Christian missions has always been on my mind since the first person in our family heard about Jesus from a missionary from the UK. My great-grandparents were very sincere Buddhists, but Buddha did not save their firstborn grandchild. Therefore, they started to look for a real god. After they heard the gospel from that British missionary, they witnessed many miracles and thus found that Jesus is the real God.
I am a fourth-generation Christian. My grandfather was a pastor who lived through the Cultural Revolution in 1960s and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in 1950s. In the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the local officials took over control of many churches, but my grandfather stood firm with his faith and pastored an underground church. Because he refused to be part of the Three-Self churches, life was not easy for him. When I was a kid, my grandfather told me many stories about how God was with him through many persecutions during 1950s and 1960s.
My grandfather’s stories about God’s miracles were inspiring to me when I was a kid. I hoped that God would use me in powerful ways to bring people to Him as He did with my grandfather. I prayed to God that I would die for him. However, this determination was shaken after I experienced persecution first-hand. One day in 2007, my mother left me alone at home and told me that she was going to visit my father in another city. I felt very nervous because my mother had never visited my father while he was out for missions. Later, I learned that my father had been arrested for preaching. Since then, there has always been fear in my heart. In 2015 and 2016, my church faced another round of persecution as local officials tried to take crosses down from church buildings. Thus, my fear grew, and this fear shook my determination to participate in missions.
In 2018, I heard about the concept of business as mission (BAM) in my management class. Quickly, I adopted the idea and thought BAM was a better alternative for me. Since then, I have been in several programs related to BAM. Last year, I met Andrew through Praxis Academy. I got to know him better through working on a project together. He invited me to participate in the Indigitous Texas #Hack2020, where I learned about digital missions. That same month, a speaker came to my college to share about her ministry in the Middle East. She shared that it is dangerous for people in the Middle East to hear about Jesus and read from physical copies of the Bible. However, having access to Bible apps on phones has played a big part in bringing the gospel to the Muslim community in the Middle East. This story opened my eyes and encouraged me to explore digital mission.
What’s more, God has enabled me to see and hear many brokenness and many stories about people groups who have never heard about Jesus. I truly believe there is a reason that God has allowed me to see these things, and I want to explore what God wants me to do. Therefore, I joined the Serve Cohort to explore mission with the other six peers and two mentors.
Jabez