The expansion follows the launch of GOD TV’s dedicated Greater China service on 16 October 2008, which is broadcast directly from Jerusalem via two new satellites, providing the entire Far East region with Christian programming that is catered specifically to Chinese viewers.

The new satellites are Agila 2 – among the most popular in the region, providing direct-to-home access to millions of viewers – and the IS-4 satellite which spans throughout most of the Far East. The utilisation of these two satellites yields a powerful combination, reaching mainland China, Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines and Japan.

“In 2004, we became the first English language Christian broadcaster in Hong Kong with a sizeable Chinese viewership, but we have always wanted to bring so much more to this region,” said GOD TV founder and Chief Executive, Rory Alec. “Now, God has opened up Greater China to us by providing a literally unprecedented opening, which we believe is going to be one of the most significant outreaches in our history.”

Co-founder and Director of Television, Wendy Alec, added, “For years we’ve waited and prayed for an opportunity to reach the Greater China Christian community, and now the dream God seeded in our hearts is becoming a reality. This gateway to millions of new viewers in a region that has been closed to broadcasting the Gospel for generations, will now receive quality Christian programming.”

GOD TV’s Greater China launch was marked by a special live broadcast from GOD TV’s studios in Washington DC on October 16 where the GOD TV founders shared their network’s far-reaching vision for China. Rory and Wendy prayed a prayer of blessing over all new viewers.

The new Greater China feed includes GOD TV’s full line-up of international programming, with some programmes in Mandarin, including popular Bible teacher, Joyce Meyer and the Alpha Course’s Nicky Gumble. Also included in this month’s schedule are two high-profile Christian events in Hong Kong – ‘onething’ from the International House of Prayer, and Christ for all Nation’s Hong Kong Conference with global evangelist Reinhard Bonnke.

Already, new Chinese viewers are contacting GOD TV’s regional office in Hong Kong with enthusiasm. One Chinese student, Yue Yanyun, said: “I watched GOD TV today and it’s really amazing!” Another new viewer from the south of China expressed her appreciation: “I am 23-years-old and I am very happy to have GOD TV, which I believe will help me face my problems and become more positive about life.”

GOD TV was founded in the UK in 1995 by Christian media pioneers Rory & Wendy Alec.

Source: Christianity Today: God TV debuts in China

The 17 supporters, accompanied by three Bible Society staff, departed from Sydney, Australia, last Thursday for the two-week trip that includes visits to local churches, seminaries and local Bible study groups within rural congregations. Participants will help with the distribution of 10,000 Bibles into Nanjing, Xian, Zhengzhou and Shanghai, China.

“China is experiencing a great freedom of worship,” said Bible Society CEO, Daniel Willis. “With this wonderful change the church is spreading rapidly with the number of Christians in China now estimated to be over 100 million.”

The Bible Society works with Amity Printing Company, China’s only state-approved Christian publisher, to provide Bibles to the Chinese people. Chinese Christians can only legally obtain Bibles printed by Amity and distributed by state-registered churches.

In communist China, Christians are not allowed complete freedom of worship in the sense that they can only legally worship in churches belonging to the government-sanctioned Protestant body, the China Christian Council/Three Self Patriotic Movement (CCC/TSPM), or its Catholic counterpart.

Underground Christians, or those belonging to churches not registered with the government, are frequently harassed, imprisoned and even tortured. The number of underground protestant Christians is estimated to be as high as 100 million.

Despite its shortcomings, China often boasts about its respect for religious freedom – which has improved significantly in the past decade – while denying or playing down violations.

China has been especially proud of its Amity Printing Company, which last year became the world’s largest Bible printing facility after expanding its facility. Amity says that its new facility can print up to 12 million Bibles a year, up from six million the previous year.

“Each Chinese Christian would like to experience the joy, peace and inspiration that owning their own Bible brings – but unfortunately for many, obtaining a Bible is difficult and often out of their reach financially,” said Bible Society CEO Willis.

“Our goal is to break down the barriers of distance and isolation and make Bibles available to our Chinese brothers and sisters in Christ,” he said. “Those on the tour will be able to share in the joy of a fellow Christian receiving a copy of God’s Word for the first time.”

Bible Society, with the approval of the Chinese Government, has been printing and distributing Bibles through Amity Press since 1987. During that period, more than 40 million Bibles have been printed and distributed within China.

The China Bible distribution tour will end on April 30, with the Bible Society planning another similar trip in October.

Source: Christianity Today: Bible Society in visit to China

Dr James Hudson Taylor III went to be with Christ at the age of 79, according to mission agency OMF International. He, like his great-grandfather, immersed himself in Chinese culture and shared the Gospel with the Chinese people. Taylor will be remembered as a mission statesman who was warm, a master storyteller, and someone won the respect of senior Chinese government officials and church leaders alike.

