Overcoming Jet Lag in "Asia's World City"

     Well, I am ready to sleep after a great, day exploring and enjoying Hong Kong.  This is my second time here, but today I had most of the day completely on my own just to check things out.  I tried to think through my goals for the day.  I wanted to pray, enjoy myself, eat good food, and pick up some gifts for the folks back home.

Tin Hau Temple, HK

     Most of the day I just wandered around.  The parks in Hong Kong are beautiful and peaceful.  Old people practicing Tai Chi abound.  Early on I discovered a temple devoted to the deity Tin Hau - a patron deity of seafarers.  Seeing the temple there along with many small shrines in apartments and on street corners served as an important reminder of the indigenous lostness of Hong Kong.  So much work is left to be done among the Chinese.  Help us, Lord.

Kowloon Masjid

     Of course, I am always struck by diaspora as well.  Today I saw a huge mosque in Kowloon with lots of Muslims coming and going.  I doubt many people consider the importance of reaching Muslims in Hong Kong.  But the need is great.  I don't exactly how many Muslims are in this place but I know they are varied.  Today alone I encountered Indonesian house maids, Arab imams, South Asian Muslim men hawking watches on the street and even one Pakistani man who offered to sell me marijuana (I turned him down, by the way).  I also met a few Nepalis.  I have found them difficult to identify here, and also quite stand-offish.  They have seemed almost afraid.  Not sure what is behind that, I haven't encountered it in the past.
     I disappointed myself with my eating today.  Ended up with a McDonald's breakfast and a KFC lunch.  Pathetic, I know.  I just go intimidated with the prospects of ordering food in a more "local" establishment.  Part of it was not being able to decide.  Part was being afraid of prices being too high.  Most of it was just having no functionality in Cantonese.  Well, I do know how to ask for more chili sauce -- essential skill.  By mid afternoon I got up the nerve to get some fish balls on a stick -- wonderful, really.

Hot Pot

     Saw some other cool stuff that I won't go on and on about.  The highlight however was dinner tonight with old friends.  Yau, Kay, Ryan, and Carol were all students in our college ministry back in Oklahoma.  It was encouraging to see them and to hear what the Lord is doing among them.  They encourage me by their very existence.  I hope I was an encouragement to them as well.  It is always great to see people you invested much in continuing in the faith, walking with the Lord.
     Of course, we did have great food.  Per my request, we went out for hot pot and ate most of the food in the restaurant.  Delicious!  Tomorrow we will again share a meal -- dim sum.
     So, that was my day.  It is now 11:30PM and I haven't had a nap.  Was up at 6AM.  So, I feel sleepy and seem on my way to overcoming jet lag quickly.  Tomorrow will be focused on these Hong Kong friends and do some prep for the summit which starts Wednesday.

The Chinese are Coming!

Check out this 1-hour BBC special on the amazing Chinese diaspora!

World's Largest City to be "Created" in China

Note the link and excerpt below.  Big challenge and opportunity for mission is presenting itself in the formation of the new largest city in the world -- a city of more than 40 million people!

World's Largest City | OMF: "Texans may brag about having many of the largest things, but China is now definitely in the running for having the largest population; and soon, the largest economy and the largest Christian church! Now it seems it may soon have the largest city in the world, twice the size of Wales.
China is planning to create the world’s biggest mega-city by merging nine existing cities to form a gigantic metropolis with 42 million people. Nine cities in the Pearl River delta, which account for a tenth of the Chinese economy, will be merged to create a 16,000 square mile urban area 26 times greater than Greater London.
The cities to be included are: Guangzhou (Canton), Shenzhen, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Zhongshan and Zhuhai. It is often claimed that Chongqing, with a total population of more than 30 million, is China’s largest city. However, close examination reveals that most of this “mega-city” is in fact taken up with countryside and the urban area accounts for only some 6 million. In contrast, there is precious little countryside separating the nine cities in Guangdong, as any train traveler from Hong Kong to Guangzhou can easily witness for himself as he gazes at the endless urban sprawl."

