The Largest Human Migration on the Plant – Over 400 Million People traveling during Lunar New Year!
Praying for a Holy Spirit Move among Chinese People:
The first ever Pentecostal Missionary to China was William Wallace Simpson who began his ministry in Lhasa, Tibet in the late nineteenth century (1892). No Christian had entered the city to bring the message of Christ, though other European explorers and travelers had previously reached the city.
One of the head Lamas had gotten the word that Simpson and his entourage would enter Lhasa to bring the Christian religion. Thus, he stood outside the city and proclaimed that if this missionary dared to enter the city to preach his foreign religion, he would be struck dead by the Tibetan gods. After prayer and knowing he was being led by the Spirit, Simpson entered the city and began to prepare for ministry. However, before he could do anything, the Lama who opposed him, for some unknown reason, died suddenly. This was one of the first examples of “power evangelism” in China and the superstitious people in Lhasa revered Simpson as a “god” with power. Of course, he denied he was a god, but this allowed him to preach Christ to them, and reportedly he made some converts. (From ‘Pentecost in China‘)
This month we focus prayer on the Chinese People and the Buddhist World as they celebrate their New Year Festival and pray for supernatural power encounters for millions of Chinese people.
We encourage prayer for a greater ‘Pentecostal’ move of God in China and Chinese people around the world.
”After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly…The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people… more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.”
Acts 4: 41; 5:12,14.
Chinese New Year: This Saturday 10th February – Why is it Important?
It is the time where one of the largest ethnic groups in the World, the Chinese, celebrate their new year superstitiously seeking wellbeing, prosperity and blessings on their future. Like many aspects of traditional Chinese culture, the 12 Chinese zodiac animal signs are based on the Chinese lunar calendar, and this year it is the ‘Year of the Dragon.’ Dragons present themselves as magnificent yet benevolent rulers who are confident, generous, idealistic, and ambitious. In Chinese culture, these mythical creatures are in a class of their own, regarded as the givers of abundance and longevity. The celebrations last for over 16 days beginning on 10th February, and the first 7 days being public holidays.
Praying for the Chinese People.
The Chinese people are considered to be the largest single ethnic group (1.4 billion People) and they also have the largest diaspora (people who have spread or dispersed from their homeland) of over 40 million, almost in every nation in the world .
Of the five major ethnic groups, the Han Chinese is the majority (91.3%) who form the largest ethnic group in the world, numbering over 1 billion people!
Chinese in Overseas nations.
Enoch Wan writing in “Mission among the Chinese Diaspora – A case study of migration & mission” notes:
“The dispersion of Chinese from the Mainland is a significant contemporary demographic phenomenon. Description and factual data regarding Chinese diaspora are presented to show two missiological trends: the emergence of both mission opportunities among them and the potentials in mission participation by them. These two trends are significant in global mission due to the sheer size of diaspora Chinese among the unreached and their potential forces adding to the resources of global mission in the two-thirds world.”
Mission to Chinese Diaspora:
Pray for the Missions outreach to reach Chinese people in both their nation and among the diasproa.
Certain Missions organizations specifically work on this objective building a mission platform to effectively mobilize Chinese churches must be a top priority. One organization Chinese Diaspora Missions, notes: “Chinese people are the largest diaspora population in the world. By means of a global mission platform that partners with the people, funding, and other resources of Chinese churches, the very large Chinese diaspora can be reached and mobilized.”
Let us pray for AG General Councils and Churches in nations around the world will make an intentional effort to reach the Chinese in their community. Just as there are ‘Chinese Resturants’ in almost every city in the world, let us pray for a ‘Chinese Churches’ to be planted among them.
The Largest Human Migration on the Planet.
Millions of migrant workers return to their roots during the 40 days of Chunyun, the Chinese New Year (also known as the Spring Festival). This travel season is the largest annual human migration on the planet. And, for the Year of the Dragon — which begins on February 10 — the authorities expect all records to be broken; and according to BBC, they expect 480 million trips to be made for the Lunar New Year!
Let us pray that this migration will also be opportunities for many Chinese Christians to carry the Gospel from cities to rural areas and to their families and that the fires of Revival will spread during this season.
Prayer for the Chinese Buddhist during the New Year
We join with ‘Prayer for Buddhist World on Chinese New Year‘ initiative of ‘110Cities.com’ where on Saturday 10th February people join in 24 hours of Prayer for 24 Mega cities in Asia which has large Chinese Buddhist Populations.
Please Click Here to join:
During the next week of festivities, we will highlight some of these cities for prayer.
Prayer:
“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
2 Thessalonians 1:3,4,11,12.
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.
We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Sources:
China Source: Pentecost in China.
Enoch Wan.
Chinese Diaspora Missions.
Wikimedia
Chinesenewyear.net
BBC.com
110Cities.Com
