PU_OCT 2017_SA_WEB

CHINESE CHURCH
SUPPORT MINISTRIES
CHINA PRAYER LETTER
OCTOBER 2017
Short Wave –
Long Reach
Hovering at the brink of becoming obsolete,
shortwave radio is rarely used today by the
developed world. It’s left to the hobbyists,
enthusiasts, ‘pirate’ radio stations, doomsday
‘preppers’ and emergency communications.
It might be handy when camping or hiking
where nothing else is available but in all
reality AM and FM radio and Wi-Fi have
superseded the humble shortwave radio in
all but remote or impoverished zones around
the globe.
Yet in the face of modern technologies, shortwave radio
still has an important role in Christian ministry and
evangelism across China. Shortwave radio waves can
be beamed at an angle into the sky and reflected
off the ionosphere back to Earth. In this
way, radio programmes can be sent over
great distances, beyond horizons, over
borders and even across continents.
In
this
issue
Short Wave
– Long Reach
Changsha
19th Party Congress
“Make This Worth It”
Hands-On Service
Pastoral Ministry
Seeking to serve, strengthen and support the church and the people of China

Shortwave is difficult for authorities
to control and censor. Broadcasters
can quickly change to another band if
blocked. And unlike the internet, it does
not record your listening history.
For many years, vast tracts of China
have been covered by Christian
broadcasts offered by FEBC (the Far
East Broadcasting Company) and
other Christian channels beamed in
from transmitters in neighbouring
countries. Many Chinese have come to
faith through these programmes. For
isolated Christians, radio can be a vital
link to fellowship, encouragement and
spiritual food.
Somewhat ironically, Chairman Mao
can be thanked for the initial uptake and
widespread distribution of shortwave
radios throughout China in the 1950s
and 60s. The public issuance of statemanufactured
radios was part of
his drive to establish national
unity and propagate
the Party’s socialist
ideologies. Many of
these radios are still
in circulation today,
particularly in rural areas.
Later, during the Tiananmen
incident in 1989, the Chinese
government’s tight control of the
media drove many citizens to their
shortwave radios to hear
unrepressed
reports
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of the events at Tiananmen and around
the country. Listenership ratings for
offshore shortwave stations like
VOA (Voice of America)
and the BBC
World
Service
soared during
that period.
Shortwave is still in use in remote,
mountainous and poorer regions in
China where they are relatively cheap
to buy and can be battery, solar, or
even crank handle powered. Modern
SW radios can even record directly
to SD card, for later listening and
sharing. Most significantly, they do not
require the ongoing purchase of data or
broadband connections.
For citizens that have never learnt
to read and write, radio is an
important connection to
the rest of China and
the world. These days
less than 5% of
Chinese adults
are illiterate and
most of these reside
in the poorer, remote
regions, with the majority
being women. Putting that
into perspective, 5% of China’s
vast population equates to an
estimated 54 million people aged 15
and older.
China’s bold drive toward
modernisation is rapidly changing the

face of communications across the
nation and the world. China Aerospace
Science and Industry Corp (CASIC), the
nation's largest tactical and air defence
missile manufacturer, is building a
satellite network that will provide global
wideband internet coverage. Under
its commercial subsidiary company
Expace Technology Corporation, it
has ambitious plans. Already this
year they have begun to launch Low-
Earth Orbit (at an altitude of 160 to
2,000 km) satellites that will make
up a constellation of 156 satellites by
2021. Named the Hongyun project,
this will deliver fast mobile broadband
internet that will be accessible almost
anywhere on the planet, including on
board planes and ships. They also have
plans for a 57-satellite narrowband
communications constellation and have
conducted
successful test
flights for solar powered
high-altitude airships and drones.
These are capable of staying airborne for
months on end and beaming internet
back to earth.
So, in the face of this, can we expect to
see the death of shortwave radio in the
next decade? Shortwave’s future will be
governed by the cost of Wi-Fi and its
affordability to people in China’s poorer
regions. Even when broadband becomes
available nationwide, shortwave will
always have great appeal to those that
seek to connect with the rest of the
world beneath and beyond the ‘Great
Firewall’.
International
Short-Term
Teams
*
**
Mercy
**
Medical
* Intercession
**
Trekking
**
English Cultural Exchange
October 2017: Mercy Team
November 2017: Cultural Exchange Team
March 2018: Cultural Exchange Team
April 2018: Cycle Team & Cultural Exchange Teams
June 2018: Medical Team 3

