As I sit here at my kitchen table, I feel worn out. Worn out physically, mentally, spiritually. I’m slowly learning that starting a non-profit ministry from scratch is tough work. I love our ministry, don’t get me wrong. I love everything we’re doing and everything we’re about. To spend time with rural Chinese is what fills up my tank…. Their love for Christ, their love for God’s word and their heart and passion for the lost are so overwhelming and so life-giving, I can’t even tell you.

When we started our ministry, there was no one that I knew of who was meeting the needs we were hearing about from rural Chinese Christians. After getting counsel from several friends, I felt God’s leading to start our ministry. Having a lot of experience in the ‘on-the-ground in China’ side, I confidently launched our ministry. While God has used us in numerous ways, including the growth of thousands of Chinese Christians and thousands of books sold, here are a few things that I’ve learned along the way.

1. I wish I would have started the ministry with a partner

As they say, hindsight is always 20/20. When you start a non-profit solo, you find out pretty quickly what you’re good at and what you’re not. The problem is that the things you’re not good at still have to be done. I wish I would have started with a good partner, someone who complements me, who is good where I am weak. Fortunately, I’ve learned from my mistake and we’re in the process of hiring a good #2 guy right now. Please be praying with us as we trust God for just the right person.

2. Major Fundraising is the toughest part of my job

When we were on staff with the Navigators and the Wales Goebel Ministry, I was primarily responsible for raising enough support for my own salary, benefits and ministry activities. This was a relatively doable amount of money. Now that I’m running a much larger organization, I’m finding that securing the major fundraising gifts is a different set of skills, one that I’m trying to learn, but I actually am unsure I have. We’re also looking at hiring someone to take on this responsibility. One of the challenges on this, by the way, is a good development guy is expensive.

3. Without a clear calling from God, there’s no reason to start a ministry

With all the challenges I’ve faced, there are a lot of times I could have easily thrown in the towel. It would have been easier to just go find a job where I get a regular salary and don’t have to deal with a lot of the things I have to deal with. But the reality is that I would be miserable in that type of situation because it’s not what God has called me to do. It’s not where God would want me to be. I’ve been called to serve the growth of the Church in China and to foster constructive Western engagement in China. And it’s that calling that has gotten me through the worse of times. Knowing that God’s the one calling and God’s the one in control has helped me persevere.

4. Celebrate each success, no matter how small

When you start a ministry, many times the beginning of the new venture is really hard. No one knows about your ministry, you’re still trying to define who you are and what the ministry is about. I started with my office in our unfinished basement and those early days were not productive in terms of on the ground ministry. 11 months after we started the ministry, we did our first Bible Distribution event and I remember what a source of pride that was and how thankful I was to have been used by God in this way. In starting out, the little successes you begin to see are reason for celebration and a stepping stone to help you go to the next level.

For those of you who have been following my blog over the last year, hopefully you’ve found it to be interesting and informative. You also know that I haven’t posted a new post in the last 4 months or so. I think for me, I’m trying to figure where a blog fits into our ministry and my busy schedule. Being the only full-time staff member with China Resource Center, my time is stretched thin as it is. After spending some time in prayer, reading some other online sources about Blogging and looking at our ministry model, I’ve decided to try and commit to a new blog post at least once a week, maybe more. I think for me the key is to make the blog posts shorter and not feel like I have to write a 1000 word post. Shorter posts saves me time and you, the reader, time.

So, with this commitment, the focus of my blog will revolve mainly around my interest in Christianity in China and the development of rule of law in China. I believe that the development of rule of law in China may possibly be the #1 issue facing the country of China over the next ten years. I am fascinated by the obvious struggle happening in the country surrounding this issue. We clearly see government officials on both sides of the issue: Some that are more open to the process and some that are holding on to a ‘hard line.’ I’ll also post short ministry videos here, including opportunities for me to vlog and short ministry updates, so this space should be a good place to also keep up with my activities.

Thank you all so much for taking an interest in our work in China and I look forward to your comments, posts and thoughts in this space as well.

