Operation China

I have this book called "Operation World." It has a country you pray for everyday of the year, it gives you an overview of the geography, peoples, economy, politics, and religion. Also, gives specific challenges to pray for in that particular country. So after 365 days you would have prayed for every country in the world. Its really cool, and this year i've tried to keep up with it praying for the different countries. Its great because it teaches you about challenges in other countries not only economically but also spiritually.

March 24 marks the start for the country of China. It actually has given March 24 - April 5 for praying for China. A great group of people and I made the trip to China in December of 2008. During that trip a seed was planted in my heart for the country and people of China. Over the past year and a half the Lord has watered and given sunshine to that seed and it has grown. I don't know what is in store but I pray that the Lord sends me back someday or I at least am able to help from a distance.

I want to invite everyone to join me in fervent prayer for China over the next couple of weeks. Everyday here on my blog I will post the challenges for prayer that the book gives and also some other information that will help you learn about the country and people of China. It starts off with general prayer challenges, then after a couple days it breaks China up into the 31 provinces and list specific request for each province. It might look like a lot of reading or information to go through but what is 5 or 10 minutes of our day for millions of lost people who haven't heard the Gospel. Prayer changes everything and when we pray God works. Amen?

March 24
Answers to Prayer
1) The survival and reviving of the Church in China was one of the decisive events of the 20th Century.

2) The growth of the Church in China since 1977 has no parallels in history. The 1,266,000 Protestant members and 1.8 mill. affiliates in 1949 had become 17m members and maybe 26m affiliates in 2000 as well as a much larger uncounted, but estimated, 45m house church Christians. The Catholics grew from 3m to 12m over the same period.

3) The millions of intercessors who travailed in prayer for the long-delayed breakthrough. The cumulative impact of 150 years of global prayer for China has been enormous. Prayer is changing China.

4) The atheist rulers of China became unwitting instruments in the hand of our Sovereign God to prepare the way for this growth. Mao Zedong sought to destroy all religious 'superstition' but in the process cleared spiritual roadblocks for the advancement of Christianity. Deng reversed the horrors inflicted by Mao and in freeing up the economy, gave more freedom to the Christians, who made use of the opportunity.

5) The manifest failure of Communism. Colossal blunders and changes in Party policy over 45 years have disillusioned the people. The fall of personality-cult leaders and the failure of promises for a better future have created a vacuum which only the gospel can fill. The nepotism, corruption and factionalism of the present Communist Party are repugnant to the majority. The Church of the Lord Jesus is larger than the Communist Party of China.

6) The faith and commitment of Christians under what may prove to be the most harsh and widespread persecution of the Church in all history. The persecution purified and indigenized the Church and has inured it to successive waves of further repression and government efforts to weaken or destroy it.

7) The aftermath of the Beijing massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989. This was a defining moment in Chinese history. The discredited leadership is still haunted by the debacle, and the result was a significant turning to God for the first time among urban intellectuals. Christians are now found in every stratum of Chinese society.

8) The loving witness of ordinary Christians ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit. His power has often been manifested in miracles, healings and exorcisms. The majority of these evangelists and church planters have been women – many still in their teens. In many areas 70 – 80% of the Christians are women.

9) The fruitfulness of Christian radio and the remarkable faith of those who broadcast into China for years with little visible evidence of a response – that evidence is now plain to see.

10) The Internet is creating extraordinary new openings for evil and for good – the latter in providing discipleship and leadership development materials.

Challenges for Prayer
GENERAL
1) There may only be a ten-year window of opportunity for receptivity. Materialism with increasing wealth, the debilitating effects of spreading corruption, the moral decline and the social impact of the one-child policy all are conspiring to blunt the cutting edge of the Church. Pray that present openness in the midst of opposition may be used to the full.

2) Communist Party members are the elite and number some 60m. All are officially atheist, but among them are many who are secretly religious and even Christian. Pray for the collapse of the whole atheistic system and its lies so assiduously propagated in the education system, and pray for the conversion of those within the Party.

3) Market socialism is a convenient term to gloss over the ideological bankruptcy of the Marxism still espoused by the ruling elite. The government vainly tries to control information while promoting the Internet, and to indoctrinate a bored and disillusioned new generation that hankers after freedom. The irreconcilable conflict between crass capitalism and personal greed and the refusal to allow any political reform will lead to change. Pray that this change might be both peaceful and spiritually beneficial to the Chinese.

4) The 'One Child' policy is a draconian means of taming the growth of the population. Family life has been deeply impacted, shown in: a higher divorce rate, 10m abortions a year (nearly all girls), suicide (40% of the world's suicides are in China), pampered children with poor interpersonal skills and the abandonment of baby girls and older people. The rising generation will pay a heavy cost – in 2000 there were 90m marriageable unmarried men; in some areas young men outnumber young women by 30-40% – rape, abductions, female slavery, incest, prostitution and the rapid spread of AIDS could all be the result. Pray for family stability and health. Pray also for wise policies to be implemented that will stabilize the population.

5) Economic liberalization has made a few very wealthy and improved living standards for many, but made others worse off:
a) The millions of unemployed have become an impoverished under-class. Multitudes flock to cities seeking employment.
b) The poorer inland provinces far from the sea where there has been less development; housing, education, health etc., are at a much lower standard.
c) The elderly – with the one-child policy limiting family care for them.
d) Those in the penal system with 15 – 20 million incarcerated.
e) Those with disabilities.
Pray for a fairer and more free society to emerge.

6) The social and health needs in China overwhelm the available resources. Diseases are a challenge – 1.9m with tuberculosis, over 300,000 with HIV/AIDS, 10m mentally retarded through iodine-deficiency, 60m disabled, 13m blind and 520,000 registered drug addicts. Then there are the unemployed and the numerous victims of famines, floods and earthquakes due to the density of the population. Pray that Christians may find many openings to serve such in the social and caring professions and opportunities to show and speak about the love of Jesus for them.

7) China faces environmental disasters on many fronts – deforestation causing massive flooding, the unknown impact of the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, polluted rivers filled with industrial and human waste, nine of the ten most polluted cities in the world, desertification in the north and east, and the continued increase of the population. Pray for a government courageous and trusted enough to take the difficult decisions required for the long-term well-being of the nation.