Prestonwood in China
Few of Prestonwood's mission destinations are as comfortable for American city dwellers as China. No jungle trips, no third-world diseases, no construction projects, no roughing it come bedtime. On the other hand, few trips are as uncomfortable. The entire mission depends not on brawn and dollars and service projects, but on the most basic tools of evangelism: conversation and friendship.
Sure, it takes some guts to go into a communist nation as a tourist, walk the streets of cities and ask English-speaking Chinese for a get-to-know-you conversation over coffee. But the joy of the mission is this: Pretty much any believer can do it and it works!
On Prestonwood's most recent trip to China last year, lay missionaries - a title all Christians should embrace - presented the Gospel to 70 people and led 12 to Christ. Prestonwood has taken two 10-day trips to China, the first in 2007, each time with fewer than 20 people. A third group leaves for China on May 4.
"You come from America, and speak English," said Mark Penick, Prestonwood's point man for China missions and the Open Division minister. "They can't wait to meet Americans because they've learned English since first grade but never had an opportunity to speak English with an American." That's how the Lord used church member and businessman David Key on a China trip in 2007. While at a coffee shop one day, a young Asian man approached him and asked, "Hey, what's going on?" The two talked daily over several days, and the man accepted Christ before Key returned to Texas. They remain in touch over e-mail. "You guys came to my country and brought the spark of a fire; otherwise, how can we know?" the man told Prestonwood during a later visit to Texas. "I think it's part of God's plan."
Many of the conversations start up over coffee. But some also come at events organized by a Prestonwood-supported missionary working for the International Missions Board. The missionary sets up events for three teams: business, education and parenting/family. The family group may speak about parenting in a library. The business group puts on lunches and dinners about American business practices. The education group sets up meetings with Chinese educators. The goal is always the same: though the formal talks cannot bring in the Gospel, the hope is that informal conversations afterward will lead to the Gospel.
"It's all very intentional for the Gospel," Penick said. "We're trying to mobilize believers as part of the normal Christian life, so that guys like you and me live on mission for Christ." Missions is not merely concerned with sharing the gospel, it seeks to establish the church. When a Prestonwood team leaves the country, the mission is not over. New believers are connected with the full-time missionary, who has seen more than 200 house churches planted in China in the last three and a half year. With each house church averaging about 20 people each, this means 4,000 new believers are engaged in the church and reaching their families, friends, and neighbors with the gospel.
