+ A New Focus

With a growing number of full time missionaries and employees serving in the field or working in businesses that have been established there, it was decided to send over short term missionaries on a regular basis to work alongside them. In the past, my assignment was to provide teaching support in the underground schools. This provided a welcomed relief for the teaching couple, who   led the school, and presented to the students an opportunity to learn Biblical concepts from an outside experienced teacher. With the schools closed I would be assigned to an activity above ground where I would obtain a clearer understanding of some of our other ministries. On this trip, which occurred March 18 – 30, 2006, I devoted most of my time in a planned prayer walk and had English conversations with Chinese college students who came to one of our coffee shops to practice.

Why is a prayer walk so important that a ministry would send people halfway around the world to pray when you can pray from the comfort of their own home? I believe there are several reasons. By going to the field where the battle is being waged you gain first hand insight and information needed for effective prayer. By being there you see and hear things that affected how you pray. By going there we enter the field of battle, giving greater meaning and urgency to prayer. Being there on the field with our brothers and sisters is much different than sitting in an easy chair at home, trying to stay awake with pressures of the day before you. Your attention is undivided as your pair up with someone and start your prayer journey.

Prayer walking is not casual praying. It begins before we leave this country with a search of the Scriptures to find appropriate passages for the battle. These are written on 3 by 5 cards and studied. From these passages a body of prayer will begin to emerge that can be applied to field situations. This preparation is a form of training and sharpens our spiritual senses. As we walk the streets of that huge city, in pairs, it appears to others that we are two tourist having conversation. We are, but it is under the direction of the Lord and it is with Him.

As we walked and prayed we understood more clearly that there is a cost to expanding the influence of Christianity. It cost Jesus Christ his life on the cross and many others have suffered and even given their lives and are doing so in this part of the world today. Maybe for us the cost is time and money. For me it is the time and effort to prepare for and take these trips to Asia.

I have gotten ahead in the story and need to back up and take a closer look at the details of trip. Phil, a member of the team that signed up for the trip, and I were to spend our time together doing prayer walking, being available for English conversation practice at the coffee house, and helping other full time missionaries where needed. Phil, the son of a missionary family who at that time were still serving in Asia, grew up in Taiwan and spoke fairly good Chinese. It was a joy to get to know him and at times was very helpful from a language standpoint to have him with me. He and his wife, who is a daughter of another missionary family, would be an ideal couple to serve there in Asia as their children are grown and now living on their own. As a result of this trip, Phil and his wife were giving this some consideration.

Both Phil and I came with limited experience in prayer walking, so our first day in the field was somewhat awkward and a bit frustrating. That night we talked about our experience and prayed for guidance for the next day. We were beginning to understand that there was more to prayer walking than just walking and praying. Walking required our attention because of the press of people and the conditions of the walkway. Prayer required information from the environment if it was to be relevant. We also needed to listen to what the Lord was telling us about the area and what He wanted to accomplish there. We figured out that prayer walking contained three basic steps. First, you gather input from the location: what do you see, hear and sense? Second, with the Lord you process the input along with past life experiences and knowledge of the Scriptures. Then, third, from this process an output forms, which becomes the prayer offered to God on behalf of the people there. But what we are doing is only the first step of another three step process. Our informed prayer is input to God, who will process it and in His wisdom and power He may then begin to produce changes to His glory in the area.

James tells us that “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16b). Would we see any results while we were there? We did not have to wait long. The next day I walked into the coffee house at about 9:00 AM and wandered up to the third floor lounge area and found a group of twelve students from the nearby university sitting together in a circle talking in English and drinking our delicious coffee. When they saw me enter the room one of them got up and invited me to join them. I learned that she was an English literature major working on her master’s degree at the nearby University, where we had done some prayer walking. These were her students that she teaches English to each Saturday morning. She knew about the coffee house and decided to take her class there and see what it was like and as a result I had a chance to meet them.