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Changsha
“A
sprawling
city of 3.7
million people,
Changsha boasts more
than 2,000 years of history. The
capital of China’s Hunan province
extends along the east bank of the Xiang
river, in whose waters Chairman Mao
used to swim when he was a student.
Two millennia before, the city was a
state capital under the Han Dynasty,”
the Guardian reports.
“Though Changsha celebrates Mao and
the many other Communist leaders
it has produced, at present its most
popular export is TV programmes...
Hunan TV is the highest-rated
provincial network in China; only
CCTV, the national network, has
more viewers. Changsha’s economy is
equally impressive – between 2005 and
2015 it grew by a staggering 460%, the
highest figure of any city in China…
Modern Changsha may seem like
a success story, but it faces several
challenges common to many Chinese
cities. Changsha’s public services are
struggling to cope with its growing urban
population, which has almost trebled
since totalling 1.3m people in 1990.
Its public transport system is
overcrowded, the roads are often
gridlocked, and like almost threequarters
of Chinese cities, the air is
dangerously polluted. This isn’t helped
by a lack of public green spaces and few
dedicated lanes for cyclists…
Like most cities in China, Changsha
relies heavily on revenue from land
sales – its financial health depends on
new construction projects and a healthy
property market. As a result, the city
has a housing surplus, much of it too
expensive for most people.”
Earlier this year, there were news
reports about a huge new church that
was being built in Changsha. “The
Xingsha Ecological Park in Changsha,
the capital of central China’s Hunan
province, features a 260ft tall Christian
church inspired by Noah's Ark and a
Bible institute,” the Daily Mail reported.
“The development has sparked outrage
after the news that the
predominantly atheist
Chinese government
would spend £478
million subsidising
the project,” according
to Christian Today. However, the
percentage of Christian believers in
Changsha remains very low and many
locals oppose the growth of Christianity
in the province where Chairman Mao
was born.

19th
Party Congress
China’s Communist Party has now
announced that its 19th Party Congress
will begin in Beijing on October 18.
The twice-a-decade Party Congress is
a time of leadership transition, when
we discover who will join the new
Communist Party leadership.
There is very little doubt that China’s
President Xi Jinping will continue for
another term as Party General Secretary
and we know he will want to place
trusted allies in the Party’s decisionmaking
Politburo. A key measure of Xi’s
power will be how many of his allies are
installed on the 25-member committee.
“At least 10 Politburo members are slated
to retire due to an unwritten rule that
politicians step down if they are 68 or
older when they take on a new five-year
term,” Reuters reports. The youngest
Politburo member Sun Zhengcai, 53, is
also out of the running, as he is under
investigation for corruption.
The Politburo Standing Committee
is the highest level of power in the
Communist Party. Five out of the seven
members of the Standing Committee
are due to relinquish their seats this
year, which would leave only Xi Jinping
and Li Keqiang. “The fate of the top
corruption watchdog, Wang Qishan,
69, is also the subject of widespread
conjecture,” Reuters comments. “It is
unclear if he will retain his seat in the
elite seven-member Politburo Standing
Committee, despite his age.”
In the lead-up to the Congress, much
remains uncertain. “Even by the
standards of opaque Chinese politics,
the latest political gossip about the
top leadership changes is particularly
unusual and intriguing,” comments the
South China Morning Post. “The mixed
signals about the make-up of the new
line-up, which will guide the country’s
development for the next five years or
even longer, have been unclear and
confusing.”
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“Make This Worth It”
A
foreign
teacher in China
talks about raising her
family in a cross-cultural
environment:
My eldest daughter is the reason we have
stayed more than the average two-year
turnaround for foreigners here. She is
11 years-old. Last year, when we were
discussing our time of staying here, she
said she “didn’t feel that we have finished
our work”. It is a sentence that warms
the heart of a Mum to know the Father
has wooed her into a love relationship
and that she carries His heart for this
nation.
Every parent living cross-culturally has
times of grieving for friendships lost or
for years spent away from grandparents.
We wonder at times if these years are to
the benefit or detriment of the children.
My frequent prayer is “make this worth
it”. I trust His plan and find peace in
His orchestration of beautiful things; the
children are in exactly the right place
because the kids are just as much called
as my husband and I.
Even though they aren’t on the gorgeous
beaches of our homeland or living under
blue skies, there is a richness here of
diversity, of learning cross-cultural
understanding and tolerance, of going
into nomadic areas and herding yak,
of learning to appreciate nature. But
the biggest blessing of being here is
that the children are positioned to
NEED our Father. The children can
recognize their spiritual thirst in more
trying circumstances and can discover
that satisfaction comes from His love,
comfort and provision. This is a rare
lesson; it is hard to learn when life is
easygoing!
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PRAYER POINTERS
Short Wave – Long Reach
Thank God for the people who work to create programmes and transmit
shortwave radio to the Chinese nation.
Thank God for this technology that allows for the delivery of an uncensored
Gospel message.
Pray for the people, skills and funds to continue the work so that Chinese can
hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Cut out this note and slip it into your Bible to help you remember the October prayer topics for China
Changsha
Pray for the people of Changsha City. Pray for provision to meet their daily
needs and that every resident might benefit from the expanding economy.
Pray for those who are responsible for overseeing public services and other
areas of local government in this sprawling city.
Pray that Changsha’s communist political legacy might no longer be a barrier
to the growth of the church there and that many might come to follow Jesus
Christ as their living Saviour.
19th Party Congress
Give thanks that our Heavenly Father is in ultimate control of who comes to
positions of power in China.
Lift up to the Lord this month’s 19th Party Congress and all the leadership
changes that will take place. Pray for His purposes to be fulfilled as leaders step
down and step up to power.
Pray into the policy decisions that will also be made at this Congress and that
will determine China’s path in coming years.
Pray for the salvation of many more members of the Communist Party. Pray
that even those in the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee might
recognise the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Chinese Church Support Ministries
Seeking to serve, strengthen
and support the church and
the people of China
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“Make This Worth It”
Lift up the children of foreign workers in China who have left their friends and
extended family behind. Ask God to help them make new friends and to be able to
demonstrate the love of God to them through their actions and words.
Pray for these children as they adjust to life without the comfort and familiarity of
their home countries in order to play their part in the Great Commission.
Pray that the time they spend in China will be “worth it” in the lives of these
children, that their life lessons will teach them spiritual wisdom and draw them
closer to God.
Pray for the covering of God’s protection over these children and their families and
thank Him for sending these workers to the ‘fields’ of China.
Hands-On Service
PRAYER POINTERS
Please pray for unity in the team as members come from different countries,
cultures and church backgrounds.
Pray for energy as mercy team members work hard with the children and adults
they serve. Pray for them as they meet, share experiences and listen to the Father’s
heart for the children they will be serving that day.
Ask God to continue building good relationships with local venue leadership. Some
are our ministry partners, some are government leaders.
Pray for the smooth running of activities and plans.
Ask God to bless the team with good health. We don’t want anyone to lose days by
having to stay in the hotel due to illness.
Pastoral Ministry
Pray for the pastors of churches in China. Pray that they might receive honour and
appreciation from those they serve.
Pray that churches will be generous in giving to provide a reasonable salary for
their pastors.
Pray for pastors who feel lonely and unsupported. Pray that they might find those
to whom they can open their hearts and from whom they receive acceptance and
encouragement.
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Pray that Chinese Christians might recognise that their pastors are ordinary people
who have times of weakness and discouragement. Pray that they might be willing
to support and stand with their pastors, recognising how much they sacrifice to
serve their flock.

