Lynn Green

Tag: China

  • Congregating in the Egyptian Desert

    Congregating in the Egyptian Desert

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    CONGREGATING IN THE EGYPTIAN DESERT

    Why would two to three thousand people from dozens of nations gather in the Western desert of Egypt (between Cairo and Alexandria) just to worship and pray?  There were no guest speakers, and the very long sessions were mostly prayer and worship.  In fact at one point the whole group simply sang the name of Jesus (sounds like “Yassu” in Arabic) for nearly an hour.  Why would over 300 Chinese risk coming to the event, knowing they are likely to be questioned by the Police and possibly punished on their return?  Why would people pay their own way, then sit on buses travelling under armed guard from Cairo to the desert and back each day – a journey that took at least three hours?

    Described that way, it sounds like torture to me — especially the idea of being in a tent in the desert with the temperature approaching 40 degrees C.  But it wasn’t!  Something very powerful happened, of which I can only give you a glimpse.  In fact trying to describe this event reminds me of the Apostle Paul’s phrase that we “see through a glass darkly”. 

    THE COMPLEMENTARY BODY

    Perhaps it helps to think firstly about who we are.  We are all created as individuals, and we differ immensely.  Some of us are very logical and concrete and linear in the way we think and live – I am one of those.  Others are deeply moved by symbolic gestures, visions and dreams or connections that remind them of scripture passages.  This kind of gathering tends to attract more of the people who get visions and dreams and see great significance in what sometimes looks like coincidences to me.  I need these people, and they need me.  Together we represent body, as Paul writes in I Corinthians 12, and we can safely discern what God is saying and doing – at least as much as He wants us to .  But, there will always be mysteries.

    ANCIENT “GODS” IN MODERN TIMES

    Let me back up a bit, though.  It didn’t start in the Western desert.  About ninety of us started in Aswan, in the region of Egypt where there were the most temples, obelisks and symbols of the ancient Egyptian gods.  These “gods” manifest themselves right through human history, and those who seek spiritual power often gravitate back to the symbols that appeared in Egypt about 5000 years ago.  I think especially of the sun god Ra.  Here are some obvious illustrations:  As I understand it, the family of the Japanese Emperor make a covenant with the sun god and that has a direct connection to their flag and national symbol of the rising sun. 

    That symbol appears in many other nations too, including Korea.  Freemasons and others have recognised the power in the symbols of ancient Egypt, so a couple of centuries ago they exported the obelisks from the Luxor region to the financial capitals of the world at that time.  These obelisks still stand in London, Rome (which has eight), Paris and New York; in fact about 25 nations have obelisks in their capital cities. These were all very important symbols of prosperity in the eyes of Freemasons, and so a huge amount of effort was put into dismantling, transporting and reassembling them all across the world.

    A SIGN TO US?

    To the modern mind symbols like that often don’t make immediate sense, and yet we see the significance of symbols throughout the Scriptures.  A central command of the Ten Commandments that God gave is that we should have no idols, and when you stop and think about the Biblical stories they are full of physical objects and acts that seemed to have direct spiritual power.  I am deeply convinced that some material objects represent a direct connection to spiritual power.  Interestingly, on the first day we began to worship in Aswan, with a number of Japanese believers present, a recently-erected 40 ton golden statue fell face downward in Okinawa.  It was exactly like the story of Dagon in Judges 16.  If you do a google search you can see a picture of it.  The statue was 38 metres high (125 feet).

    Here is what I think was going on both in Aswan and in the Western desert.  Firstly, Egypt is a spiritual “mother” nation, and is the source of historical spiritual power, but can also be a mother of nations for blessing.  We gathered in Egypt because we were convinced that God had said to do so, but gathering in Egypt alone does not give you power.  What gives power is when people come together across the usual social divides:  those can be national, racial, cultural, linguistic, economic or gender.  The list could go on and on, and has to include age.  I have been in many of these prayer and worship gatherings now, and the most notable characteristic of them is family affection.  When God’s people come together and bridge all the usual divides which cause conflict, then we fulfill the condition for exercising the authority that Paul describes in Ephesians 1 and elsewhere, when he says “we are seated with Christ … far above all principalities and powers”. 

