reflections on a rich journey
– a story from Scandinavia
My husband and I spent five years in China, with the purpose of serving God there. Of course, China is a place where traditional mission work is not possible and where limitations are many. So before we went, we read as much as we could and followed a one-year course focused on tentmaking.
And yet, when we reached China, we felt totally unprepared for what would lay ahead. Armed with only a few words of Chinese, we felt like we were diving straight into the deep-end of the ocean.
Fortunately, we were not totally on our own. Once we arrived at our final destination, a large city in the heart of the country, we were met by an enthusiastic group of other tentmakers originated from different Western countries. This small group was to become like a second family through fellowship: people that we would work with, pray with, and support one another through the ups and downs of life in China.
What on earth are we doing here?
I remember that one morning, a few weeks after settling into our small flat and life as language students, my husband was gazing through the window, watching the endless stream of cars, buses, bicycles and people. He suddenly turned to me and said in a sigh: “What on earth are we doing here? Who am I, just one limited man from a small European country, to pretend to do God‘s work here and ‘save’ any of those millions of people? What was God thinking when He sent us here?…” I could not answer anything then, beside a feeble: “Let‘s just take one day at a time. God knows what He is doing.” In truth, I had been asking myself this same question. But eight years on, we can see that this question has been answered many times and in different ways.
In a way, the biggest blessing of following God‘s call and become a tentmaker in China has been our own growth. There hasn‘t been a day when we have not felt God‘s presence with us, and in a strong way.
As any Caucasian Westerner who has been in China knows, it is easy to feel like a complete “alien” in the Chinese world. You look different, you behave different and people often point to you like you are a kind of “circus wonder“. It is partly because of that feeling that God‘s presence has felt so strong. We felt strangers but never abandoned. Again and again, God has shown us that He did not make a mistake in sending us to China. We were right where we should be.
During our experience of tentmaking in China, God has truly worked in us and through us. We had the privilege to see Chinese friends putting their trust in Jesus Christ. Others have walked with us on their journey of faith and we were able to bring support and encouragement. Numbers don‘t really matter, neither is it crucial whether we started “churches” or not. Every opportunity that we had to explain the Gospel to a Chinese person has been very precious, because it was God-given.
Of course, there have been some steep learning curves. One challenge was particularly having to be extra flexible with circumstance around us. When you do ministry in China, you can never allow yourself to be too attached to a strategy. Of course it helps to have a vision, but allow this vision to be molded by the unfolding events around you. This is what we experienced again and again.
From day one we needed an open heart and mind. Humility and flexibility are key ingredients to any successful cross-cultural experience, but you need an extra-dose of it when serving God in a country with limitations. There are many things that we wished we could do, especially related to the local Chinese Church. But there was no point focusing only on what we could not do and become increasingly frustrated about it. Instead, we tried to look towards what we could do and with time, the opportunities were many.
Many Chinese have a great hunger for God
With patience and understanding, you can go a long way in Chinese culture. Some fantastic doors were open to us, such as the time when my husband was asked by a representative of the Communist Party at his workplace to explain more about the Bible. Or when I was able to share Biblical principles for love and relationships to several hundreds of students, many of them coming to me afterwards to hear more. We never tried to keep secret that we were Christians and tried to model our faith the best we could, through our daily lives. The result was often that people wanted to know more. Many Chinese have a great hunger for God, for truth and purpose in their lives. In fact, we saw how much more open than in the West Chinese people are. Almost every week, someone asked either one of us about our faith, God or the Bible, and why we believed. The key was to be ready and to allow God to speak through us.
This is a precious lesson not just for tentmaking, but for every day of our lives as Christians, wherever we are. Since coming back to our home country, we have tried not to go out off our tentmaking lifestyle. There was nothing so extraordinary about our Christian work in China and this is a calling for every believer whether at home or on the mission field. We are all called to put God first into our lives and to reach out to the people around us. Jesus said: “Be ready for service and keep your lamps burning.” (Luke 12: 35). And His disciple Peter wrote: “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Pet. 3: 15)