Thank you for praying for our fellow believers in China who are experiencing increased hostility from their government. We have remained in regular communication with our ministry partners in China, conducting Biblical counseling and providing advice through technology called WeChat, which is like twitter in US. Our “city” group planned to plant a church in 2018, but the tightened government control made them unable to find a meeting place. This March, they officially launched it. It is their first church plant, in the midst of heightened persecution from government! A core group from the “mother” church launched a new location in another part of the city, which has population of 30 million! This has been two years in prayer and planning, and we are super excited to see the Lord moving!! In addition, this is a testimony of God’s faithfulness and their unwavering faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Four of the men we trained are leading this plant. So please pray for them to continue to trust the Lord and lead the newly planted church according to what the Lord taught and showed in the Bible. Praise the Lord for their moving ahead given the current environment toward Christianity in China. Please also pray for the “mother” church to continue to grow in faith, in laborers and workers, and in numbers of believers. They have already asked us to train more men for them. Oddly, to our thinking, the “countryside” portion of our work is attracting more government attention. They are laying low and have broken into small cells to fly under the radar. So please pray that they will remain faithful to the Lord while they are scattered. We are hoping to be able to make a trip over the summer, but the situation still does not allow us to do so. The Chinese government has encouraged local people to report any “suspected” foreigners for 5000-10,000 RMB (Chinese yuan). This can be very troublesome for us, especially for Mr. Jones and, as a result, for the local believers. We are praying, exploring the feasibility, and seeking confirmation for other ways to serve Chinese believers. Please pray with us as we seek the Lord’s guidance in this area. As always, we appreciate your continued support and prayers.

Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, BUT the LORD directs his steps.” Ironically, and with some surprise, unplanned circumstances over the past few months dictate that we begin this update with this Scripture and its attendant meaning! We unexpectedly returned to the States due to a significant trial in the club we are serving and the potential fall-out arising from our presence. We enjoyed an extended season of rest in America over the past several months and were ticketed to return to China September 9th, only to have our departure flights cancelled by Hurricane Irma - which struck our home on the West Coast of Florida with a fury. By God’s grace, what first appeared to be an inevitable direct hit from the eye of the storm was rerouted a mere 20 miles to our east, sparing us from the most fearsome effects of the winds, rain, and storm surge. The airlines rescheduled us to depart September 14th - only to suffer another unexpected setback. Mr. Jones had been battling an unexplained hand infection for about a month. Making a long story short, he required immediate surgery on his right hand on Wednesday, the 13th. The surgery was successful! After a short, but intense, period of prayer, we determined that Mrs. Jones would return as planned and her husband will remain in the States until the wounds have fully healed, and he has completed his physical therapy to restore movement and range of motion to his pinky finger. This is expected to be anywhere from 6-12 weeks, depending upon how the finger responds. Now these two things alone would be trying enough... but two days after Mrs. Jones’ return, a sister club (with a foreign influence working with them - just like us!) received a foreboding message from government authorities. Translated into English, the notice says, “You are to immediately cease conducting worship services and you are “requested” to gather for services at the Three Self Church. You are further “invited” to a meeting at the police station to discuss your “unlawful meetings.” As you may remember, about this time last year, the religious bureau published new... and draconian... religious regulations for public comment. Like all bureaucracies, things moved slowly, but the new regulations have traversed the political system and been approved into law. They will become ‘official’ in February of 2018 - though functional immediately. Many of the regulations under this law have been in place before. What makes this iteration different is the articulation of specific enforcement mechanisms (lacking in previous regulations) and substantial financial penalties. Physical persecution did not impede the church... now they move to economic persecution. The full extent of these newly implemented regulations is beyond the scope of this update, but the net is this: Government scrutiny is returning to the Chinese house-church network after a ten year period of relative peaceful coexistence. One area of particular government focus is the presence of ANY foreign influence in the church, along with sources of church funding. As you continue to strive with us in God’s work, please keep the following matters in prayer: 1. Pray for our Chinese brethren as they face an uncertain future and a season of increased attention... and likely persecution... from the government; 2. Pray for Mrs. Jones’ safety, stamina, and “invisibility” as she ministers alone for a short period of time; 3. Pray for a quick recovery from surgery for Mr. Jones; and 4. Pray for discernment as we ponder how God will direct the ministry in the coming year. As always, we deeply value, and never take for granted, your participation in the ministry. We say the same thing every time simply because the same thing needs to be said... namely, that without your support, we could not do what we do! We extend our deepest and most humble gratitude to each one of you.