    ARE WE UNDER OR OVER?

    We can get used to operating under the spiritual powers, and the divisions, suspicion, fear and even violence that they foster between different groups.  But the Body of Christ is called to oneness and interdependence across all these divides.  From that place we have the authority that the Bible describes. Sadly, we too rarely rise to that high calling of authority.

    So that is what we did in Egypt.  We let the Holy Spirit lead without a pre-planned agenda, and we ended up with a sense of God speaking into various nations, including China, Japan and Korea, but also with a day-long emphasis on the entire continent of Africa.

    I have to add one thing, otherwise these events could appear to have no direct application.  The Lord did bring a lot of encouragement to the Egyptians, who have experienced great discouragement and despondency, especially in the last decade or so. The Christians there are discriminated against, and the nation itself has experienced one huge setback after another. 

    So there were many words of encouragement to the Egyptians, but it was not only that.  On the second to last day, a soft-spoken Sudanese pastor stood to describe how much racial discrimination he had experienced at the hands of Egyptians, including the Christians.  It exposed another divide that God wanted us to close.  The Egyptian response was deep humility, worship, repentance, and asking forgiveness, not only of the Sudanese who were there but all the Africans, as they realised that they had discriminated on the basis of skin colour.

    Throughout the four days, we did not seek to address any of the spiritual forces, but we focussed on worshipping Jesus. As we did so some of these issues of division were dealt with indirectly and, I believe, the kingdom of darkness were dealt a mighty blow.

    The principalities and powers are forces of division, fear, hatred, and violence—all towards the end that the image of God would be eradicated from the earth.  However during a few days in the deserts of Egypt under a burning sun, we bridged  many of the divisions, and it seemed that God smiled—then He achieved some of His purposes all over the earth because a group of His people really did act as His body with Jesus as the Head.

    Lynn Green.

  • “Thy Kingdom Come”

    “Thy Kingdom Come”

    Photo© Slava Bowman

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    AMAZING GROWTH IN WHAT USED TO BE “THE HARD PLACES”

    One of my good friends just came back from China after a trip to join with Chinese officials to launch the first officially approved study Bible in Mandarin, the main language of China.  He also met some pastors in the official Church and attended a service in a large church building that was constructed by the government.  The minister of this church said his biggest problem was finding a way to disciple the large numbers coming to faith in Jesus and attending his church.  He was baptizing another 100 new converts the next Sunday.

    My personal connections have been with the leaders of the unofficial Church in China.  A few years ago, when I was just getting to know some of these extraordinary people, the majority of them women, I was talking to one lady who has a great heart for the Chinese missions movement known as Back To Jerusalem.  Another person who knew her took me aside later the same day and asked if I knew much about her.  He then explained that she has been an extraordinarily fruitful person for decades.  “She knows what it is to lead 10,000 people to Christ in a day!”

    Do the Chinese people believe their prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done…” is being answered?  Surely they do!

     

    My recent article about the Middle East provides another context for that question.  Anyone can see that there is unprecedented growth in the numbers of people following Jesus.  The figures are not yet statistically impressive, but with hundreds of millions of people in that part of the world, only tens of millions would be statistically significant.  But the numbers are huge when compared to any time in the last 13 centuries.  Do the faithful there believe that the Kingdom is coming?  They certainly do!  There was such buoyant faith in the meetings I attended in the Gulf and in Egypt.

    THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTEXT

    Our context always shapes our perspective.  Most people who live around where I live, in Europe (or islands off the coast of Europe, depending on your politics), would not think that the Kingdom of God is on the move.  Marti and I have lived in Europe for nearly 50 years now.  When we first came, it was during the exciting days of the charismatic movement.  We attended meetings of thousands of people from many different churches and denominations and excitement was in the air.  Soon after we moved here in 1971, over 25,000 people gathered in central London to proclaim the name of Jesus in the Nationwide Festival of Light.