Hello all! I’ve enjoyed getting various comments and questions from some of you about my new blog. Internet technology definitely has its advantages. Well, I’m still on the Xu Zhiyong watch of internet sources. Not much happening, aside from this tasty treat from the Far Eastern Economic Review:

“In a year that’s seen the arbitrary detentions of Chinese legal activists and government critics like Gao Zhisheng and Liu Xiaobo, the Aug. 23 release of Xu Zhiyong, the head of the Open Constitution Initiative (Gongmeng), should be cause for celebration. There is of course profound relief that Mr. Xu has emerged from custody physically unscathed and after only a few weeks in detention—unlike Mr. Gao, whom we believe, based on his writings about his past detentions, has probably been tortured, or Mr. Liu, who is now in his second decade of being politically persecuted for his activism. But there are few other reasons to celebrate. Even after the release of Mr. Xu, the larger picture is one of Chinese government assault on the rule of law and civil society.”

The Chinese government assault on the rule of law and civil society…… It sure seems that way, which is a complete 180 degree turn from where it seemed they were going. This Sunday I’m leaving for my next China trip and I’m really looking forward to talking with Chinese people in Beijing about Xu and get their opinions. As I get the ‘on the ground’ perspective, I’ll be sure to post the findings here on the blog.

In the meantime, I’m getting so excited about this China Trip. Back in China, among good friends, great (real) Chinese food and the distribution of 5000 Bibles, impacting 25,000 Chinese for Christ. Then I’m off to Singapore, which I’ve never been to before. I’ve got several meetings with sending agencies based there who are interested in using my book. I also have two dear American friends there and their families, so It’ll be great to reconnect with them.

So stay tuned, as I plan to blog quite a bit while on my trip!

Hello to All! Sorry for the delay in my posts….. I’ve been trying to absorb some of what I’ve been reading about Xu Zhiyong, my favorite topic on my blog. As many of you now know, he’s been released from custody, but is unsure if he’ll still be charged with tax evasion. If you are reading this post and haven’t read my others, please take a bit of time to read the other posts about Xu, just to catch yourself up with the situation. It does seem clearer now that Xu’s Open Constitution Initiative (OCI) was closed down according to the laws on the books, although that doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with it being closed down. When OCI was closed down, Beijing officials shut it down for providing ‘false data’ when registered as a company and for having public interest activities inconsistent with its commercial enterprise designation. Under Chinese regulations law, all civil society organizations must be supervised by a high-level government unit, an arrangement that effectively puts them under direct government control. The only way to operate independently is to register as a commercial company. Therefore, this judicial harassment followed the registration as a for-profit company of OCI despite the public-interest nature of its work.

I think the bigger story here with Xu Zhiyong is what I believe Xu and OCI represent and the change they can and will affect in China. The first area of change is that of NGO’s in China and their tenuous nature in China. The fact that OCI was registered with the Beijing government as a privately-held company and not a NGO indicates to me how hard it is to actually register as an NGO. A group like OCI doesn’t want to be subject to direct governmental control, just like I don’t either with my NGO. Xu Zhiyong was doing good work in China and when he registered OCI, I’m sure that he was looking for a loophole to do that work. The second important item here is that Xu was not doing anything in his work that directly challenged the government and their hold on power. This should be a model for future public interest workers in China. In addition to this, Xu was working very hard to work within current Chinese law and the guidelines of the Chinese constitution. I believe his release is an indication that there are many within the National Government who like the work that Xu is doing and believe that this is just the type of guy China needs. The fact that he was detained and released, both without comment from the Chinese government, indicates to me that there’s one heck of a power struggle going on behind closed doors in Beijing.

So for now, we celebrate his release, offer our help and support to the Chinese Government where needed and continue to love China and the Chinese people with our words and our actions.

Hello to all! Since my last post on Xu Zhiyong, I’ve continued doing some reading and I continue to be a little set back by his case. I keep thinking that there must be some kind of twist here, some piece of information that we’re not learning that would make this case make sense. Is tax evasion really involved here? Did he break the law in some way? I can’t find any evidence stating that he has, but then again, the Chinese government is not saying anything about it nor are there any articles from Chinese news agencies giving us much information. I did find an interesting article from a Chinese man in Shanghai who blogs in English who knew Xu personally. He brought some real ‘humanness’ to the story since he knows Xu personally and admires him professionally. Click here to read the series of articles he wrote about Xu Zhiyong.