By God’s grace and sovereignty, we have experienced some wonderful highlights in 2016. We completed the transition from a broad-based ministry model to one where we concentrate on serving a single church in a single location. This has been a difficult transition, but we are deeply committed to the church as God’s vehicle in the world in this dispensation. While we thought this might make our ministry life more manageable, the complete opposite has been true! The church can be a messy place, but the church is God’s means of displaying His glory. So we consider it all joy as we encountered various trials. It has tested our faith, and it has produced endurance! Church Governance: We completed a year-long process of examination and preparation to install a plurality of male Elders to replace the church’s 10-year “steering committee” structure. In March of 2016, five men were nominated to become Elders, and Lord willing, will be formally installed in the first quarter of 2017. Ministry Philosophy and Structure: One of the chief tasks for the Elder candidates was to develop a clear and biblical philosophy for ministry, along with a structure to support their ministry programs. The results of this nine month effort was presented at the end of the year at the church’s annual general meeting. Expository Preaching: Completing a process that began in 2015, the church fulfilled their goal to staff all of their preaching internally. Seven men committed to an intensive training process to learn the expository preaching method. We began with a series on Jesus’ sermon on the mount and then on to our first book - James. In November, they began what will be a year long series on the book of Ephesians. In addition to preparing their weekly messages, the speakers prepare a Small Group Discussion Guide (SGDG) as a companion to their sermon. In 2016, a number of small groups experimented with the SGDG, using it to go deeper with an emphasis on applying the messages to their daily lives. What a blessing to see the Holy Spirit fill lay-leaders for this important ministry of the church. Remember, none of these men have had the privilege of formal theological training and ALL of them serve bi-vocationally! A testimony to being submitted to, and walking in, the Holy Spirit. Biblical Counseling: Like many churches, there is a great need to counsel people on handling life biblically. Significant steps were taken to train an initial group of Biblical counselors and then deploy them throughout the small group network. Bible Studies: Two women’s Bible studies (singles and Mom’s group) and one mixed Bible study commenced in 2016 studying the book of Romans. It is a very new thing for this church to participate in detailed, verse-by-verse exposition of the Bible. It was pure joy to watch them experience slowing down and discovering the richness of God’s word. Personal Discipleship: Both of us worked closely with a small number of key church leaders, meeting on a regular basis to focus on growing in spiritual maturity and as leaders. Our home was filled with people most nights of the week - something new, and challenging, for both of us as the gift of hospitality is not a natural one. This started slowly, but by year end has started to yield some fruit. Celebration: 2016 marked the 10-year anniversary of this church, which they celebrated with a church wide gathering... a first in their history. What a joyful time it was! What began as a small group Bible study has grown into a 350 person church that conducts three weekend services, children’s and adult Sunday school classes, and 30 weekly small group gatherings. What a testimony to the power of God - and the faithfulness of these local saints. Again, let me remind you... not one paid staff member. Completely lay led. Quite remarkable really! Looking Ahead: Over the past ten years, the church in China has experienced a period of peaceful coexistence and relative freedom to meet openly. This appears to be changing - both quickly and severely. The Chinese central government issued new religious regulations for comment over the summer. If enacted into law (very likely), they will lead to serious persecution and drive significant changes to the way the church, to be God’s church, has to operate in China. At the extreme, our group might be faced with breaking into their 30 small groups to avoid detection. In short, the modest gains in semi-open Christian gatherings over the past ten years will be rolled back in a draconian fashion when these new regulations become enacted in March of 2017. Please pray for discernment and protection for our church. For us personally, it may result in changes to our ability to be here on a full-time basis. We have been told by credible sources that we need to treat every month as if it could be our last month. It is our distinct privilege to be supported by you, enabling us to fulfill our call. We are most thankful!