    About 15 years later I helped convene 55,000 people for a prayer meeting that grew to global proportions and became known as March For Jesus. I think it was 1992 when I stood on a stage in Hyde Park, London and looked over a crowd of 100,000 worshiping people.  It certainly felt like the Kingdom was coming!

    DISTORTED CONTEXT

    On the other hand, I recently read an article by a British journalist, similar to articles I have read from time to time, in which he quoted the official statistics of church attendance and concluded that Christianity is disappearing in the UK and Western Europe.  He concluded with a well-worn sentence;

    “Will the last person leaving the Church please turn off the lights?” 

    That’s the way it seems from his context.  Context makes a difference. But I have to ask, are the statistics he is referring to reliable pointers to the health of the Christian faith?  The picture I see is quite different.  I see that:

    Much of the vitality of the charismatic movement is now expressed in small groups and congregations that meet in homes, school auditoria, town halls, business facilities, warehouses etc.  No one could accurately track the numbers.

    If we simply poll the traditional denomination HQs and measure the numbers meeting in official church buildings, the results are negative and can be extrapolated to the point when they will be zero.  But that picture is not representative of the Body of Christ.

    Because it is no longer socially important to attend church, those who do, most often do so out of genuine commitment to follow Jesus.

    There are church planting movements that are becoming more dynamic and statistically significant every year, especially in the Church of England.

    Almost every church in our town has grown significantly in the past decade and there is more mutual respect and unity than any time in recorded history! I hear that in town after town in Britain.

    I’M OLD ENOUGH TO DO A LITTLE HISTORY

    When Marti and I first moved to London, we could not find a church with obvious spiritual life. But we did find a curate (if you are not familiar with that term, it is kind of a trainee minister) at a small church with a big building by the name of Holy Trinity Brompton.  Nicholas Rivett-Carnac conducted small healing services and prayed for life in HTB.  Today that church has world-wide impact through the Alpha Course and has packed multiple weekend services to cope with the crowds.  It has also planted congregations that plant congregations that plant congregations… so that no one can count how many churches have been impacted.

    I conclude from all this anecdotal evidence that “social Christianity” has died in the past 7 decades but that genuine faith and discipleship has grown many times over.  I also conclude that the move away from institutional church and towards informal but consistent fellowship between believers is very hard to track and no journalists I know of have even made an attempt.

    THE BLINDNESS OF HUBRIS

    Speaking of journalism, there was a recent discussion about why the BBC should produce more religious broadcasting.  In the course of that discussion the head of religious broadcasting, James Purnell, identified himself as an atheist. He also confirmed that the BBC would be increasing the number of religious programmes.  However, in the light of “the steady decline of Christianity” they would be sure the programming is of a multi-faith nature.

    One third of the world’s population identify themselves as Christians!!  Where has this man been?

    Well, he has been in the context of the “educated liberal elite” many of whom have somehow come to believe they are in the majority, even though they are a very small minority in this world. His response in a recent interview demonstrates the approach of so many of the liberal elite to religion.  A broadcast journalist asked him, ‘Are you a religious man?’, to which Purnell replied: ‘I’m not…I’m an atheist but I think the issues around belief are incredibly important to how we live. But not important to how HE lives?

    These are the people who feed us information about our world, either directly or indirectly.

    But they do so from a sort of echo chamber of like-minded people and their context warps their perception and conclusions.  Almost everything they say about the Christian faith has to be seen through the knowledge that they don’t know nearly as much about the world as they think they do.  Constant immersion in the society of the highly educated elites dulls the senses.

    TWO WAYS TO SEE THE WORLD

    I am grateful that, over the decades, I have travelled to so much of the world on a very small budget.  So I don’t often stay in hotels; I am not hosted by powerful people; I don’t travel on private jets or in first class.  I usually live with local people at their level, eat their food, meet their families etc. On every continent and virtually every nation there is evidence that the Kingdom of God is growing—but that evidence is usually seen at grass-roots level.