As many of you know, we here at the China Resource Center want to do three things to impact China for Christ. One of the three things is that we want to support and ensure a viable environment for religious freedom. It is because of this tenant of our organization that I have an interest in Xu Zhiyong’s case. As we dialouge with Chinese government leaders, I want to know what’s going on in the area of rule of law. This case is apparently very telling about the state of rule of law in China. I am committed to take these types of cases to government leaders and delicately probe and challenge.

In that vain, I’d love to hear from those of you who also have an interest in rule of law in China. What do you think about Xu Zhiyong’s case and the case of Gao Zhisheng? I would love input from you all as I try to process these cases for myself.

‘China is like an accordion,’ said an American friend of mine as we were talking together over a bowl of noodles in Beijing. ‘How so?’ I inquired. ‘Seemingly, the regulation of religion relaxes and goes out, then comes back and tightens again,’ he said. My American friend, who has lived in China since 1996 has seen it all. He’s seen the tightening down and the relaxing out of the regulation of religious affairs. During my April/May 2009 trip to China, I was hit with the reality that is China once again. It can be a maddening place to figure out, because seemingly the rules ebb and flow much like waves come in and out on a beach. And as one who has been called to be a bridge between the West and China, to interpret China for the West, it is not an easy task.

Let me give you an idea of why there is just confusion about China. On one hand, we are hearing very encouraging things from President Hu and Premier Wen about the role that people of religious faith are playing in China and the way that their influence lends to the social stability of China. As my American noodle-eating friend mentioned, the relaxing of regulations on Christians in Beijing in the last 5 years has been incredible. House Churches that 5 years ago operated very secretly now operate with much more openness. On the other hand, the Chinese government gets more sensitive around certain anniversaries and special events. We were planning to do a Bible Distribution Event in Henan province in July 2008, but our Henan contacts told us not to come, that they were looking forward to ‘laying low’ during the Olympics. In May 2009, we will approach the 10^th anniversary of the Falun Gong incident. June 4^th is the Tiananmen Square crackdown anniversary and October 1^st is the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. Immediately following the Olympics, we saw a relaxed atmosphere, but now see a tightening with all of these anniversaries. People on the ground in China are expecting a relaxing again after October 1^st.

So what is it with these anniversaries that concerns the government so much? Great question. China has had a long history of uprisings because of two factors: Anniversaries and religious groups. The taiping rebellion was a pseudo-Christian led civil was starting in 1850 that almost led to the overthrow of the Chinese government. The boxer rebellion was an ultra-nationalistic rebellion against Christian missionaries and the foreign domination they signified. Given the history, the Chinese government is still ansy about anniversaries. So what does it all mean? From my seat, it means a few things: It means that the Chinese government has a long view of history, maybe too long. It means that despite the stunning changes China has seen in many sectors of society, reform has not yet taken place on their view of rule of law. It seems like the government has their feet encased in the cement of history. I believe that as they are able to fully implement rule of law, they will also have to ‘put off your old self….and to put on the new self.(Eph. 4: 22-23) If they want to be considered a part of the modern world, it will take more than new, shiny buildings and faster trains. It will take a deeper trust of their people and an even administration of the laws on the books. In my next post, I’ll investigate how we as Westerners can be a part of the solution in helping China reach true religious freedom. 

Hello to you all! Welcome to my new blog! I hope that it is another tool I can use to clarify Western perceptions about Christianity in China and to get some good conversations going about China, Christianity and Western involvement in China. I hope that you like the new look of our website as well. We’re trying hard to make it even more ‘user friendly.’ After all, if I website is hard to use and is not easy to get around, it doesn’t matter how good the material is: It’s much less likely to be used. I’m also excited about our new You Tube Channel, which will be a great place to not only keep all our old videos, but also create some new content. So check back with the blog often: I should be writing in here very regularly. 

Thanks for your interest in China and in our organization.