December 12, 2014

Holiday Report

Advent Greetings from Beijing!

Bright sun shines into our festive apartment on this cold winter day. Dayna has put up Christmas decorations we’ve collected over the years and miles. A couple weeks ago the “Winter” switch was turned on HIGH here. Thankfully, strong winds (which make the cold bite harder!) have kept our air clean on many days.

We’ve had a very busy “Fall push.” We are now doing life with dozens of new students, teachers, and families who have become part of our congregation at Beijing International Christian Fellowship Zhongguancun this autumn.

China International Fellowships

In October Mark was one of the speakers for the China International Fellowships conference in Guangzhou, China. CIF is an annual gathering of leaders of International Fellowships from around this country. Each one has a similar understanding of our unique challenges and opportunities in IF’s. Many of us came to China wondering if we’d even find a church. Whodathunk we’d find vibrant churches that can freely share the Good News of Jesus in the world’s most populous nation!

There were 3 tracks to CIF – pastoral, worship, and youth and children. Mark led a workshop on “Developing and Sending Out New Leaders” in the pastoral track.

Wedding Bells


Our whole church rallied to make a beautiful wedding ceremony and celebration for our church Administrator. He and his fiancée are locals and were struggling with both the ethics and costs of the ‘traditional’ ceremony. When we asked our members to help they stepped up in dozens to practical ways (Dayna did many things, including the flowers!). Here is the “wedding crew” with the happy couple after the ceremony.

Seminary Classes

Over 2 weekends in November we team-taught a BICF Seminary class on “Basic Teaching Skills.” We had the privilege of sharing with young leaders from eight nations. They were both full-time and volunteer church workers. As we crunched the numbers we realized we have 90 years of experience in teaching between us. That does not mean we have done anything well, but at least it means we know a lot of ways to fail!


Mark just finished an 8 week class on “The Trinity” held in the Coffee Bean Tree restaurant. Years ago when C.S. Lewis proposed giving a series of lectures on The Trinity over the BBC many of his friends tried to discourage him, saying that was too complicated for the average Christian! Lewis’ friends were partly right. We’ll never fully understand our great Triune God, but as you can see here, there are many faithful believers who yearn to know Him better!

Thanksgiving Feast

About 200 gathered for our church family Thanksgiving meal. More than half the group were not Americans – so they had little idea that spaghetti, Korean beef, and bratwurst are not our normal holiday cuisine! (We celebrated in “Café Heaven” a restaurant owned by members of our Korean congregation.) Dayna’s pumpkin pies – Made in China – were thankfully enjoyed…with thick whipping cream! Best of all it was a time for people far from home to gather with new friends. Many who do not know Jesus yet joined in as we sang, “Give Thanks with a grateful heart…!”


People you are Impacting

As we do each semester, we have membership / discipleship classes after our morning worship services. It is a special joy to lead these classes with my fellow Elders to hear wonderful testimonies. 

These are just a few of the people your prayers and support are helping us to serve. True stories, with pseudonyms:

Brian is a young Englishman who was raised Baha’i and sent on a spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Land at 14! That trip convinced him Baha’i was not the right way but not sure if there was any right way. The rest of his teenage years he was addicted to pornography and rock music, composing almost 10,000 of his own tunes! Just over a year ago Brian was challenged to consider claims of Jesus and read the New Testament. At the same time his brother went to study in USA and became a Christian. When the brothers reunited, both believed in Jesus!

Jose is a Mexican whose father is a faithful evangelical pastor. He grew up in a loving home where they loyally went to church. But coming to Beijing 5 years ago was when Jose made his own decision to follow Jesus. Now he leads our Spanish ministry.

Andrew’s parents immigrated to London from Ghana. His Mom was Roman Catholic; Dad was Muslim who became a Methodist. Then Mom began attending a Pentecostal church in London and brought the whole family who heard and believed the Gospel.

Thomas was raised in China and had never heard the Gospel or met a Christian. As a Uni student he went on a 2 week study trip to Hong Kong and met a girl from his village who was a new follower of Jesus. She took him to church, 4 times in 2 weeks. He returned home, a new believer with his Bible, but never found any fellowship. When he got a scholarship to do a Master’s degree in Amsterdam he knew he’d need Christian friends to keep him from moral failure! He found a good church and has become a disciple of the Master with a Master’s degree. Now, a husband and father of a baby girl, he works in a tech company near where our church meets.  
Robert is a Filipino in his 2nd year of Uni, now doing a semester of Mandarin in Beijing. Four years ago he became the first Christian in his Buddhist family. When he is in school he can attend student fellowship groups, but his parents will not allow him to attend church when he is home. His first Sunday in Beijing he found us, and has not missed yet. Now we are praying with Robert for his family to meet Jesus! And we have another two months to disciple him here.

Sally is a vibrant Christian from Brazil who is in Beijing to learn Mandarin. She just “happens” to be sitting next to a North Korean young man during her long days of classes. (China is one of NK’s few allies and there are many of their students here.) Usually NK students are in groups who “keep an eye” on each other. But this young man, without any of his country mates watching, finds himself next to a young lady whose mission is to tell him something new about Jesus every day! At first, he firmly but politely gave her the “party line” atheist responses. But now he initiates the conversations asking more and more questions!

It has been our observation, after living for 16 years in lands where atheist ideology has been imposed; this creates great Gospel-curiosity. Just like railing against exciting-sounding-sins can arouse sinful appetites, this “God who does not exist” just might be worth checking out!

“Joy to the World” Celebration

Last weekend was our 4th annual International Christmas concert in the venue of the Haidian Christian Church, a large Three Self church that seats over 1000 people. It was standing room only on both nights! Pacific Islanders, Koreans, Africans, Mandarin, Americans, Indonesians, and the Haidian Church choir shared songs and skits of the holiday. Mark was asked to present 2 short messages, “Who is Jesus?” and “What did Jesus do?” – 2 exceedingly important questions. Our people brought their classmates, students, neighbors, and friends. Many heard the Good News for the first time! You can see pictures and read an article (in Mandarin) on the church’s website: http://www.hdchurch.org/news/9990

We pray that you and your family will have a wonderful Christmas. We are going to miss our families this year, but we are thankful for the church family we have here in China.
In a recently letter we bragged on our son, Josiah, who was interviewed on the TV show “Connecting Cultures” in Kazakhstan, well now they’ve made him their host!  http://kazakh-tv.kz/en/programms/program/program_597_connecting-cultures

Please pray for the newest Blair. Our eldest son, Nathan, and his wife Heather, are expecting their first in late January!


We are very grateful for your faithful prayers for our whole family, support, and friendship!

In the Name of the Savior of the World, Mark and Dayna Blair

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