I was amazed at the opportunities for witnessing and the creativity used to share the gospel in one of the last strongholds of communism. A viable question is, “How can you share the gospel in a land with a restrictive, communist government?” The answer lies in ministries through schools, factories and medical clinics, as well as any door that may open itself.
I can only relate to this experience what I have already known from previous experiences. After the walls of communism fell in Eastern Europe, my father and I went to Romania. We met with many dear Christians who paid a heavy price for teaching and preaching the gospel under their communist regime.
They were denied jobs and promotions, were beaten and imprisoned, and many of them knew loved ones who literally “died for their faith.” I can still visualize the prison they showed us where many Christians died. I can recall them talking about how the Navigators came secretly over the border and met them in the high weeds and grasses. In the dark of night, they would teach the believers God’s precious truths from his word, using flashlights.
When the walls came down, evangelical leaders from the West discovered a huge underground church in Romania. In 1998, the Romanian Christians that we got to know told us that “communism enabled the church to grow, but materialism was now stealing many of their young people’s hearts.” They were actually telling me that the spread of the gospel was more prominent during those difficult communist years!
In 1997, as an IMB trustee, I spent approximately one month in several very restrictive Muslim countries. At that time, I was amazed at the difference between the countries. In one country, a school was run by national Baptists where many Muslim children were educated. We were able to attend a Baptist church and buy Arabic Bibles and supplies from a Christian bookstore. However, when our travels took us to a nearby country, everything changed. Sharing the gospel was possible one on one, but extremely risky to the one who shared and the one who received. Bibles were smuggled in through checkpoints. The Arabic Bibles hidden behind my undergarments were not discovered as my luggage was checked.
Due to fear and the amount of darkness surrounding us, it took a lot of hard work to cultivate a harvest, yet things were happening. Our workers had the patience of Job and were only allowed to share on an individual basis as people asked them. In December of 2002, three of our dedicated workers were martyred when an Al-Qaeda trained gunman took their lives. Two of these precious saints had told me when I was with them, “We know that it may be God’s will for us to die a martyr’s death for the sake of the gospel.” Their deaths caused the gospel to grow in that restricted country. God continues to work miraculously in this area of the world. I clearly saw when I was there that he has a plan to reach every soul.
China to me was not as restrictive, not as harsh. The people appeared more open to hear what we had to say. We developed a new ministry while we were there called “The Taxi Cab Ministry.” Any cab driver got the “one-two punch,” which meant that the person in the front seat shared while the rest of us prayed. As to the openness, I can remember praying with others from the top of a tower overlooking a city. In a taxi ride home, the Good News was shared and the driver was very open to our message. People in villages in the rural area were very curious when they saw foreigners in their midst. They touched our skin and invited us into their homes. They even invited us to sit in on their card games. When one of our groups began to share the gospel message with a deck of cards (and who said that Baptists should not play cards), they listened intently and asked questions. I was absolutely amazed.
When a small crowd gathered around, I became concerned due to the attention. When one of the men came to hear what a LifeWay worker was saying through the cards, I thought he would chase us off, but he did not. The people listened intently to what was shared. They had a curious hunger about them. To me it appeared that the fruit was ripe for picking. We left them with tracts of “The Four Spiritual Laws,” the “Jesus” film, and the Bible (all in Mandarin).
In yet another town, we were surprised to find a Christian bookstore. They had Christian materials all printed in Mandarin.