|
Dear Praying Friends,
We’re home! We landed in China on the third of August and we hit the ground running. Since we’ve been back, I’ve made two trips to two different cities in China. The first trip was to Ha’er Bin and the second was to Xi’An. There are so many cities in China that are without even one Bible-preaching church. The Lord has burdened my heart with the great need here in China. There are masses of people and countless cities that need a missionary.
The Lord has particularly burdened me for the city of Xi’An. Last year, one of the men from our church here in Beijing went to Xi’An to start Bible studies and outreach among the people there. He has since led a few people to Christ and has reached out to many in the community. God is now moving my family and I to go and assist them in the work. I have just resigned as co-pastor at Truth Baptist Church in Beijing and we will begin our preparations to move.
We hope to plant the first Independent Baptist Church in the city of Xi’An. In the last year I have made many trips to this city and have been very involved in the life and work
of Pastor Xu who is there now. We are excited to be branching out and following where the Lord leads.
Xi’An is the old capital city of China and is referred to as “The Gateway to the West”. It has a population of 8.5 million (a quarter of the size of Beijing) and historically is a very important city in China. Several Baptist missionaries have worked in Xi’An over the last hundred years, leaving behind a couple old church buildings that have since been confiscated and and are being used by the government’s Three-Self Church. Pray that the Lord would allows to impact this great city for Christ.
This move will bring a lot of changes for us as I will have to enroll in university to keep a visa there. It also means that we will be starting a church from scratch and assisting a Chinese pastor. Our goal is to see indigenous churches established. Pastor Xu has a heart to establish churches all throughout central and western China. We are excited to partner together in this effort. Please pray for us as we make the transition.
We are thankful that our furlough was a fruitful one. The Lord provided over 100% of the amount we needed to raise in the five-month period that we were back. It was a great miracle. With our support being back up to where we need it, we are able to make this move and be more involved with the expenses of church planting. The timing was great.
Please pray for Xi’An and our move. Pray for Pastor Xu and his family. Pray that our support would remain faithful and steady. And pray for more pastors and missionaries for the country of China.
In Christ,
Neal, Beth, Lois, Abigail and Naomi
|