The China Sees ministry began their partnership with Harvesters in January 2015. In that time, they have made significant strides in growing both their ministry and the lay leaders. The countryside ministry addresses the leadership needs of a rural house church network. Their focus is to equip their leadership to self-sufficiently conduct the work of the ministry. The primary vehicle for achieving this goal is a “lay seminary”, which teaches Bible exposition skills, basic theological doctrines, Bible survey, expository preaching, and fundamentals of evangelism. One class has graduated with two others in progress. The cityside ministry is the complete opposite of the countryside group in every way. Here, the couple is more focused on serving a group of house churches or “club”. House churches are growing exponentially and are in desperate need of additional leadership! The primary initiatives with the cityside ministry are: Club Governance: The couple is leading the club through a study of eldership, which will culminate in the selection and appointment of their first elders. Expository Preaching: This is an ongoing effort to train the club’s internal leaders to regularly staff the pulpit. Previously they leaned on outside speakers with little continuity or content control. Three men have completed a full year of study and now carry the preaching load. The couple had just begun working with an additional three men to help with this task. Small Groups: The couple will begin a pilot program to repurpose the weekly message into a discussion guide for small groups. The club has a vibrant small group program, but struggles with staffing the leadership and preparing the lessons. This program will allow leaders to focus caring and fellowship while still conducting a quality Bible study focused on going deeper and applying the prior week’s pulpit message. Caring for and ministerinf to small group leaders is a big challenge and major focus for 2015. Biblical Caring: During 2015, Mrs. Jones trained almost 30 people in Blblical Counseling. This was a significant undertaking starting from ground zero! The goal for 2016 is to deploy these people into the small group network to provide counseling and support. Please pray for the health and safety of this couple as they continue to seek God’s will in expanding their ministry.

China Sees – Harvesters

China Sees

andrea2019-06-03T09:31:19-04:00June 3rd, 2019|China Sees|

Thank you for praying for our fellow believers in China who are experiencing increased hostility from their government. We have remained in regular communication with [...]

From the Field

andrea2017-12-13T15:31:25-05:00December 13th, 2017|China Sees|

Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, BUT the LORD directs his steps.” Ironically, and with some surprise, unplanned circumstances over the [...]

From the Field

andrea2017-03-20T16:01:24-04:00March 20th, 2017|China Sees|

By God’s grace and sovereignty, we have experienced some wonderful highlights in 2016. We completed the transition from a broad-based ministry model to one where [...]

China Sees – Year-End Update

andrea2017-01-05T14:51:27-05:00January 5th, 2017|China Sees|

Below is a 2016 year-end update from our partner in China. For their protection, they are referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Wow [...]

China Sees Update

andrea2016-03-30T15:45:07-04:00March 30th, 2016|China Sees|

The China Sees ministry began their partnership with Harvesters in January 2015. In that time, they have made significant strides in growing both their ministry [...]

China’s Growth Explosion

andrea2015-06-11T01:00:58-04:00June 11th, 2015|China Sees|

The church in China, like China itself, is complicated. Western missionaries laid much of the foundation for today’s church over 150 years ago. Recent growth [...]

Expanding Our Horizons

andrea2015-03-14T22:00:12-04:00March 14th, 2015|China Sees, Harvesters International Ministries News|

The Lord continues to expand Harvesters’ reach around the world! After much prayer and discussion, two very important votes were taken at the December Board [...]