I walked two and a half hours today.
I needed to walk while the air is clean
and it is always good to get out of the
usual parameters of your familiar
neighborhood. My husband was meeting
a young man who has been interested
in the gospel. We meet these people in
quiet cafes that are private for talking.
This café is a distance away and I decided
to walk there.
Today I was impacted by the amount
of adults that were disabled or having
trouble walking. There was a man with
an open and lovely face on the sidewalk.
He smiled as I passed. My youngest
daughter who was scooting along beside
me returned to him and put 10 RMB in
his cup, as he had no legs, his arms were
crooked and so he couldn’t work. She
returned commenting on how difficult
it must be to be born disabled.
We talked about shame for a while, that
it is not shameful to be born disabled,
but that it can be considered by some to
be shameful. If you are Chinese and have
to beg for help, people can assume that
you have not kept up your family duties
and obligations, so you have deserved or
caused this unfortunate state. There is
shame in that, and that makes disabled
living even harder than it is already.
We appreciate our healthy bodies and
are realizing more the harshness of life
without government assistance for the
disabled or less fortunate. They need
lifting up.
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Hands-On Service
Our mercy team departing for China
this month will be a group of people
from New Zealand, Australia and the
UK. What a great combination! Many
of them are people who have been on a
team before, but it’s wonderful to have
a few first timers as well.
with a loving, caring family-type
environment staffed with local Chinese
ayi’s (child carers). This organisation
also provides kindergarten education
for the children with singing, dancing,
art and craft activities, and play, just like
other children around the world.
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The team will visit a number of different
facilities and venues, and will have the
opportunity to be involved with kids
living in a variety of circumstances.
Mercy teams are very much ‘hands-on’,
and team members are asked to use their
skills and talents to create activities and
programs for the children. Even before
they leave their respective countries for
China, the team has already worked
together to share their ideas via email
conversations. It’s great to see their
creative juices flowing.
In China, the first stop will be foster
homes run by a CCSM partner
organisation, which are caring for up
to 18 babies and children. The children
have come from local orphanages to
the foster homes and are provided
The foster homes aim to meet the
emotional and developmental needs of
the children, preparing them to have the
best possible opportunity for adoption
and finding their ‘forever home’. The
team members will be working under
the guidance of the ayi’s to help with
the children’s daily needs. They have
planned a number of days there helping
the ayi’s and working with the children.
The mercy team will then go on to visit
two very different local orphanages: one
serving children and the other caring
for adults with physical and intellectual
challenges. The staff in these facilities
work extremely hard. The assistance
and energy the team provides offers
them a little welcome respite and
encouragement. Any help is welcome,
but for the children and disabled,

