China 2000

1865 one man named Hudson Taylor grew to be a catalyst whereby the Gospel against all odds spread through every province of China. When Hudson arrived he was greeted by a Shanghai under fire from rebels, and although the risk was great, in defiance on a ban on outsiders via strong anti-foreigner sentiment, Hudson traveled inland and mingled with the Chinese. Hudson's heart burned for the millions of Chinese and diligently prayed for God's leading with fellow missionaries. Then, a break occurred with the International Convention of Chefoo in 1876. It opened every province of China and Hudson began to establish bases of prayer and outreach throughout the land. Evangelism began to take off coinciding with a powerful prayer movement beginning around 1890, as the Chinese received the Good News with gladness and they too began to pray for their neighbors and loved ones. The door opened to praying missionaries like Lottie Moon who helped seed provinces like Shandong with the Word of God. Momentum was building when in 1900 the Boxer Uprising occurred. The empress of China ordered that all foreigners should be executed by surrounding citizens. Anti-foreigner sentiment filled the air as 235 missionaries and 30,000 Chinese Christians were martyred. Though persecution was intense, so was the prayer movement, uprising was suppressed by an international force and the Christians were more committed than ever about sharing the love of Jesus. Then in 1908 the Spirit of God poured powerfully through praying believers in the now famous Manchurian Revival in North China, coinciding with another great event, the Hing Wan (I believe this is the pronunciation) revival to the South which began in 1909. Both events exploded onto the scene with tens of thousands coming to Christ. The revivals continued up until 1911 when another event seemed to stop them in their tracks. Revolution swept China into the throes of chaos. Still the Word of God began to spread as the Lord raised up praying leaders like John Sung who was saved during the Hing Wan revival. Also Laylan Wang a great evangelist and the prayer leader Watchman Nee. The church of China was still on the move and in 1927 all heaven broke loose. The Shandong revival was underway. American Southern Baptist missionaries began to report the supernatural power of God as they had never seen, all pouring through praying Chinese believers, and the spiritual heavens over northern China opened up with the presence of God. Hundreds of thousands were saved as this powerful move of the Spirit continued up through 1937. At the same time the communists began to take significant power in government. Then World War II, war with Japan, and subsequent surrender dominated the scene for the next 8 years. As things got quiet, the world watched as the communists seized power in 1949, and missionaries were immediately ejected from the country. The persecution intensified in 1966 during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution which lasted ten years. Christians were persecuted in mass, hundreds of church buildings were closed, and other Christian institutions shut down. Then in 1989 the communist spirit launched its grip in the west as the praying church in Poland and Romania and the failing economy set in motion a wave of events that resulted in the collapse of the Berlin wall. A wall where Christians had been prayer-walking for over 20 years. Communism's collapse in the West was followed immediately by the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in China which were sparked by praying Christian students. As a result restrictions were lessened, American missionaries began to find openings into China, and what they found completely blew them away. Under communism the church of China grew 20 fold with a Praying House Movement unrivaled in human history. Conservative to liberal estimates placed the number at 100 to 200 million praying Chinese believers. It's being called the greatest revival for any one people group in the history of mankind, with an estimated 3,000 Chinese coming to Christ every day. The Bible has become the best seller in China with over 25 million copies being printed within the last few years - on the Mainland! The persecution continues, but so does the move of God's Spirit. It's happening in China and around the world as God leads his people into his presence to pray.

 

 

 

 

...know them that labour among you... 1 Thessalonians 5:12 * ...pray for one another... James 5:6 * ...the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee... 1 Corinthians 12:21 * ...there is one Body and one Spirit... Ephesians 4:4 * ...the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth... Ephesians 4:16 * ...I pray that they may be one with us so that the world will believe...John 17:21 * ...how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity...Psalm 133:1 "The purpose of life is companionship." *** "Worship is that form of companionship where we love on Him in response to His great love for us." *** "The most powerful drive in the human heart is the desire for companionship." *** "We inherited this drive from the One we were patterned after." *** "The difference between manipulation and leadership is motive." *** "Motive is purified and guided in the presence of God: Prayer." *** "Pride is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency, an attitude of self-entitlement and a motive for self-glorification." *** "Pride starts subtly and then turns into the aggressive enemy of real companionship" *** "The Cross and the presence of God brings fellowship (heart to heart), but the world offers only socializing (facade to facade)." *** "Every relationship has a foundation. The pride of public ministry has been a foundation for too many. At some point it consumes" *** "There is a difference between worshipping the idea that we worship God and actually worshipping God." *** "Why do we want to see prayer back in the schools, when it is no longer in our homes or churches?" *** "Corporate prayer around the Throne must return the center of church life if there is to be any hope for the masses." *** "Corporate prayer produces effective preaching, not preaching produces corporate prayer." *** "If we are so in the know, why do we no longer gather together to seek God, navigate through our haughty hearts to get a glimpse of God's heart and then pray in the lost?" *** "Christianity is not an enterprise, venture for self-discovery or political or civic organization. It is a Blood-bought fellowship of prayer focused on One." *** "Prayer-based friendships are the only ones that last." *** "Prayer-bathed friendships are not incidental to ministry, they are foundational." *** "Prayer is not a ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is the ministry" *** "It's one thing to tell somebody what we believe about Jesus, it's quite another to be able to introduce someone to our Best Friend." *** "We are more like Martha than Mary; More like Christian activists, than people of prayer." *** "We need unity in humility found at the foot of the Cross, not prideful uniformity that says: 'Look at us doing God's work'" "There has got to be a practical, excecutable strategy in place for us to dethrone the ministry of Hollywood in our homes and bring families and communities together via corporate prayer inspired by the Spirit. Technology is not the enemy; Our disobedient laziness is the enemy." ***