasporas. A major announcement at the conference was a name change to ‘Diaspora Returnee Ministries’, indicating a sharper focus on reaching East Asians who are temporarily living outside their homeland. The new name also shows a commitment to helping new Christians and seekers, as they pass through the difficult period of returning to countries where Christians face severe social or political pressures. With such aims in mind, the weeklong conference featured the key words ‘Making Disciple-Makers’. Each day included a Bible reading from John 4 by author Tony Horsfall on ‘Working from a place of rest: Jesus and the key to sustaining ministry’ a theme he chose after observing that many Christian workers suffered from ‘weariness on the journey’.
Iwate Relief Project
The tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 took almost 16,000 lives. Governments around the world sent aid and OMF International played a part in the relief work by creating the Iwate Relief Project as a means to provide support. As of May 2014, OMF International’s official role ended, but the assistance given through the project continues. Hokuei Church has set up a new legal entity called Ippo Ippo Iwate to receive funds and administer the project. OMF Japan, while entirely separate to Ippo Ippo Iwate and not directly involved in its leadership, is still able to channel funds to this ministry. Through the Iwate Relief Project, OMF International workers have built a drop-in community centre called Ippo Ippo Yamada, distributed tracts, given out thousands of bags of rice and other food and household necessities and put hundreds of volunteers to work. The Japanese are rebuilding, but complete physical recovery could take decades. Emotionally, some may never fully heal, but a hope deeper than building foundations is stirring. ‘Opportunities to sow the seeds of the gospel have been unprecedented in my 30 years of working in Japan,’ says Mike McGinty, former project manager for the Iwate Relief Project, ‘and we trust in due time this will reap a harvest.’ Prayer is a coveted resource as wounds heal and gospel seeds are planted. Ask the Lord of the harvest to build his Church in the Iwate Prefecture.
A heart for the suffering
Reports often paint a grim picture of mental health in post-conflict Cambodia. One article in the press described the situation as an 'appalling mental health crisis', citing a 2012 report from the Royal University of Phnom Penh. The report indicated that there are very high levels of both anxiety and depression among Cambodians, and the country suffers with the highest suicide rate in South East Asia. A government spokesman said that mental health would not be a priority for spending as malaria and maternal health are the primary concerns. Little work is being done, even though the situation is crying out for International support. OMF International has a heart for those who suffer mental health problems. Three trained counsellors are part of a small team of healthcare professionals, who feel called by God to minister in the area of psychological illness. Shirley Sinclair will be joining this team in 2015, as a psychotherapist, working primarily with sexually exploited women. Shirley has an interest in the stories Cambodian people tell about themselves; often they are perceived as victims in a traumatic recent history, yet many want to live out new stories of their survival and transformation.
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创 新，本 土 ，包 容
Innovative, Indigenous and Inclusive Hudson Taylor’s story is an inspiring and well-documented one. As a young man he had become burdened for the lost souls in China.
At the age of just sixteen, Taylor prayed that the Lord would give him ‘some work to do for Him, however trying or however trivial’. It was to be a few years later that Taylor discovered the work the Lord had prepared for him. We wanted to take this opportunity to look at three key traits that marked the work of Hudson Taylor and CIM and ask; are these part of OMF and its work today? Hudson Taylor was innovative, changing the way mission was approached, attempting new and ambitious endeavours. We can see this in many ways; an early example is in Hudson Taylor’s preparation for leaving to China. In his autobiography, A Retrospect, Retrospect, Taylor recalls ‘My feather bed I had taken away, and sought to dispense with as many other home comforts as I could, in order prepare myself for rougher lines of life.’ This innovative and sacrificial form of preparation almost certainly helped prepare him for what God was calling him to do in the long term. Innovation was also a trait of the CIM. Until Hudson Taylor’s indication that the CIM should have inland China as its ‘special object’ there were no known missions focusing on this area. In fact, according to the first CIM Occasional Paper, of the 18 provinces of China proper, missionaries were located in just seven; most of these were coastal. Taylor’s vision of Chinese men and women heading for a ‘Christless eternity’ drove the mission into pioneering towards new areas; innovation was in their DNA. Inclusivity is a second trait of the CIM. In a recent interview, author Rose Dowsett commented that, ‘Taylor cared more that people were passionate for the Lord and for the gospel than their churchmanship…Taylor was happy to include people from all walks
