Dear Friends,
Yesterday (July 7) was another wonderful day for all of us. Our daily routine study on inter-cultural communication was conducted right after our morning worship, focusing on the theme of noticing God in spiritual gifts. We continued the theme in our afternoon worship before leaving for a visit to Amity Art Center, where many artistic handicrafts made by Christians from minority ethnic groups in China can be purchased, and the old campus of the Jinling Union Theological Seminary across the street. We then divided into groups of two or three Chinese participants with one U.S. participant to dine at different restaurants. Everyone enjoyed both the delicious food and sweet fellowship throughout the evening.
We began our day on July 8 with the morning worship focusing on noticing God in lingering and practiced the soaking prayer, a wonderful spiritual practice that has greatly blessed many participants. An English conversation game developed by Dr. Rebecca Ritchey for her teaching at Honam Theological University and Seminary in Korea was played in groups of four. It was an excellent tool for interactions.
We honored Mr. Zhang, the head chef and his co-workers at the Bible school’s kitchen, for their most diligent service in cooking all the meals, during lunch time. David Shi, General Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Council, bought a cake for us for the occasion. We also presented them with handmade crosses Dr. Ritchey brought from Korea. After lunch, we went over to Nanjing’s old city wall by Xuanwu Lake for a visit.
We also visited, after the tour on the city wall, the Nanjing Museum where the Matteo Ricci Exhibition has been on display since June 4 and will end on July 25. The exhibition is titled "An Encounter of Civilizations in Ming China." It is an exhibition, which, for the first time in China, reconstructs the events and follows the footsteps of Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit from Italy. Ricci was considered as “the first person who established a solid cultural bridge between the West and China, opening that great country to the world towards the end of the Ming dynasty.”
Dr. Don Snow, our denomination’s Regional Liaison for China, who authored the book we used for the program, was with us throughout the day. He will join us again tomorrow morning.
We shared at the evening worship service about how we have seen Christ in all the Chinese participants who joined the program for the first time this year. We did the same for returnees at the morning worship yesterday as well. It was indeed a wonderful exercise.
Tomorrow (July 9) will be the last day of the program. We will have the breaking of the bread after the morning worship. The closing ceremony is scheduled after lunch. All the Chinese participants will leave at the conclusion of the ceremony to return to their respective cities in order to get ready for ministry over the weekend.
I’m sure you will rejoice with us as we celebrate one last time this excellent exchange in spirituality tomorrow.
Blessings,
Peter Lim
Monday, July 12, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Group Journal #8 (Tuesday, July 6, 2010)
We must be connecting well with our Chinese friends. Twice today Chinese students came up to me and shared an earnest conversation in Chinese, only to have me say, "I'm sorry, I speak English!" And then we both laugh! We are beginning to recognize some words and phrases in Chinese, and Erin is rattling off whole paragraphs! Impressive!
It is apparent that our worship, morning and evening, means a great deal to these pastors who ordinarily would be leading worship. This is a rich time of spiritual retreat for all of us, but especially for them. Our topic today was Peace. As we meditated in the morning, we were invited to draw something that represented peace to us. There were many nature and "happy family" drawings, a wall broken down with a cross rising in the void, traffic neatly lined up according to the rules, people enjoying their work, and many references to God and Christian community. Erin explained her drawing entirely in Chinese! (Did I mention that I am really impressed with her language skills?)
Liu Wei Fang (Sarah) shared her story of being called into ministry. As a child she was part of an underground church with her mother, but it was her excellent school grades that caught people's attention. Her mother explained, "It is not you who are clever. It is God's wisdom, not yours." Sarah prayed to repay God but realized there is no way to do that, so she offered her wisdom and abilities to God. In Grade 5 she learned about false prophets that will be at the end of the age, and she didn't want to be deceived. That was the impetus to attend seminary, but she wrestled with becoming a pastor: "God, why choose me? I'm not good enough to do your work. All are better than me." For three months she struggled; then she read, "You are my servant; I have chosen you" (Isaiah 41:9). "I realized God will do work through me. I treasure these words in my heart. I am thankful to be a pastor." Sarah, a Jiangsu Bible College faculty member, has been an inspiration to many of us.
In today's lesson, we discussed "projected cultural similarity" -- that is, assumptions we might make about a person from another culture, thinking that beyond differences in language and dress, we'd all like the same things ... or would we? Does the Golden Rule "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" work in a cross-cultural setting? It was a lively discussion topic in my small group, with some fun role-playing. I'll let you readers work out your own conclusions to the question.
