Even though the Chinese church is growing rapidly, heavy government restrictions are forcing it to remain underground and believers to meet in secret. These restrictions have increased in the last year, isolating Chinese pastors even more. This difficulty, combined with an estimated 10,000 believers for every one trained pastor, puts a heavy load on the shoulders of Chinese church leaders.
World Compassion seeks to help lift this burden by providing training for pastors and leaders through the ABC Bible Training Curriculum. The curriculum provides resources and systematic teaching to foster personal growth and understanding of the Bible so that they can then disciple others.
“I praise God that I could have access to this great curriculum to equip and ready myself to do the work of the Lord,” says a student currently in the program, “ It is so obvious since I started studying ABC that it has enriched my preaching and given me more confidence in serving the Lord.”
But growth in preaching and confidence is not the only effect our program has had. The same student says:
“I felt that the Lord arranged those lessons in my time of need – and not just for me, but for all of the pastors and leaders who were reading these lessons. We all felt weak in the spirit, and we were almost leaving the ministry because of the difficulties we were facing financially and the threat and persecution every day.”
“But when we studied the experiences that the prophets had – how many of them were stoned by their own people, not welcomed by their own people, misunderstand and thought badly of by their own people – and how they faithfully obeyed the Lord and walked with him until the end, it was very touching to read the stories of those servants of the Lord.”
In order for Chinese church leaders to be effective disciplers, they need to be fed and encouraged as well. By providing the 300-lesson ABC Bible Training Curriculum to these leaders, they are better able to disciple others at the same time that they are being built up and encouraged in their own faith.
Some of these believers are called to be missionaries as well, which means an even higher risk– and even greater need for further training. World Compassion’s China Mission School provides this through more in-depth teaching on doctrine, different world religions, cross-cultural communication, and even basic survival skills. By equipping these believers to reach others more effectively, the church will be able to grow more quickly and healthily than ever, no matter what governments may say.
You can empower a Chinese Christian to bring others closer to Christ by providing the curriculum for them. It only costs $114 (£85) to train a student in one of these classes – $114 to have an effective eternal impact!
Finally, join us in praying for our brothers and sisters in China, that God would give them the boldness to continue teaching and preaching and that many many more would be reached through this curriculum!
“Please continue to pray for us – let us be strong always in the LORD and do not be afraid of anything that is coming to stop us from loving him and serving him.” – ABC Student