OMF International, formerly known as China Inland Mission and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, was founded by James Hudson Taylor in 1865. Taylor spent 51 years in China and the organisation he founded was responsible for bringing more than 800 missionaries to the country. The missionaries in turn began 125 schools, directly resulting in 18,000 Christian conversions.

In 1942, the Taylor children and their grandfather, Herbert Taylor, moved, along with the whole Chefoo school, into an internment camp in Weihsien, north China. The younger Taylor remembers his grandfather’s unshaking faith despite the trialling times.

“I saw in Grandpa how the patterns of life had been set. Every day began with praise,” Taylor wrote in his book God’s Grace to Nine Generations.

The whole family reunited on September 11, 1945, after the camp was liberated.

He returned to the United States for college and earned divinity degrees at Asbury Theological Seminary and Yale University Divinity School. He met his wife Leone Tjepkema, a fellow student, at Spring Arbor College in Michigan and Greenville College in Illinois where he earned his bachelor degree.

The couple served as missionaries in Taiwan and co-worked with Taylor’s parents to teach at Holy Light Bible School, founded by James Taylor II. During his time in Taiwan, Taylor held various leadership roles in theological education and met with Chinese church leaders worldwide to share the need for graduate theological education.

In 1979, he accepted an unexpected invitation to be the seventh general director of then named Overseas Missionary Fellowship. In 1980 he became the first descendant of the mission founder to serve in this position. He turned over leadership of the mission agency to David Pickard in 1991, and with Leone moved to Hong Kong to work with the Chinese people there.

Just two years later, Taylor and several friends in Hong Kong formed Medical Services International (MSI). Later that same year, his son Jamie married Ke Yeh Min from Taiwan, bringing Chinese blood into the family line.

While in Hong Kong, Taylor loved teaching Bible stories and New Testament Greek to his grandchildren James Hudson Taylor V (known as JT) and his sisters, Selina and Joy, according to OMF.

Taylor’s dedication to the Chinese people touched the Chinese government’s heart and on April 4, 2007, he was awarded an honorary citizenship by a county of the Sichuan province.

His book, Even to Death: The Life and Legacy of Samuel Dyer, co-authored with Irene Chang about the life of Hudson Taylor’s father-in-law will be published later this year.

James Hudson Taylor III was born on August 12, 1929, in China’s ancient city of Kaifeng, located in Henan province on the south bank of the Yellow River. His parents served as missionaries there for the Free Methodist Church.

Having been born and raised in China, Taylor “thought forms and literature like the Chinese themselves”, said OMF.

In 1935, his family briefly returned to the United States as tension flared between China and Japan. They went back to Kaifeng in 1936, and just a year later the Nanking massacre occurred as Japan began to invade more cities.

Under mounting danger, James Hudson Taylor II was able to secure a sea passage back to the United States in 1939. But Taylor one day asked the then nine-year-old James Hudson Taylor III if he would like to accompany him to the shipping office. It was not, as the younger Taylor expected, to pick up the tickets but to cancel them.

“His parents had resolved that this was no time for missionaries to leave China, instead they would move to the North West to train church leaders; the cost would be high as they would need to leave their four children as boarders at the China Inland Mission’s Chefoo School in eastern China,” said OMF in a statement, noting that this event left a deep impression on James Hudson Taylor III.

The parents and four children were separated for five years by 700 miles, during which time Japan bombed Pearl Harbour in December 1940. Taylor’s mother often recalled scenes from the Nanking massacre and questioned if they should return to the United States for the children’s safety.

But she read Matthew 6:33 and remembered her pastor in Virginia saying, “If you will take care of the things that are dear to God, He will take care of those that are dear to you.”

Source: Christianity Today: Great-grandson of legendary missionary to China dies

Across the small island nation seminars, exhibitions and special courses are being held to debate and educate about the life, teachings and legacy of John Calvin.

Last week Taiwan Theological College and Seminary opened an exhibit entitled “Calvin and Taiwan” dealing with the legacy of John Calvin and his impact on churches in Taiwan.

According to Worldwide Faith News, officials at the seminary are hoping the exhibit will help churches to come to know more about John Calvin.

In the south of Taiwan, one presbytery introduced a three month book club for people interested in knowing more about Calvin’s theology. The club is being held from March through to June in one local church and is being sponsored by the Chiayi presbytery and by the Taiwan Theological College.

It has been reported that over 60 people from 20 different churches attended the club in its first session. Many from the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan said how they felt it was important to know the basic teachings of Calvin to pass on his legacy.

The success of the book club has led to plans to transform it into a continuing education course at Taiwan Theological College.