Our afternoon field trip was to the brand new campus of the Jinling Union National Seminary campus. Wow! This is the national seminary in China, and it is an impressive campus that will serve the Chinese church well as it continues to grow. (There are also 5 regional seminaries and 22 provincial Bible schools, such as the Jiangsu school where we meet each day.) Most of our English Camp colleagues are graduates of this seminary. We were astonished that the government paid half of the $28,350,000 cost for the campus, which includes 3 classroom buildings, 4 dorms, and a sports complex. The churches are raising money to build a church on the campus. The seminary will celebrate its 100th year in 2011. Chinese seminaries combined in 1952 after the missionaries had to leave, and then this union of seminaries was closed completely during the Cultural Revolution, 1966-76. It reopened in 1981 and has had 1400 graduates since then. Over 10,000 lay workers were trained here between 1989 and 2005. In September they will have 230 full-time students enrolled, with 28 faculty. Their greatest needs are training qualified students to be teachers, and financial challenges, especially during the recent recession. If there was a theme in our tour, it was "Challenges and Opportunities; God's Grace is Sufficient; and Do All According to God's Will."
Churches are overflowing, and new believers are added daily. These pastors and teachers with whom we spend our days are at the center of an explosion that resembles the Acts 2 church. I am even more grateful for the role the Outreach Foundation has had in walking alongside the Chinese Church, and for the many U.S. congregations and individuals who have supported the Chinese church through the Outreach Foundation.
In Christ,
Pam Bowman
It is apparent that our worship, morning and evening, means a great deal to these pastors who ordinarily would be leading worship. This is a rich time of spiritual retreat for all of us, but especially for them. Our topic today was Peace. As we meditated in the morning, we were invited to draw something that represented peace to us. There were many nature and "happy family" drawings, a wall broken down with a cross rising in the void, traffic neatly lined up according to the rules, people enjoying their work, and many references to God and Christian community. Erin explained her drawing entirely in Chinese! (Did I mention that I am really impressed with her language skills?)
Liu Wei Fang (Sarah) shared her story of being called into ministry. As a child she was part of an underground church with her mother, but it was her excellent school grades that caught people's attention. Her mother explained, "It is not you who are clever. It is God's wisdom, not yours." Sarah prayed to repay God but realized there is no way to do that, so she offered her wisdom and abilities to God. In Grade 5 she learned about false prophets that will be at the end of the age, and she didn't want to be deceived. That was the impetus to attend seminary, but she wrestled with becoming a pastor: "God, why choose me? I'm not good enough to do your work. All are better than me." For three months she struggled; then she read, "You are my servant; I have chosen you" (Isaiah 41:9). "I realized God will do work through me. I treasure these words in my heart. I am thankful to be a pastor." Sarah, a Jiangsu Bible College faculty member, has been an inspiration to many of us.
In today's lesson, we discussed "projected cultural similarity" -- that is, assumptions we might make about a person from another culture, thinking that beyond differences in language and dress, we'd all like the same things ... or would we? Does the Golden Rule "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" work in a cross-cultural setting? It was a lively discussion topic in my small group, with some fun role-playing. I'll let you readers work out your own conclusions to the question.
Our afternoon field trip was to the brand new campus of the Jinling Union National Seminary campus. Wow! This is the national seminary in China, and it is an impressive campus that will serve the Chinese church well as it continues to grow. (There are also 5 regional seminaries and 22 provincial Bible schools, such as the Jiangsu school where we meet each day.) Most of our English Camp colleagues are graduates of this seminary. We were astonished that the government paid half of the $28,350,000 cost for the campus, which includes 3 classroom buildings, 4 dorms, and a sports complex. The churches are raising money to build a church on the campus. The seminary will celebrate its 100th year in 2011. Chinese seminaries combined in 1952 after the missionaries had to leave, and then this union of seminaries was closed completely during the Cultural Revolution, 1966-76. It reopened in 1981 and has had 1400 graduates since then. Over 10,000 lay workers were trained here between 1989 and 2005. In September they will have 230 full-time students enrolled, with 28 faculty. Their greatest needs are training qualified students to be teachers, and financial challenges, especially during the recent recession. If there was a theme in our tour, it was "Challenges and Opportunities; God's Grace is Sufficient; and Do All According to God's Will."
Churches are overflowing, and new believers are added daily. These pastors and teachers with whom we spend our days are at the center of an explosion that resembles the Acts 2 church. I am even more grateful for the role the Outreach Foundation has had in walking alongside the Chinese Church, and for the many U.S. congregations and individuals who have supported the Chinese church through the Outreach Foundation.
