Among China’s ethnic minorities, the Miao, Yi and Lisu have the most Christians—making up about 30 percent to 60 percent of their population. In certain ethnic regions in Yunnan and Guizhou, the Christian population exceeds 80 percent. More than a century ago, many missionaries came from afar to sow the gospel seeds in Yunnan and Guizhou resulting in these two provinces having the largest concentration of ethnic believers. Let’s look at three of these missionaries who committed their lives to serving these people groups.
Samuel Pollard: blessing the Miao: In 1887, a 23-year-old British missionary named Samuel Pollard arrived in China in response to God’s call to evangelize a people group. Initially Samuel labored in the city of Zhaotong, Yunnan. Later he took on more of a risk and began to work among the Yi people of Liangshan in the Jinsha Jiang region. And in 1905, he relocated to Guizhou to begin his ministry among the Miao. In those days, the Miao lived under very harsh conditions in extreme poverty, but Samuel chose to live among them and live like them.
His devotion to them won him their trust and Samuel had a very successful ministry among them. He built churches, created the Miao written script (the Miao previously only had a spoken language) and translated the Bible into the Miao language. As a result, the gospel spread rapidly among the Miao in the surrounding regions. Other ethnic groups like the Lisu, Nu, Dulong, Yi, Jingpo, Lahu and Wa also began to receive the gospel message.
Pollard continued his ministry, which included the setting-up of more than a hundred schools, hospitals, orphanages and also China’s first leprosarium. Ten years after this accomplishment, he died at the age of 51. By then, an estimated 10,000 Miao had become believers.
James Fraser: pioneering in Yunnan: James Outram Fraser was born into a wealthy family in Britain. Because of his burden for lost souls, in 1908 at the age of 22 he came to southwestern Yunnan to serve among the Lisu people of Nu Jiang. He traversed the Yunnan-Guizhou highland, learning the Lisu language and sharing the gospel with them. For 14 years, his ministry bore no fruit and he had no converts among the Lisu villagers. In fact, the Lisu attempted to kill him by setting fire to his house one night.
Fraser escaped death because of an alert by a young man and he later appeared before the petrified Lisu villagers who thought they were seeing a ghost. He said: “Do not be afraid for I am not a ghost. It’s just that my God is the true God and He has saved me from your plan to kill me. What you should do now is to believe in Jesus who is the savior of the world!” The villagers believed in Jesus that morning. After this, Fraser ministered in more than 30 Lisu villages and all were won to God’s kingdom. This happened in 1930 and started the great spiritual transformation among the Lisu people.
For the backward and desolate Lisu people, Fraser created a written language. With that, he wrote a question-and-answer guide on Christian practices and also translated the Gospels of Mark and John into the Lisu language. He went on to write about Lisu history and produced a handbook on the Lisu language.
By 1936 Fraser completed the translation of the New Testament. Furthermore, he learned about and taught vine-growing and other agricultural skills to help the Lisu people upgrade their livelihood. To promote culture, Fraser built churches and schools to benefit thousands of Lisu children. Like Pollard, Fraser also set up hospitals and clinics. He died of sickness due to overworking at the age of 52.
Isobel Kuhn: handmaid to the Lisu: In 1923 at a small retreat in England, Isobel Selina Miller heard Fraser sharing on his Lisu ministry in China. Deeply touched, Isobel committed her life to serve the Lisu people.
In 1934, Isobel and her husband John Becker Kuhn went to China and started their work among the Lisu people, assisted later by a Mandarin-speaking local co-worker. Yunnan’s living conditions then were very bad and basic necessities were lacking. But in spite of this, they were able to build a fairly spacious and durable meeting place, which they called the “House of Grace.” Their ministry faced an uphill task owing to difficulties of local traveling and the animistic practices of the people. However, the Kuhns persevered in taking the gospel to the unreached places.
To help the Lisu believers in understanding the Bible, they brought along with them hand-copied New Testament Lisu Bibles. They also had a typewriter for the Lisu language. Each year from June to August, Isobel conducted their Bible school—“The Rainy Season Bible School.” The intensive Bible-training classes helped train many Lisu co-workers and build strong Lisu churches.
In 1950, the Kuhns left China following changes in domestic politics. They relocated to Thailand to continue serving the Lisu there. In 1954 they returned to their home country due to sickness. By then the Lisu believers were estimated at 3,600 in number or about one-third of its population. Today, the Lisu believers in China exceed 80 percent of its population.
Dennis Balcombe is the founder of Revival Chinese Ministries International and a sought-after speaker around the world. He speaks fluent Cantonese and Mandarin. He is currently involved in ministering to the Chinese as well as non-Chinese throughout Asia.
