All articles in category Eastern Asia
November 2017
Articles > Asia > Mongolia
Building for the future in Mongolia
Welcome to Mongolia: a country with as many people as Wales, spread across an area four times the size of Germany and almost seven times the size of the UK! Perhaps you’ve never noticed Mongolia on a map, enveloped by borders with Russia and China, and yet it’s time to start taking note of this often-ignored land. Big changes While notions of Mongolia as a nation defined by its history are common (the Mongol empire being the largest connected land empire in history), change is afoot. Since the fall of communism and the peaceful revolution of 1990, scores of people have migrated to the cities...
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By Zhou Laoshi
June 2013
China
China’s tears
The early church history course came to a memorable end. The final session concerned the rise of Islam and its effects on the churches of North Africa and the Middle East in the seventh to eleventh centuries. We looked at the terrible legacy of the Crusades in terms of the lasting bitterness which resulted, and the consequent failure of western missionaries to make a significant impact on the Muslim world. I closed by suggesting that the burden of responsibility for evangelising the Islamic world may well now lie with Christians from East Asia, who are not saddled with that debilitating history; and by...
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By Zhou Lao Shi
September 2012
China
WORLD MISSION – Ministering to the church in China
WORLD MISSION Ministering to the church in China God has blessed his people in the UK with a great heritage. For centuries the gospel has been preached here. We have a wealth of Christian literature, many excellent Bible teachers, conventions and Bible colleges. In many other areas of the world the church is much younger. God’s people do not have access to books and other resources. Opportunities for learning the Word of God more deeply are rare and understanding of the truth is shallow. In many places, believers and church leaders are well aware of what they lack in this respect. They are pleading...
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By Kieran Beville
September 2012
China
World Mission – Changing contours in China
World Mission Changing contours in China The church in China is beginning to cast off its chains and is emerging as a powerful force for change. Is this phenomenon likely to transform the communist culture of a repressive regime and create a more open and tolerant society? Article 13 of the Constitution of the Republic of China provides that the people shall have freedom of religious belief, yet the government restricts religious practice to government-sanctioned organisations and registered places of worship. It also controls the growth and scope of activity of religious groups. Despite formal recognition of religious liberty, religious freedom is accorded little respect...
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By Michael Haykin
October 2011
China
Christian publishing in China – a huge opportunity
Christian publishing in China – a huge opportunity One of the more remarkable facts about the history of the church is that some of its most significant events were barely noticed at the time of their occurrence. Examples are not hard to find. In the early church the attention of the most powerful inhabitants of the Roman Empire was focused on the political and military accomplishments of their day and they gave scant attention to the persecuted band of men called ‘apostles’. Yet 2000 years later it is clear that, by the grace of God, those twelve men had a far more powerful impact than...
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By Bob Davey
August 2011
China
China’s Revival
In 1949 there had been, at most, one million Protestant believers in China. Fifty years later, in 1999, there were estimated to be around 90 million. This was mainly due to the phenomenal growth of illegal, 'underground' house churches that, by then, numbered 80 million.
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By Hudson Taylor
August 2011
China
Heroic faith
Heroic faith ‘A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in little things is a great thing.’‘All God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because theyreckoned on his being with them.’‘China is not to be won for Christ by quiet, ease-loving men and women.’‘God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.’‘I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible,then it is difficult, then it is done.’‘I have never passed a more anxious or trying month in my life, but I never felt Godso present with me.’‘It needs...
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March 2009
China
Chinese puzzle
Chinese puzzle Officially, the Chinese Government recognises five religions: Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism, and each has a state-sponsored religious body. Protestants are supposed to worship under the auspices of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement — standing, ironically, for self-governing, self-teaching and self-supporting. However, a large proportion of Protestant Christians worship in unofficial or illegal congregations which gather covertly throughout the country outside government control. They constitute the House-Church Movement or Underground Church and argue that the Government should not dictate where and how they should worship. For many years this newspaper has carried reports of the persecution meted out to...
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By Colin Nevin
October 2008
China
The heart of China
The heart of China Colin Nevinconcludes his China travelogue It was the last day of my journeying before heading back to Beijing and I visited Kaifeng, the ancient capital during the Northern Song Dynasty, to investigate the history of an enigmatic Jewish Community who had settled there some 1,000 years ago. However, to my great disappointment the Jewish exhibition was closed. I tried to explain to the curator that I had come a long way from Northern Ireland but to no avail and I returned to the hotel quite despondent. Later I went into the city to get something to eat...
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