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of life.’ Unlike most mission societies at the time, the CIM did not constrain itself by only considering ordained ministers for mission. Taylor’s insistence that unmarried women were to be missionaries in their own right was something mostly unheard of at the time. The Lammermuir, which famously carried many of the first CIM missionaries to China, had on board no ordained ministers, but nine unmarried women. One of Taylor’s chief desires was that the CIM cultivate indigeneity. Its goal was not to build a western church in East Asia but the growth of a uniquely Chinese church. Taylor aimed to see ‘Christian Chinese – true Christians, but Chinese in every sense of the word’. The long-term goal of the CIM was that Chinese Christians would be discipled and built up to lead Chinese congregations. It is well known that Taylor encouraged all the members of CIM to dress in a culturally appropriate way, himself donning Chinese garments and a pigtail, but he also insisted that any decisions regarding the mission should be made in China. It was for this reason he created the China Council. The CIM was never to be controlled by a foreign master from afar; instead decisions were made as close to the action as possible. We hope never to lose these traits, and will always strive to maintain inclusivity, encourage innovation and support the growing indigenous churches in East Asia. These values are being demonstrated all over the OMF network. OMF continues to be innovative, both in the ways we share the gospel and the ways we interact with the cultures we work among. In many places OMF sends workers to become part of the fabric of the society; they create businesses, employ locals, work in hospitals and schools, even start dance classes. These are not simply ways to obtain visas, they are the harvest fields of individuals passionately involved in holistic mission. Spreading the gospel innovatively in the workplaces of Asia is just as important as the traditional forms of evangelism. Inclusivity remains a key part of OMF’s identity. Just as in the days of the CIM, OMF endeavours to send people from all walks of life. Church planters, teachers, publishers, even marine biologists all can
find their skills useful in God’s mission in East Asia. The relative ease of travel has now allowed OMF to become even more inclusive, allowing young men and women, who could not yet go out long term, to go on short-term trips, to pray with, encourage and support the church, both in Asia and at home. Hudson Taylor’s desire for the mission to be as indigenous as possible still marks the organisation today. Just as in Hudson Taylor’s day, the headquarters of the mission is still in East Asia and all major decisions happen as close to the ‘action’ as possible, reflecting our aim to lead from the ministry context. Language, culture and worldview studies are still of prime importance, and most missionaries are continually finetuning their language skills. We are now seeing many more Asian missionaries joining the organisation. Patrick Fung, the General Director, is himself from Hong Kong. In the modern world, the need to contextualize is not only important overseas. Homesides in the UK, USA, and other areas want to use their experience of adapting to culture over the past 150 years to teach local churches, who increasingly find Islam and Buddhism as being part of the changing western culture. Contextualization has always been a characteristic of gospel ministry for OMF, but now is growing in importance for many Christians within their communities. For 150 years churches around the world have been sending missionaries to East Asia, and by God’s grace will continue to. These missionaries have learnt to be indigenous, inclusive and innovative. Now, as the different cultures and nationalities live side by side in western neighbourhoods, OMF hopes to pass on these traits to the local churches so they can reach out in the same way CIM and OMF missionaries have been since 1865.
OMF sends workers to become part of the fabric of society
Taylor changed his hair and clothes in order to be more culturally acceptable to local chinese people.
Taylor accepted women (married and single) as missionaries – one of the first missionary organisations to do this.
Before leaving for China he ate only oatmeal and rice, saving 2/3 of his money for God’s purposes.
Taylor insisted on a policy of never asking for money – only praying for it. This policy still exists today.
The amount of years Taylor spent travelling on a boat in his life.
The amount of years the average person spends commuting.
Between 1900–1910 the CIM saw an average of 2600 baptisms per year in China.
Aboard the Lammermuir, through Taylor’s preaching most of the crew professed faith in Christ.
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A Faithful Investment A strange sight drew curious eyes in London’s fashionable Bayswater, one cold November morning in 1860.
