We intended to make another video to share this week in time to reach your inbox Saturday morning in the US. However, our weekend was so busy, there was no time to put it together. So … it’s Monday morning in China and this is my first chance to write a brief update.
I’ll share 2 ministry updates and then let the photos tell the rest of the story this past week:
The English speaking worship team at Haidian Church is taking HUGE steps forward, and we had a great week serving with them. We invited the worship leaders over to our apartment for dinner and some training this week, and we had a hands-on workshop for band musicians. It was a joy to work with these young adults who are on fire for Jesus and hungry to grow in their skills as musicians. The band made tremendous progress in the 2-hours we spent working on musical parts, and it really showed on Sunday morning.
Pastor Mark Nicklas from Beaverton Foursquare joined us and spoke yesterday at Haidian Church. It was great to hear a sermon that sounded like "home" to us, and Mark commented that he noticed the congregation joining in worship more than in his previous visits to Beijing.
I led the worship time this weekend and our whole family jumped in to help. Kim played keyboard, Olivia sang backup, and Ali & Jake joined the worship choir. Haidian Church loves using choirs to lead worship, so we’re trying to help them create a worship experience that is joyful and creates a big sound of voices worshiping together. If you know me, you know I’m not a fan of my own singing voice, but I felt it would be good to serve as the worship leader to help the worship team gain confidence. The singers in the choir are getting stronger each week, and it was really moving this Sunday to hear the congregation (with around 1,000 in attendance) fill the building with the praises of God.
If you’d like to experience a little bit of what church is like in China, here's a video link from yesterday’s service. This video is hosted on the Haidian Church website, so I hope it works outside of China. When you click on the link, look for a video window about halfway down the page. Keep in mind this is a simple a video of what is shown on the screen in the service, so much of the time you will see the Powerpoint slides with the worship lyrics, just as the congregation did during worship. However, if you skip ahead to about the 6 minute mark, you’ll see some camera shots of the choir and worship team. I apologize if the video doesn’t work well for you. Hopefully you can at least get a little picture of what it’s like to worship God here - each time I serve, I’m humbled that we get the chance to be part of this amazing church.
This past Friday, we got invited to be part of a lunchtime prayer & worship gathering at Renmin University. This is the place where Kim, Ali, and Olivia take their Chinese lessons each week. Our teacher, Liu Aiju, is a wonderful lady who is a professor of Chinese Language and History at this school. She leads a time where 15-20 faculty members eat lunch together and meet to worship, talk about God, and pray together. Since we were planning to come to the school for a Chinese lesson, she invited us to join their group. We had no idea what we were getting into, and once I learned what was really taking place, I was completely blown away that God would allow us to do be part of something like this. Renmin University is operated by the Communist Party of China, and it is the most prestigious school in the entire country for young people who want to become attorneys, journalists, and leaders in business and government. The competition to get into this school is beyond intense. It’s the “Ivy League” of China in every way. We have been told that 70% of the future leaders of the Communist Party will come from Renmin, and every student has “Communist Party Doctrine” as a required freshman course.
We have met several Americans who teach English at Renmin. They shared with us how careful they must be about sharing their faith. There are godly men and women embedded around various colleges here, and they serve as teachers, hoping for the chance to minister in private to students if there is an opening to share about Jesus. They are doing good work - this is the long term work of ministry in China that is vital, but these teachers sometimes fight discouragement as they live and work within the tight limits of what the government allows.
In our case, we were invited into this gathering, and our Chinese professor informed us that there is a security guard in her building who is a Christian. The guard has provided them a room to freely meet together for the purpose of fellowship in Christ, and they have no fear in talking about God, singing or praying.
Our family got to sit in this room with 15 people, and we started teaching them the words to the song “Amazing Grace” in English. I had no instrument, so I pulled an iPad out of my backpack and started playing music with the piano app on the iPad. We sang the song together, and then we went line by line in the song, explaining the meaning of each phrase (our professor translated into Chinese for those who didn’t speak English). We got to talk about God’s free gift of grace and what it means to live each day with a hope of heaven. They allowed me to pray over them at the end of the meeting, and I still get goosebumps thinking of that prayer time. I got to pray over these faculty members, asking God to use them to show His love to their students, encourage them as they serve as His ambassadors in their school, and bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus.
Most of you know I’m not an academic … I don’t have nearly enough letters behind my name to be qualified to sit in a gathering like that. These professors received masters and doctorate degrees from prestigious schools all over the world. Clearly, this was an opportunity ONLY God could have opened.
They have invited us back to share with them again this next week. Would you please join me in praying that God will continue to use these times to encourage these Chinese Christian professors and draw people into relationship with Him?
Some Shots of the Week:
The worship leaders joined us for dinner and a great evening of fellowship and training - Kim found the ingredients for a bread recipe and baked 2 loaves fresh in our tiny oven ... our Chinese friends loved it!
Great training sessions with Chinese service (top) and English service musicians. I tried counting a song off "1---2---1-2-3-4" and no one played anything. I tried again by saying ... "Yi---Er---Yi-Er-San-Si" and they all started playing - Riot!
Several of the worship leader girls took the kids to a movie (without parents!) Beijing is such a safe city - we were not worried at all about them being out late with their new "aunties".
Jake has become the family social director ... by the end of Sunday morning, he had lined up multiple lunch and dinner appointments for all of us. If we're not careful, he may finish this mission with more girlfriends than we can count. The ladies love Jake!
I had a little "IT Geek" time and visited the Zhongguancun electronics market near our home. This massive labyrinth takes up an entire city block - 9 stories high, with endless booths and retailers selling every electronic gadget under the sun. (and every price is negotiable) I wasn't quite sure which of these 3 "Apple stores" to go visit ... or maybe the "APP store" is better. (and who knows if any of the thousands of iPhones are legit?)
You can buy fresh fruit right on the street corner in our neighborhood. There was a guy peeling and cutting fresh pineapples - super yummy.
Kim has made a point to greet the security guard at our local supermarket every time she shops. He works long shifts at a thankless job. One evening we stopped by for a couple things and he got a huge smile on his face and asked for this photo.
As always, we appreciate your prayers. We are doing well and everyone has been healthy thus far. We feel like the adjustment period is over, and we are now into the real meat of the work we were invited here for. We are looking ahead to Easter Sunday, a visit from my parents, and Ali's first concert with the orchestra she has been invited to play in at China Central Conservatory of Music in the next couple of weeks. Please keep in touch with us as you have time.
Have a great week - we love and miss you all-
Brent, Kim, Ali, Olivia, and Jake
We had no idea what we were getting into, and once I learned what was really taking place, I was completely blown away that God would allow us to do be part of something like this. Renmin University is operated by the Communist Party of China, and it is the most prestigious school in the entire country for young people who want to become attorneys, journalists, and leaders in business and government. The competition to get into this school is beyond intense. It’s the “Ivy League” of China in every way. We have been told that 70% of the future leaders of the Communist Party will come from Renmin, and every student has “Communist Party Doctrine” as a required freshman course.
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