In Christ,
Pam Bowman
Group Journal #7 (Monday, July 5, 2010)
This past weekend out English Exchange Group traveled to two cities in Jiangsu province, Jiangyin and Wuxi. After worship at Jiangsu Bible college, our group packed up and traveled several hours on the bus to Jiangyin where we were met by Pastor Mary (one of our English Exchange participants) at her church. We shared dinner with the local government officials and pastors and also traveled to a small one hundred year-old church in Jiangyin, and prayed for their plans to build a larger church to service their many congregants. Pastor Mary and the local church officials gave us a presentation about the origins of their congregation, dating back to missionaries from Wilmington Presbyterian Church in North Carolina, and hosted us for a savory seafood lunch. We also traveled to several new, large churches in Jiangyin before moving onto Wuxi city.
In Wuxi we enjoyed another banquet with local officials and pastors and rose early the next morning for 7:30 worship at Wuxi church. Our own Peter Lim preached on Nehemiah 2, urging us to sieze the opportunity to collaborate with God! The church was packed as we celebrated communion together as one body in Christ. Following the church service we rode out to the fourth largest lake in all of China, Lake Tai, and took a boat to the famous Turtle Head Peninsula, named for its resemblance to a turtle's head poking up out of the water. After a late lunch, we rode back on the bus through our first thunder storm in China into Nanjing.
Over the weekend we said goodbye to three American participants and one Chinese participant, so we continue to pray for their travel and ministry.
This Monday morning, our substantially smaller group greeted the day with worship, reflecting on the theme of gratitude. Following worship, we convened in small groups, focusing our English study lesson on cultural differences, swapping stories, and growing together. God continues to build bridges between us despite the language barriers, and during the afternoon trip to the Presidential Palace, we spent time learning about its rich history, from its Ming dynasty origins to its collapse during the Taiping rebellion and its brief role as presidential offices to Sun Yatsen in 1912 and Chiang Kaishek from 1927 to 1949.
This evening during worship we continued to recall God's gratitude toward us, especially as experienced through one another here. We have been richly showered with the blessings of cross-cultural friendship and spiritual connection this past week, this weekend and today, and for those gifts and many others, we give God thanks and praise.
Erin Raffety
In Wuxi we enjoyed another banquet with local officials and pastors and rose early the next morning for 7:30 worship at Wuxi church. Our own Peter Lim preached on Nehemiah 2, urging us to sieze the opportunity to collaborate with God! The church was packed as we celebrated communion together as one body in Christ. Following the church service we rode out to the fourth largest lake in all of China, Lake Tai, and took a boat to the famous Turtle Head Peninsula, named for its resemblance to a turtle's head poking up out of the water. After a late lunch, we rode back on the bus through our first thunder storm in China into Nanjing.
Over the weekend we said goodbye to three American participants and one Chinese participant, so we continue to pray for their travel and ministry.
This Monday morning, our substantially smaller group greeted the day with worship, reflecting on the theme of gratitude. Following worship, we convened in small groups, focusing our English study lesson on cultural differences, swapping stories, and growing together. God continues to build bridges between us despite the language barriers, and during the afternoon trip to the Presidential Palace, we spent time learning about its rich history, from its Ming dynasty origins to its collapse during the Taiping rebellion and its brief role as presidential offices to Sun Yatsen in 1912 and Chiang Kaishek from 1927 to 1949.
This evening during worship we continued to recall God's gratitude toward us, especially as experienced through one another here. We have been richly showered with the blessings of cross-cultural friendship and spiritual connection this past week, this weekend and today, and for those gifts and many others, we give God thanks and praise.
Erin Raffety
Friday, July 2, 2010
Group Journal #6 (Friday, July 2, 2010)
We arrived safely in Jinan. We were met by the "Smiling Pastors Wang" (three of them - same surname). We went to dinner with one Pastor Wang at a local dumpling house for dumplings and roast duck. Don Snow has kept us all entertained with his wonderful sense of humor. We wandered around the city after dinner and found the night market food stands and a beautiful Confucian Temple not yet open to the public.
Just finished another amazing breakfast and will leave soon to meet with Jinan Seminary administration and professors before traveling to Weifang by bus. We hope to update you when we return in a couple of days.
Our group reminisced about good times in Nanjing and missed our new friends there. We wished they all could have come with us!
It is a blessing to watch our group fall in love with this country and to have a deeper understanding for Jesus' commission to us to love one another.
Peace,
Wanda Sowell
Just finished another amazing breakfast and will leave soon to meet with Jinan Seminary administration and professors before traveling to Weifang by bus. We hope to update you when we return in a couple of days.
Our group reminisced about good times in Nanjing and missed our new friends there. We wished they all could have come with us!
It is a blessing to watch our group fall in love with this country and to have a deeper understanding for Jesus' commission to us to love one another.