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Marion Osgood An Oriental gentleman, accompanied by what appeared to be his European wife, was walking slowly down the street, carrying a toddler. The pregnant wife and the toddler were in decidedly outmoded Western dress. Behind them came a shorter, sickly-looking man – a servant no doubt – in scruffy Chinese attire. Wang Lae-djün had had the dubious privilege of leaving wife, family, country, everything he had ever known, to travel to the West with Hudson Taylor (the sickly-looking man!) and Maria. This had come about through the strong brotherly bond between the two men. Hudson Taylor knew the future of the church in China depended on local individuals – they would need nurturing and equipping, but eventually, he was in no doubt, they would take full responsibility. Chinese churches, under God, must be in their own hands. Wang’s interest in the gospel had been first aroused when he overheard a conversation while working as a painter/ decorator, back in his home town: the lady of the house was requesting incense containers, but the onetime supplier was explaining he no longer produced them, as he was a Christian. Wang’s curiosity and spiritual hunger awakened, he began to meet with Hudson Taylor; he was baptised on 8 May, 1859. Not long after this the Taylors began to make plans to return home, as much as anything for the sake of Hudson Taylor’s health. If Wang Lae-djün came too, Hudson Taylor surmised, he could continue to disciple him during the long journey, and while in London Wang would be the best possible language teacher for new recruits. But there was another plan.
Many of the Chinese (not including Wang) were illiterate; Hudson Taylor had begun to compose a written form of the Ningbo dialect in the Latin alphabet, which he (and in time Wang) could then comparatively easily teach others to read. The next stage was the mammoth task of translating the entire New Testament into this colloquial written form; Wang’s familiarity with the dialect would be invaluable. But meanwhile, there was the long voyage home. Wang helped to care for little Grace Taylor, whose parents were far from well. He also had to take responsibility for the goats, the family’s source of fresh milk, throughout the voyage. When Grace slept, and the parents were well enough, Wang joined them in fervent prayer for the work in China, and the need for more workers. Sweet times of fellowship together confirmed to Hudson Taylor that Wang was indeed a man after his own heart. After an initial stay with the Bayswater relatives, the Taylors rented a house in the East End of London; Wang, a willing worker, remained with them, turning his hand to cooking and laundry. He was treated as one of the family: at Christmas he accompanied them to Yorkshire to stay with Hudson Taylor’s parents; he was taken to see the Great Exhibition, now permanently erected at ‘Crystal Palace’, and joined others lining the streets of London when Alexandra of Denmark arrived to wed Edward, Prince of Wales. In 1863 Wang’s planned return to China was imminent. Although remittances had faithfully been sent to support his wife and children, nevertheless they needed him – but so did Hudson Taylor! There was now no
time to lose, so Wang the future church leader, the missionary to his own people, responded diligently to the increasingly demanding time-table of Hudson Taylor – whose own capacity for work, even when tired and unwell, seemed almost boundless. With fresh urgency the translation work continued late into the night, and pharmacology, even anatomy dissections, were added to Wang’s educational repertoire. As the time for his departure drew even closer, the already full medical and theological training schedule grew ever more demanding. There were final visits to Guy’s Hospital Museum, the Houses of Parliament, Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle, Westminster Abbey... and one last trip to George Müller in Bristol, before Wang finally departed via Gravesend on 2 June, 1864. Back in Hangzhou and without Hudson Taylor, but now with his wife by his side, Wang shepherded the flock wisely; in time he was caring for a whole network of new churches within a hundred mile radius, continuing faithfully for forty years. Typical of Hudson Taylor’s principled desires for the indigenous church, Wang had no wish to depend on foreign aid: in time his churches were meeting financial needs elsewhere. Hudson Taylor invested heavily in Wang Lae-djün, and he in turn was all that Hudson Taylor could have hoped for in his earliest converts. Throughout their close and loving brotherly friendship Hudson Taylor recognised that this investment by God’s grace would produce not only a strong and mature believer, it would yield heavenly returns in the lives of countless others.
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中国的 耶 路 撒 冷
The Jerusalem of China Today throughout China the city of Wenzhou has became known as the ‘Jerusalem of China’; it is home to well over a thousand churches, and continues to grow. Over a million of its eight million inhabitants are Christians and many are taking the gospel throughout China, and overseas to Europe and the Middle East.