Chinese Lausanne Delegation Issues Open Letter After Being Prevented from Attending Cape Town 2010

The sad news has been coming in that the Chinese delegation has for the most part been prevented from attending Cape Town 2010, the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, by the Chinese Government.  In some cases, the government's attempts to prevent the delegates from coming have reportedly involved detentions, house arrests, confiscation of passports, and even the forced closing of churches.  This act of persecution is intolerable.  I still hold out some hope that the God who can do all things will make a way.  But if not, we have the confidence that God will use this to gain glory for himself.  I am yet unclear as to whether or not any of the delegates from mainland China have made it through.  I'm sure we'll know more tomorrow. I have heard a rumor that there are some, but I can't confirm it.  For now, please pray for a miracle.  Additionally, I believe it could be helpful to call attention to this gross injustice.  I ask you to forward this on to those who care about human rights, religious liberty, and the like.

I've located a couple articles online that have been helpful to me.  The Compass Direct article is fairly thorough.  There is also a NY Times article.  Additional articles are posted below.

The Chinese Lausanne Delegation has itself issued an Open Letter in response to these events. I'll close with it:

The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization takes place in Cape Town, South Africa on 17-25 of October, 2010. This massive global evangelical gathering brings together more than 4,000 representatives from nearly 200 countries. The Lausanne organizers have invited over 200 members of house churches in China to attend the conference.

Recently, some relevant departments of the Chinese government has kept the Chinese delegates from joining the Lausanne Congress. They used a variety of means such as persuasion, surveillance, obstruction, detention and confiscation of passport at international airports. As a result, the vast majority of the Chinese delegation has not made it to the meeting.

In response to the event, we have decided to issue this open letter to expound our position and approach.

First, the house church is the main part of the Chinese church. It is a church with independence, self-governing and self-support.

In recent decades, the house church in China has abided by the principle of the separation of state and religion. It has witnessed continued growth. From villages to cities, from the coastal areas to the hinterlands, from the central plains to the frontier, the house church can be found across China.

And from a worship gathering of dozens of people at home, the house church has grown to considerable sizes of hundreds or even thousands of worshippers meeting at office buildings, convention centers of hotels and church buildings. The members of the house church has amounted to tens of millions of people from all walks of life. Now, it still keeps on rapid growth. The house church has already become the main body of the Chinese church.

Second, the co-workers of the house church in China have been yearning to attend the Lausanne Congress.

The Lausanne Congress is a worldwide Christian conference. It confronts the critical issues in promoting the evangelization all over the globe. As part of the global church, China’s house church wants very much to join all the other churches discussing how to be a witness of God’s love toward the world by spreading the gospel of Christ.

We believe to attend the Lausanne Congress will strengthen the friendship between Christians all across the world by giving testimony of God’s love toward China and sharing the huge changes of the Chinese church over the past decades.

Since receiving invitations, many people of the house church have devoted much to preparing for the conference. Numerous churches and their members have made substantial donations. The house church has prepared not only all the money needed for the Chinese delegates but the expenses for 100 representatives from some neighboring and African countries. This has shown the growth of the Chinese church.

Third, that the relevant government departments barred the Chinese delegates from participating in the Lausanne Congress has gravely violated the religious freedom of numerous believers entitled by China’s Constitution.

As the pastors and other members of the house church prepared to attend the Lausanne Congress with much enthusiasm, almost all the delegates were contacted by the relevant government agencies and were asked not to attend. As the delegates sticked to taking part in the conference, they faced even greater obstruction and pressure. Some delegates have been under surveillance. The passports of some delegates have been confiscated. Some delegates’ churches have been under crackdown. Even some delegates have been detained. Some delegates have been blocked to the airport. The vast majority of the delegates have been prevented from passing the passport control at airports. All these acts of obstruction have constituted a clear violation of the liberty of faith among the Chinese citizens entitled by China’s Constitution. They have deeply hurt both the dignity and the feelings of a great number of religious believers.

As Christians, we love God and we love our country. We earnestly long for a China with love, justice and peace. We hope every Chinese will love one another without considering the status. We look forward to a China where God’s sunlight of love shines everywhere. We are thirsty for a China where justice rolls on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream. We hope peace no longer just remains a hope but becomes a reality in this land. For this, we appeal to the relevant government departments to take away all the pressures and restrictions imposed on the delegates. This will serve to prevent the conflict between government and religious believers from worsening. We hope the government will improve its religious policy and build a harmonious relationship between state and religion so that the church will become an even greater blessing for the Chinese society.

May God bless China!

China Lausanne Delegation

Beijing, October 15, 2010


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