    Once a person becomes either rich or powerful they can no longer see the world like that.  Sadly, most of our elite leaders have never lived at a time when they could mingle with normal people in different parts of the world.  They don’t know what it is to see reality without it being “managed” with political or financial motives in mind.  Wealth and power are terribly isolating!

    All that is about context.  You might continue to hear, from journalists and broadcasters in parts of the the developed world that Christianity is dying out.  Sympathize with the predicament of their context, but more importantly, remember, their view is usually blinkered.

    “THY KINGDOM COME” is being answered like never before in the history of mankind!

    Lynn Green.

  • What Happened In Japan

    What Happened In Japan

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    How do we know when there has been a breakthrough in “the heavenlies”? 

    We know various scriptures refer to fighting “principalities and powers” and that Old Testament stories sometimes refer to, or illustrate, that idea.  But for most of us, the spiritual realm, or the heavenlies, is hard to understand.

    In spite of my limited understanding of this dimension, I can say with some confidence that there was a spiritual breakthrough in Japan during the first week of May, 2015.  Though the population of Christians in Japan has been stuck for many decades at less than one percent, that is about to change.  Watch this nation because many more people are going to become followers of Jesus.

    Just a few decades ago the Church in China was also stuck at less than one percent with persecution and martyrdom eroding the numbers fast.  In spite of those very hard times, the Chinese church has grown more than 100-fold. So it will be in Japan.

    My confidence is based upon what we experienced in Kobe, Japan over a period of four days.  The four thousand people who gathered spent the great majority of the time in worship, and the Chinese setting the tone with their love for Jesus.  They were there in good numbers and for the first time so were the Koreans.  (These nations have invaded, dominated and plundered one another for centuries with Japan usually being the most powerful.)  The worship flowed into times of repentance, forgiveness and commitments to love one another.

    Their mutual commitments were formalized in a statement in all three languages by which they covenanted to love on another no matter what politics, media or any other influence might do.  There were hundreds of pastors from all three nations and also from Taiwan and other East Asian nations all hugging one another in heart-felt commitment.

    There were other breakthroughs too.  These cultures have not had loving family models.  Most men are aloof, harsh husbands and fathers.  People in leadership positions are expected to be even more stoic and inscrutable.  So when a senior Japanese pastor talked humbly and transparently about his failings as a father, it softened everyone.  When his two sons joined him on stage to express their forgiveness and their admiration, we could sense how their humility was changing a culture for the better.

    This year marks the 70th year since WWII and 400 years since thousands of Japanese Christians were martyred.  Israel was exiled in Babylon for 70 years, and then restoration began.  So it will be with Japan.  With leading believers from China, Japan and Korea joining together in unity, we can expect extraordinary growth in the Kingdom of God in all of the Far East.

    On a more personal note, I was surprised and deeply moved by a conversation with a leading Chinese “father”.  He is the senior leader of the largest network of churches in China and he greeted me with a big hug and tears.  Through an interpreter, he explained that our presence at the Hong Kong Gathering in August of 2013 had imparted a new level of missionary vision for the Body of Christ in China.  We had already been told that the government had given him a passport for the first time in his life, so the trip to Japan was his first time to be allowed out of the country.  (He has been in prison for much of his adult life.)  He went on to say that the government in Beijing has had a change of mind about the role of the Church and about foreign missionaries— at least partly based upon viewing the video of our act of repentance for the Opium Wars at that same event in 2013.  I was amazed!!

    This entire journey with the Church in East Asia has been another illustration of a powerful truth:   God often presents us with a task that seems sacrificial, but when we say yes, He makes it a joy and also makes it more fruitful than we could ever imagine.  God is good—all the time!

    Lynn Green

  • Opium, Emperors and Missionaries

    Opium, Emperors and Missionaries

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    We usually underestimate the role that history plays in shaping nations and relations between them.  So it is with China and its view of the West.  Every Chinese person I have spoken to has a detailed knowledge of events that stretched from the 1830s to the 1930s, in which “the Western nations oppressed us and kept us poor”.  To understand is to empathise and empathy is a powerful factor even in international relations.