At first they had questions for me to answer and then they wanted help pronouncing certain English words. Because of my extensive background in teaching this experience with them was so natural and such a joy for all that after two hours with them a special bond had developed. As I got up to leave, their teacher noticed my camera and asked if I would have someone take a picture of me with the group and then email it back to them. The picture was taken and we exchanged emails. Their teacher is on my right in the blue blouse.

When I wrote down my email it prompted a question. My email began with SteveJn316. They understood the Steve part, but what was the Jn316? I explained that it was a reference to a verse in the Bible and asked if they would like to know what it was. They said “Yes” so I recited it. They asked me to repeat it, so I did, but they asked no further questions so I could not go any further without crossing the line and maybe hurting our work there. I will have opportunity to explain more to them in future emails. I also learned that their teacher, being an English literature major, uses the Bible in her class. This also opens a door for me with her.

Consider what had just happened. This class met here for the first time, I came all the way from the US and entered the room while they were there. My email contained a reference to John 3:16 and their teacher was using the Bible in class. Do you suppose this was just chance? Maybe, but maybe it was part of a plan.

On Saturday evening at the coffee shop we held a mock western wedding in English to help them understand a piece of our western culture. We had an audience of about 100 students. Since this was simply a cultural demonstration we were able to include everything, including a Scripture reading and a sermon, all of which was very carefully planned. About half way through the ceremony we stopped and  put  a  sign  on  each  actor  giving  the English word for the part they were acting. This introduced an element of fun and really brought the audience into the ceremony. The wedding continued on through to the reception. During the reception we all got a piece of wedding cake, some ordered coffee, and we sat down in groups to  discuss what took  place and to answer their questions. One question asked was, “Who is this Jesus Christ you were talking about in the wedding?” That was a question so we were free to answer it. A professional person I talked with expressed that she would really like to have such a wedding because it had so much meaning. She gave me her email and asked if we could communicate further. This was another open door.

 Earlier on Saturday two  students  stopped  by  and asked  me  if  I  would  help  them  prepare  for  an interview they were going to have in a couple of days. The interview was to be in English and was for a cooking position on an ocean liner. I spent the next hour working with them. When we finished they left after having someone take a picture of the three of us. Monday evening they returned with their entire cooking class, the picture of the three of us and a gift for me, but I was not there. Someone else had to fill my spot because I was really sick on Monday, apparently from something I had eaten on Sunday. I have their email and this is another open door to some really great students.

The student on my left was offered a job, but after considering my council and the wishes of his parents he decided to decline and stay near home for a while longer. I really didn't think he was ready to contend with the kind of life he would face during a three year commitment on an ocean liner.

There were other contacts at the coffee house and more emails for future communications. It was a very special time. Now I would need to seek wisdom to find the time and to know how to correspond with them.

Through a series of missionary events, Phil knew a missionary in the area where we were staying and arranged to meet with him one evening. In the course of their conversation it was learned that this person had relationships with and authority over other schools like ours. Phil told him about me and my experience teaching in the schools. He asked Phil to arrange a meeting with me, and so the next evening he and his wife, Phil and I met for dinner and talked in depth about these schools. He felt there was a place for me to teach and wanted to think about it. The next day he contacted my pastor of missions, who was on this trip with us, and talked about our involvement in these schools in the future. Maybe I might have an opportunity to go back underground a year from now and for longer periods of time if I am available.

There are many opportunities before me. I was asked if I would go with a group during the summer, but I had a software project I need to finish for the church I attended and I had several responsibilities at home that need my attention, so I declined.

With the possibility of being back in the schools, English work at the coffee house or other opportunities in the area, I could easily go three times a year and stay a month each time. This would allow a balance of ministry in serving at home and abroad. I needed time to determine if this was of the Lord and if I could raise that level of financial support. The support team that I had was so supportive and so gracious, but to make three trips each year and for a month each I needed more team members.