Peace,
Wanda Sowell
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Group Journal #5 (Thursday, July 1, 2010)
Today was an emotional day because the group from Shadyside left us for their pilgrimage to Jinan. We will miss not only their contributions to our group discussions but also their laughter in our social gatherings. God has blessed us with their presence and we ask for Him to watch over them.
We completed the writing of our prayer requests, which were distributed during the morning devotional. Rebecca circulated the link for the Spiritual Directors International for those who may want to learn more about spiritual direction. The link is http://www.sdiworld.org. She also gave each one of us a wooden cross from Korea, where she currently has a ministry to teach English.
The morning devotional was devoted to pilgrimage, whereby a pilgrimage leads us down a road, and we take the light of Christ with us. We talked about where we saw God in each person we encounter along the way. Peter saw God in each of us, including the bus driver and the officials who yelled at us at the memorial to the Nanjing Massacre. We went around the room to mention how we saw God in each member of the Shadyside group.
Xiao Jun Yue shared his story with us. He said the English Exchange camp not only helped him with his spoken English and the opportunity to rejoice in the growth of his spiritual life but also the opportunity to renew old friendships and make new ones. His friends at the English Exchange camp have encouraged him to improve his spoken English. He said he will tell the people at his church his friends at the English Exchange camp are great.
Jeff led us in a song and dance of an African song "We Are Marching in the Light of God."
After lunch we broke into two separate discussion groups, one for the Chinese participants and a separate group for the American participants. We discussed what group re-organization would work best for the benefit of both groups with the loss of the Shadyside group and the weekend departure of other members. We came together for our end-of-day devotional so that we could rest before sharing a dinner with our Chinese participants. The devotional focused on the scripture passage "Who do you say I am?" The devotion helped us to look back and remember the good things that were said. Xiao Jun Yue led us in the singing of the song "Emanuel."
We rested for an hour before we went to dinner at the Dong Bu Shi Fu Restaurant. We hosted our Chinese participants to a traditional Chinese dinner with lotus, eel (long fish), beef, broccoli, seaweed, tofu, rice, watermelon, xiang gua, egg soup, and other delicacies. We shared the evening with Fan Jing Fang and her son Xie Shu Yang. The evening ended with a trip to the shopping district known as Confucius Temple. Shi Li led us to the statue of Confucius and through the streets in search of bargains.
On a side note, the evening was special for Marie Melrose, who renewed her friendship with a friend she had not seen in many years. It is with sadness that we contemplate checking out of the hotel in the morning, but another venture waits us in Jiangyin.
Virginia Dilkes
We completed the writing of our prayer requests, which were distributed during the morning devotional. Rebecca circulated the link for the Spiritual Directors International for those who may want to learn more about spiritual direction. The link is http://www.sdiworld.org. She also gave each one of us a wooden cross from Korea, where she currently has a ministry to teach English.
The morning devotional was devoted to pilgrimage, whereby a pilgrimage leads us down a road, and we take the light of Christ with us. We talked about where we saw God in each person we encounter along the way. Peter saw God in each of us, including the bus driver and the officials who yelled at us at the memorial to the Nanjing Massacre. We went around the room to mention how we saw God in each member of the Shadyside group.
Xiao Jun Yue shared his story with us. He said the English Exchange camp not only helped him with his spoken English and the opportunity to rejoice in the growth of his spiritual life but also the opportunity to renew old friendships and make new ones. His friends at the English Exchange camp have encouraged him to improve his spoken English. He said he will tell the people at his church his friends at the English Exchange camp are great.
Jeff led us in a song and dance of an African song "We Are Marching in the Light of God."
After lunch we broke into two separate discussion groups, one for the Chinese participants and a separate group for the American participants. We discussed what group re-organization would work best for the benefit of both groups with the loss of the Shadyside group and the weekend departure of other members. We came together for our end-of-day devotional so that we could rest before sharing a dinner with our Chinese participants. The devotional focused on the scripture passage "Who do you say I am?" The devotion helped us to look back and remember the good things that were said. Xiao Jun Yue led us in the singing of the song "Emanuel."
We rested for an hour before we went to dinner at the Dong Bu Shi Fu Restaurant. We hosted our Chinese participants to a traditional Chinese dinner with lotus, eel (long fish), beef, broccoli, seaweed, tofu, rice, watermelon, xiang gua, egg soup, and other delicacies. We shared the evening with Fan Jing Fang and her son Xie Shu Yang. The evening ended with a trip to the shopping district known as Confucius Temple. Shi Li led us to the statue of Confucius and through the streets in search of bargains.
On a side note, the evening was special for Marie Melrose, who renewed her friendship with a friend she had not seen in many years. It is with sadness that we contemplate checking out of the hotel in the morning, but another venture waits us in Jiangyin.
Virginia Dilkes
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