China Updates

From a China worker;
"Well, they finally got it!" This was the statement from a co-worker whom I heard from this morning regarding a group of people that he'd been working with for a while trying to get them to understand the ideas behind a "Church Planting Movement" as a goal. He said that, while visiting a group of trainees in a large city, he finally heard the leader of the group confess that he'd been slow to pick up the greater dream of reaching a larger target group with the gospel. Yet, he told my friend, "I think I finally understand that it may be slow at times but the growth will come as multiple lay leaders pick up the responsibilities of being church." At this point, the leader shared that they'd had over 1000 baptisms during this year with the beginning of 80 new house churches. The greatest praise is that neither my co-worker, nor the local brother, are satisfied now and want to really multiple trainers and churches next year! With a burden for reaching the masses, the "business as usual approach" to outreach and church growth must be challenged by us all.