No matter which country, Christians Leaders should spearhead in electing a virtuous governance. --------------------------------------
Dr. Jerry Newcombe - Guest Columnist - 3/12/2012 10:00:00 AM
During this election season, the issue of religion has come up on many occasions. But for the most part, we haven't heard from many pastors -- except, for example, from the brave priest from Indiana, with his denunciation against the Obama administration's move to force Catholic agencies to fund contraceptives and abortifacients against their consciences.
Another outspoken minister has been Dr. Robert Jeffress of Dallas, who was castigated about half a year ago for stating he preferred a Christian politician to a Mormon one. He was simply quoting founding father John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, who said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers" (October 12, 1816). First Chief Justice or not, one of only three authors of The Federalist Papers or no -- that's too politically correct to say nowadays.
Many of the controversial issues of our day, such as abortion and marriage, have become political. But in reality, they are simply moral issues that have changed into political ones.
I think part of the reason we don't hear much from pastors these days is because of a misunderstanding of the law. Some fear -- wrongly -- that if they say anything viewed as a political statement, then they might lose their tax-exempt status. I plan on addressing this point in a subsequent article.
In any event, we should remember that some biblical figures, like Moses and John the Baptist, spoke out against the rulers at the time and paid a price for it. Historically, being faithful to their God sometimes had a high price to it, as seen by those brave Christians fed to the lions in the arena rather than renounce their faith.
There's a great painting at the Art Institute of Chicago showing St. Ambrose rebuking Roman Emperor Theodosius (around the end of the 4th century) for an imperial massacre in Thessalonica. The bishop took his life in his hands by making such a pronouncement against the lord of the whole empire. Thankfully, Theodosius repented.
Thomas More wasn't so fortunate in his stance in refusing to give into King Henry VIII's demand for divine sanction for his divorce. More was beheaded for his courage to go against the king.
The price a bold pastor has to pay in our culture is generally a much smaller one than those sometimes demanded in the past -- or even today in some of the world's hot spots, such as in the Middle East. There's an Iranian pastor on death row right now for having converted from Islam.
Historically, in the American context, pastors and the church have often led the way in societal reforms -- some of which had political implications. Two-thirds of the members of the abolition society in 1835 were ministers of the gospel. Also, the anti-slavery Underground Railroad was run by churches.
For good or bad, there's no doubt that prohibition was led by ministers, churches, and laywomen.
The civil rights movement was essentially born in the basement of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, led by their minister, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on December 1, 1955, the night Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus after a hard day's work. Watch raw tapes of the civil rights marches and you'll see many different Christian groups participating.
Before we even became a country, pastors (especially in New England) would preach election day sermons, not necessarily endorsing particular candidates, but explaining biblical civic duties. Georgetown-educated Dr. Donald Lutz, political science professor at the University of Houston, even notes that even the word "election" comes from the Bible and not from politics.
Dr. Donald Lutz told me: "Elections were designed by these Americans in the early era for a virtuous people to help identify who amongst are more virtuous. Who are those who are most likely to be among the elect, those who are most likely to be saved? Elections are an attempt to recognize those who are among the elect, those are more likely to have been saved and going to heaven. Therefore, we, in this country, expect those people who are elected to be virtuous."
Dr. Lutz added: "This drives the Europeans crazy. Why do we expect our president and our representatives to be good and Godly people? It's because this is the habit we got into in the very beginning. It's a Puritan notion, which we Catholics buy into right away."
The professor notes that it wasn't enough that the candidate simply said that they were decent people. Their actions had to match their words: "And then, we would quiz them very carefully. How did you perform in the past? Were you God-fearing and were you pursuing the common good in the way you voted, the way you behaved, the way you acted? If not, I'm not going to vote for you. And so, we would filter upward men or women of greater virtue to higher office."
We are far removed from our Puritan roots. But I think some of their core principles still apply -- especially the idea that the church should not completely abandon the political process.
For years, my pastor was the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, who noted: "Someone said to me, 'Do you think Christians should be involved in politics? That's dirty business.' I said, 'Of course not, you should leave it to the atheists; otherwise, you wouldn't have anything to complain about.' Well, we have got plenty to complain about today, because that is exactly what we've done."
During this election season, the issue of religion has come up on many occasions. But for the most part, we haven't heard from many pastors -- except, for example, from the brave priest from Indiana, with his denunciation against the Obama administration's move to force Catholic agencies to fund contraceptives and abortifacients against their consciences.