John Calvin was born in France in 1509, but spent much of his life in the city of Geneva. His biggest contributions to Protestant theology were the doctrines on Predestination and the Sovereignty of God.

In Geneva itself a number of events are planned to mark the birth of the man who has become inextricably linked with the city.

On Pentecost Sunday a thanksgiving service will be held in the adopted church of Calvin in Geneva’s St Pierre’s Cathedral. In addition a conference of over 140 international scholars will be held in May, on the influence of Calvin from his birth down to the present day.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches, based in Geneva, will also be inviting pastors and elders of Presbyterian and Reformed churches to take part in its “Calvin Jubilee Celebration”.

Museums in and near the city will also be opening special exhibitions about the life of Calvin, his works and his theology.

Source: Christianity Today – Taiwan marks 500th anniversary of John Calvin

Dr Sam Mings founded the initiative nearly 25 years ago at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. At this year’s Olympics in Beijing, China, he is leading the outreach initiative RT2008BM (Right Track 2008 Beijing Mission) in what will be his seventh Olympics outreach.

Each year, Christians in the host city play a vital role in putting the event together and so the tradition continues in Beijing, where expats church the Beijing International Christian Fellowship are key organisers of the main event, the ‘More Than Gold Evening with the Stars’. The event takes place within wider evangelistic efforts over the Olympics under the clarion banner, ‘What we’re about is worth more than gold’.

The outreach event and service will be joined by one of the greatest Olympians of the century, US sprinter and committed Christian Carl Lewis when it takes place at Beijing’s 1,800 capacity 21st Century theatre on Sunday.

At a time when persecution watchdogs are warning of greater persecution over the period of the Olympics, a huge banner promoting the RT2008BM event drapes the front of the theatre, located in the heart of downtown Beijing.

“To organise such an evangelistic rally within the midst of an Olympic festival, to arrange for athletes to come and speak in the middle of their contests, to prepare the promotional materials, advertising paraphernalia and to motivate the local Christian community to get on board, is a marvel beyond words,” says Mark Tronson, Baptist minister and International Prayer Network director for RT2008BM.

Dr Mings and Tronson anticipate that the turnout of athletes and locals will surpass any previous outreach event in an Olympic host city.

“This will be incredibly significant in China, a communist country; something like this has simply never previously been dreamed of,” says Dr Mings.

“The Olympians sharing their ‘power and inspiration source’ must be unprecedented.

“Even more impressive is that the message will go out from the host city to the world. The situation is unparalleled.”

Adds Tronson, “This is what has been achieved since 1984. Each host city’s evangelical community has mobilised behind this remarkable outreach.”

The Beijing International Christian Fellowship serves as a worship centre for expats, with members from no less than 70 nations. Its international make-up is the basis for its permission from authorities to function openly as a Christian church in China, where religious freedom is curtailed by the communist government.

“Once again the Lord had established a situation whereby the RT2008BM might function during the Beijing Olympics,” notes Mark.

The ‘Evening with the Stars’ event will kick off with a ‘Parade of the Stars’, in which the Christian Olympians will be greeted by Carl Lewis, Dr Mings and the pastor of the Beijing International Christian Fellowship, Jon Davis.

For Dr Mings, though, the stars are there for one purpose and one purpose only.

“It will be a historic moment to remember forever in the glorifying of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Source: Christianity Today: Greater than gold: Witnessing Christ in Beijing

In a letter to supporters, the General Secretary of the Langham Foundation Hong Kong, Victor Sun said that the church in China was thriving in the new age of economic and social development.

He added, however, that the growth of Christianity was coupled with a “severe lack” of pastors and Bible teachers in China today.

“There are too few seminaries to keep pace with the staggering growth of believers. This is where John Stott Ministries-Langham Partnership International through the Langham Foundation in Hong Kong can contribute to building a healthy church in China,” he said.

There are currently 10 Chinese Langham scholars. The Langham Foundation, meanwhile, is helping to stock the libraries of a number of seminaries and universities in China with evangelical books. Langham, which is a John Stott ministry, will hold its first preaching seminar for China mainland pastors in September.

Sun welcomed the opportunities for Christian fellowship and engagement brought by the Beijing Olympics, saying that local churches were making the most of the Olympics by hosting special cultural and musical shows.

With the Beijing Olympics in full swing, “China is not only showing her best face to the world, she is also sending out a clear message that the country is ready to take her rightful place in the family of nations after re-emerging as [a] global economic giant,” he said.

“One day we hope to see that the church in China can become a blessing to the nation and the world,” he added.

The Beijing Olympics are now in their third day, after opening in spectacular style on Friday with fireworks and hundreds of impeccably choreographed dancers.

Source: Christianity Today: Now is time for healthy church in China, says Langham leader