What’s the world’s biggest annual television event, year after year? Hint: it’s not the Super Bowl!
Tonight, over 700 million people will gather in China with family around their TVs for the most watched annual entertainment program in history, the four-hour Chinese New Year Gala, broadcast by China Central Television. (By contrast, the Super Bowl is expected to draw about 120 million television viewers.)
Chinese New Year is celebrated around the world. The “Chinese diaspora” has resulted in millions of Chinese living abroad in the nations of Asia—Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia have the most—and more recently in the West. Our churches in Australia, for example, now have many Chinese disciples.
To mark the Chinese New Year, for the next several days Disciples Today will publish a series of articles written by our correspondent in mainland China, who is celebrating the Chinese New Year with friends and family in southern China.
Part 1: Good news from China
This year saw the establishment of the China School of Missions, and ambitious multi-year project to provide Biblical and pastoral training for church leaders and staff throughout the China family of churches.
We now have ministries at over 30 campuses throughout the greater China region and saw 46 baptisms just in the campus ministries in 2016. This past summer 32 campus disciples participated in “Dragon Trips,” short-term missions to help take the gospel to some of the largest cities in the world. Boston Church of Christ campus leaders Kevin and Melissa Miller have been invited to speak at the Hong Kong campus’ evangelistic kick-off event for the new year. This August, there will be a big China Campus Conference.
Our churches now have hundreds of children as disciples baptized in the campus and singles ministries mature and form families, creating a great need for teaching in this area. The Prepare/Enrich marriage training series (pictured above) was held twice in 2016, with participants from multiple churches learning how to use effective tools to counsel marriages and strengthen our Christian families.
Already seven disciples have committed to join the next church planting, with others close to a decision. This church planting, slated to go out in just seven months, will be in the largest city in the world we have yet to plant a congregation of the International Churches of Christ.
The best news from China is, of course, every soul won to Jesus in the past year. Many of the over 100 Chinese people baptized into Christ in 2016 were the first in their family to embrace Christianity. Can you imagine the rejoicing in heaven?
Next in this series: Are Christians In China Persecuted?