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Tony Lambert But how did all this start? Its origins can be traced back in God’s purposes to one Scottish missionary with the CIM 150 years ago…. George Stott would probably have been turned down by most missions today. He had a wooden leg; anyone playing on the safe side would have rejected him as a health and safety risk. China was not a safe place in those days. But Hudson Taylor looked beyond outward appearances. ‘You’re in!’, he told Stott after carefully interviewing him. In 1868 George arrived in Wenzhou, the first Protestant missionary in the bustling port city. Wenzhou was recovering from the ravages of the great pseudo-Christian Taiping Rebellion, which had been savagely suppressed by the Qing emperor a few years previously. The city was filled with temples and idols. Local officials were often hostile towards outsiders. To provoke riots and attacks they would tell scare stories about foreigners who kidnapped and ate children. This was no safe place for missionaries. It was in this unpromising environment that George Stott set out to preach the gospel. He rented a modest room, which he turned into a classroom for local boys. There he taught reading, writing and arithmetic along with the Bible. He dressed in Chinese gown and cotton slippers, and wore the queue or pigtail to identify in with the locals. This in itself was a revolutionary step introduced by Hudson Taylor. Plenty of British and American missionaries paraded around the treaty ports in frock coats, with no regard for local culture. The years passed. Several Chinese turned to Christ and were baptised, and a small church was opened in Wenzhou. One of the young Chinese lads at the school was converted and was himself handicapped. He was paralysed down his left side and found walking very difficult. But this did not quench his thirst for God, nor dampen the clear call he felt to preach the gospel. He went on to become the first native evangelist in Wenzhou. The gospel spread throughout the city and into the surrounding the villages. A decade or so after Stott arrived the CIM built a large church in the centre of the city, capable of seating several hundred people. It
was built in Chinese style with a traditional, graceful Chinese roof. Again, this was in stark contrast to many cathedrals and big city churches, which were built in Gothic or classical style, dropped in to the centre of Chinese cities with complete insensitivity to China’s ancient culture. Western churches seemed almost a provocation to patriotic Chinese. As China entered the 20th Century, they seemed to be visible proof that Christianity was, indeed, a tool of Western cultural imperialism, as the Marxists were quick to claim. Stott’s method of evangelism was humble and more suited to Chinese ways. Despite the incursions of Western powers and Japan in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and decades of warlordism, civil war, floods, famine and disease, the gospel spread at grass-roots level. Then, in 1966, came the Cultural Revolution. All the churches were closed and many believed that missionary endeavours in China had finally been wiped out. I have visited Wenzhou several times over the last two decades. The CIM church is still there, but now caters to a congregation of many thousands. Local pastors told me at least 10 per cent of the population of this mega-city of eight million are Protestant evangelicals. The entire municipality, which includes large areas of countryside, large towns and many villages, now have over 2,000 registered churches and over 2,000 registered meeting-points. There are also thousands of unregistered house-churches. What Mao intended to be an ‘atheistic zone’ has become the ‘Jerusalem of China.’ Wenzhou Christians are often good at business and use their companies and factories to spread the gospel throughout China. It is likely that most cities in China have congregations planted by Wenzhou believers. They are also in the forefront of China’s new mission focus to take the gospel ‘Back to Jerusalem’; many have already left for Pakistan, Central Asia and the Middle East. All this can be traced back to a onelegged Scotsman. The Bible reminds us that God often uses humble, weak and despised instruments to do great things.
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Retrospect and Prospect: Nomads and Neighbours From the very beginning, the China Inland Mission (now OMF International) has had a passion for unreached places, a passion to obey God and to be culturally relevant.