any team members with experience
teaching children with special needs, in
physiotherapy or other associated areas
are always needed. Depending on their
skills, they are able to help in serving the
children, the teachers or parents.
It is interesting to note that in the highly
acclaimed book, ‘Five Love Languages’
by Gary Chapman, only one ‘love
language’ requires the ability to speak
and understand words. Sincere love can
be extended by gift giving, quality time,
acts of service and physical touch. Only
‘words of affirmation’ require words.
The ability to speak words of affirmation
in Chinese to these children is a great
advantage, but God has many ways
for us to show His love across cultures
without the need to speak a word!
Next, the team will be able to contribute
to a program working with migrant
workers’ children. Many Chinese can
by law only access public services, like
schooling, in the villages they come
from, so migrant workers' children
stay behind, often with grandparents, to
keep up their education. Across China,
an estimated 61 million children are
‘left behind’ by their migrant parents.
Others leave with their parents for the
urban areas, but the family must pay for
their private schooling. For some this is
unobtainable and children miss out on
an education.
Before they return home, the team will
also attend a couple of English Corners
and visit a rural school.
For the team, this trip is a chance to
show the servant heart and love of Jesus.
What we always find amazing is just
how, in the midst of all the activity, God
speaks. Not a team goes by without at
least some people sharing with us how
God enabled them to push into the tasks
at hand, how He spoke with them about
their relationship with Him, or how
they now have a slightly different view
about the Father’s love.
Pastoral Ministry
“Pastoral ministry is typically not
a desired vocation among Chinese
Christians,” China Source comments.
An article written by a Chinese Christian
gives some of the reasons why:
The Poverty of the Pastor
In China, as soon as you mention
‘pastor’
or ‘serving
the Lord’, people
immediately think ‘poverty’,
referring to material poverty.
There is a sister who is very mature in
her walk with Christ who once shared
in our Bible study: ‘When I heard
that my brother wanted to quit his
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job and serve the church full-time, I
was happy, but I also felt sorry for him.
The salary serving in the church is quite
low, and he has children to raise. The
days ahead will definitely be financially
tough for him.’ …Most of the preachers
I know are on a low income. They are
often worried about paying the rent of
their churches…
The Loneliness of the Pastor
When Henri Nouwen’s book ‘The
Wounded Healer’ came out in Chinese,
the popularity was surprisingly high.
From the title of this book, it seemed as
though the book was especially written
for pastors… In the book, the author not
only talks about the believer's heartfelt
needs, but he also writes about a pastor's
limitations, inabilities, weaknesses, and
scars... Pastors and believers are part of
one body, they are all one finite creature.
They are a group of lonely people
all redeemed by Christ's
blood; sinners saved
by God's
grace!
…We often claim to be servants of the
Lord, yet, pastors are the ones who
serve us. They are the servants of the
servants. The loneliness that they bear
is a loneliness within loneliness… While
concealing their own wounds, injured
pastors seek out the lost sheep from
the gaping jaws of roaring lions. Even
though he is rejected by people, even
though his imploring goes unanswered
by people, the pastor still uses that
wounded heart to warm their hearts of
stone.
The Frailty of the Pastor
Many pastors are highly educated and
highly capable, but have given up highpaying
jobs to assume the pulpit and
shepherd the flock. When they face
opposition from family, when they are
abandoned by friends, when they face
the pressure of reality, don’t they have
moments of weakness? …Every pastor
is a wounded healer. As believers, when
we see their weakness, do we have mercy
for their scars, or do we feel nothing
and believe that if their faith is strong
enough, they can overcome anything
with the Lord?
CCSM South Africa
24 Devilliers Road
Kommetjie, 7975, Cape Town
Tel: + 27 21 783 2143
National Directors: Richard & Bernice Anderson
southafrica@amccsm.org
www.amccsm.org
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Absa Bank : Fish Hoek
Account Number : 9085696564
Branch Code : 632005