Dear Pastor Mark
I am student here in Beijing and I came from Ethiopia. I am in search of GOD to live in him. I strongly demand support that shows me the right way in which I can get GOD. I already started church attending since three weeks. I was also there yesterday and shared your blessing. GOD will, I can come tomorrow. But would you let me know the time you will be available? With kind regards ---------
A couple Monday’s ago I got this email. Not being familiar with Ethiopian names, I was not sure if the appointment I fixed by reply email would be with a man or woman. Now I can share that he is a new-born brother in Jesus. He’s in a Ph.d. program here while his wife and three children carry on in Ethiopia - (a difficult but common financial necessity for most of our African members in BICF).
He described himself as “orthodox, but not strong.” After a brief chat I asked, “Do you want to receive Jesus.” He quickly said “yes,” fell to his knees, bowed his head, and folded his hands. I took that as a confirmation and got down on my knees to pray with him. We had a powerful moment there in that ‘spiritual delivery room’ in BICF. I then had the privilege of presenting him with his first Bible and spent some minutes pointing out its details. Since then he, and his Nigerian Christian roommate, have been with us every Sunday! Yesterday he brought another Ethiopian man from his University.
He is among those pictured here who gathered for our Africa Connect Ministry service:
Our long time friend, John Svendsen (the one who introduced us back in 1981!) was with us. It was great to have him and his wife Susie here in China. John pastors one of our supporting churches in California.
Summer Harvest
There are actually 16 different fellowships within Beijing International Christian Fellowship. Five of them – English, Korean, Indonesian, Pacific Islanders, and African – gather on our facilities on the west side of the city – Zhong Guan Cun. Here are our Pacific Islanders:
Each Wednesday Mark gathers with all 16 congregational leaders for fellowship, prayer, and instruction. Last week great reports of what the Lord is doing were shared:
• A humble housekeeper in one fellowship works for a wealthy Chinese family. During her time of rest her employer found her reading the Bible. She was asked, “What are you reading?” She responded, “A Bible.” “What is that?” “The Word of God.” “Who is God?” Our sister then asked her curious employer if she wanted her pastor to come and share. He did. Heaven is rejoicing as our family has grown.
• Numerous doors are open for BICF Mandarin speakers to teach in 3 Self Protestant seminaries around this nation. More invitations than they can handle!
• A team just came back from Russia where they met with an unreached people group to our north.
• Teams from Russia, Ukraine, and Russians living in USA are doing summer outreach with our Russian fellowship.
• One congregation has outgrown their venue and need a new meeting place.
• A team has just returned from a BICF outreach project to the Congo.
• Our Indonesian congregation, pictured below, recently had a seminar for Indonesian college students in Beijing to consider the claims of Jesus.
Vital Need
We are praying for a person to work with us in our outreach to the dozens of Universities which surround our church. There are thousands of international students open to meeting and growing in Jesus. We would love to have a person with experience in multi-cultural student ministry partner with us. Please pray with us and let us know your suggestions.
We pray the Lord will use you this summer for His Kingdom advance. Scripture has much to say about our privilege and duty to be fruitful disciples. May this lament of the ancient prophet not describe us, "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved" (Jeremiah 8.20).
Trusting Him for saving mercies,
Mark and Dayna Blair
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