Remembering his prayer on Brighton Beach in 1865 Hudson Taylor wrote in A Retrospect, ‘I asked him for twenty-four fellow-workers, two for each of eleven inland provinces which were without a missionary, and two for Mongolia.' Taylor prayed for China and for Mongolia to know Christ. One answer to the prayer of Taylor was the exhausting travels of James Cameron around Inner
Mongolia in the 1880s. Cameron travelled extensively, encountering many ‘drunkards’, but after some time came to have a ‘revulsion of feeling’ towards travel. When the only Christian in a distant village invited him, Cameron obeyed what he thought was the call of God, went and saw people voluntarily burn their idols after the local Christian preached. The early 20th century saw the arrival of other travelling missionaries. Celebrated by evangelicals, adventure travellers and feminists are the ‘Gobi Trio’ of Mildred Cable and Evangeline
Kirk Matthews and Francesca French. Books like Something Happened continue to inspire the imagination today. Yet the story of George Hunter and Percy Mather, and their travels into the Altai Mountains of Mongolia, are remembered by very few today. Whereas the Trio were the best of friends, Hunter and Mather, though they lived in Urumchi, China did not stay together. ‘Mr. Hunter’ and ‘Mr. Mather’, as they called each other, were very different from one another. The older, whitebearded Hunter was a stern and melancholy Scotsman with a calling to reach Uighur and Turkic people. Mather, a young playful Englishman with a streak of romanticism, had his heart ‘captured’ by the funloving, yurt-dwelling Mongolians in the open ranges. Transcending their differences, Hunter and Mather travelled together up to Khovd, Western Mongolia and the Altai Mountains. Hunter spoke Kazakh and Uighur and Mather spoke Mongolian. They shared the gospel with Turkic and Mongolian peoples, sometimes bartering gospel booklets for food in desolate places. On a rare home leave in Britain, having remembered many Mongolians with eye trouble, Mather studied ophthalmology. Out of love, Mather was now able to help Mongolians practically. This wish to help people practically was a forerunner to many other missionaries who travelled in Mongolia in later years. Decades later in the early 1990s, Markus and Gertrud Dubach lived in Gobi-Altai Province in Mongolia. They cultivated potatoes. Sharing the gospel of Christ came naturally out of good relationships. Because of his remarkable agricultural work, Markus was awarded honorary citizenship of Gobi-Altai. This couple opened up doors for OMF and others later. A few years ago there was a severe winter in GobiAltai. In one remote region of the Altai Mountains, 90 per cent of livestock died. In despair some men committed suicide. Local officials asked for help, and OMF workers, in partnership with other foreign and Mongolian Christians, responded. Nomadic herders received sheep and goats. Many herders said that if
Occupation Special Skill
OMF worker since 1994 Horse riding in country where temperatures can range from +40°C to –40°C
they had not received these livestock, they would have become urban migrants. Due to high unemployment and alcoholism in urban centres, it is probable that many of these families would have fallen into the snares of joblessness and vodka addiction. While much of our work is in cities with Mongolians who drive cars, have smart phones and use Facebook, there are times when our work seems of another century. Recently I was on a gospel horseback trip in the Altai Mountains, and one lonesome herdswoman was joyful to receive a Bible. Recently two Mongolian Christians visited Altai nomads. One of these men had come to Christ through the witness of a business project in Altai City (see the video ‘Artis Altai’ omf.org/mongolia). Visiting remote nomads, they taught the Word of God. Twenty-eight men and women committed their lives to Christ. One nomad, who was regarded as a spiritual leader, threw away all his idols, fortune-telling stones and his shamanic drum; he wants to follow Christ whole-heartedly. Cameron would have been glad. The prayers of Hunter and Mather for the Altai people are being answered. The prospect of a bright golden day dawns in the mountains of Mongolia.
For more videos about work in Mongolia visit: http://vimeo.com/album/2675172
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God’s Faithfulness Our 150th anniversary has provided us with a kairos moment to trace CIM/ OMF’s story from a small seed of faith sown in 1865 right through to the present time. We remember God’s faithfulness and rejoice in him as our faithful God. ‘God’s Faithfulness, Stories from the China Inland Mission and OMF’ is a unique anthology of forty CIM and OMF missionary stories, which testify powerfully to the faithfulness of God throughout the 150 years of our history. The stories originate from workers in almost all of the countries where we have teams today. The book also includes a very clear and helpful fourpart summary of our history. We pray that God will use these stories to inspire readers of different generations, backgrounds and experience. We pray that they will encourage and bless those who are familiar with OMF, as well as those who are totally new to OMF. Perhaps, for some, these will be the first missionary stories they read. Wherever readers are in their journey towards understanding God’s heart for the nations, we know that he can use this book to give them courage and faith to take the next step.
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