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Y O U T H M I S S I O N S M A G A Z I N E

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The No.1 highlight of 2009 has to be the short-termtrip to Nepal. The tallest mountains in the world, bustlingcities, stunning scenery and some of the world’s leastreached people make Nepal an unforgettable place.HistoryMakers led a team of 10 from the UK, who helpedour Nepalese partner distribute more than 10,000 Gospelsin three provinces, in just two weeks!

Another memorable moment of‘09 was our visit to a Church inPreston to lead a Youth Service. Thehighlight of the day was seeing theexpression on people’s faces duringour game ‘I’m a Missionary, Get Me

Out of Here!’. The aim of the game is to eat your foodbefore the other contestant – despite the fact you are eatingRoasted Beetles from Vietnam, Birds Nest Drink from Chinaor 4-Lung Soup from Mongolia!!

What are ‘Tracts’? Tracts have been around for centuries and have always been a great way of reaching tons of people with theGood News. They usually appear in the form of a small leaflet orbooklet with pictures and text that contain a short Gospelmessage or Bible verses.

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The Great Commission is not finished. In fact, there are stillmillions of people who’ve never even heard of Jesus, not evenonce! They’re called the ‘unreached’ or ‘least-reached’. There arelots of reasons why this is the case. The No.1 reason is simplythat most believers throughout the past centuries haven’t beenwilling to go. For those that do, it’s not easy: mountainous roads,inaccessible villages, tribal languages, traditional religiousbeliefs, and the risk of imprisonment and other persecution.

In China, one worker on the front-lines reported back, “I rememberone incident that took place in a village in China. After entering avillage, we began to call the people to come and listen. It wasclear that nobody in the village had ever heard of Jesus before.Our Chinese co-worker said in a loud voice, ‘Friends, pleasecome, we have a very important message for you to hear.

It is the most important message you will ever hear in your life!’After a few minutes, a small crowd gathered around and hestarted to share about Jesus and God’s offer of salvation.

In the course of his message, he said, ‘God sent Jesus Christ intothe world two thousand years ago…’ An old Yao lady, who hadbeen listening intently, suddenly interrupted. She said, ‘Youngman, you told us this is the most important message we will everhear in our lives. If that is true, how come it has taken twothousand years for someone to come and tell us?’”

To find out more about world missions, visit:www.historymakers.info

� POPULATION: 1.2 billion

� C APITAL CITY: Beijing

� RELIGIONS: Non-religious 50%;Chinese 28.5%; Buddhist 8.4%,Christian 7.25%; Other 6.3%

� LANGUAGES: 470

� PEOPLE GROUPS: 516(427 unreached)

� PERSECUTION INDEX: 13th

CHINA

What is the ‘Great Commission’? The Great Commission is Jesus’ finalcommand to all his followers to go into all the world and make disciplesof all nations (Mark 16:15, Matt 28:18-20). The amazing thing about thiscommand is that Jesus said his return will only happen once theCommission is completed – It’s that important! (Matt 24:14, 2 Pet 3:9)

CHINA

SHORT-TERMThis summer’s trip has two great ministries to getyour teeth (and hearts) into. We’ll be visiting SouthEast Asia to get the Good News into a country highon the list of the world’s most persecuted nations.As if that’s not challenging enough, we'll also get tominister to people caught up in one of one of theworld's modern day genocides. The HM 2010 Tour –Not to be missed!

Register* your interest by email:historymakers@asialink.org.uk *(preferably 18-24yr olds)

�ENGAGES O U T H E A S T A S I A

What would you do if your husband-to-be decided to spend his savings onChristian literature instead of anengagement ring?!

Jonathan Goforth met Rosalind in 1885.Later that year they were engaged afterJonathan asked Rosalind, “Will you join

your life with mine for China? And will you give me your promisethat always you will allow me to put my Lord and His work first,even before you?” She immediately replied, “Yes, I will always.”Rosalind soon got her first taste of the sacrifice she wouldencounter during her life as the wife of Jonathan Goforth. Herdreams of an engagement ring were dashed when he told herthat the money he would have spent for a ring was instead usedto purchase Christian literature.

The Goforths ended up in the Henan Province of China. DespiteJonathan nearly losing his life at the hands of the Boxer Rebels in1900, he continued his evangelism in China,leading revival meetings in many places.Thousands of sinners experienced thesaving grace of Jesus Christ, and thousandsmore Christians were awakened to a deeperwalk with God.

THE COMMUNIST SOLDIERS HADDISCOVERED THEIR ILLEGAL BIBLESTUDY. Men with guns suddenly brokeinto the home, terrorizing the believers.The leading officer pointed his gun atthe pastor’s head. “Hand me your Bible”he demanded. The pastor handed overhis Bible, his prized possession. “We will

let you go” the man growled, glaring at the congregation, “butfirst you must spit on this book of lies. Anyone who refuses willbe shot.” The believers had no choice but to obey the officer’sorder. A soldier pointed his gun at one of the men. “You first”.The man slowly got up and reluctantly, he spat on it, praying,“Father, please forgive me.” He stood up and walked to thedoor. “Okay, you!” the soldier said, nudging a woman forward.In tears, she spat only a little, but it was enough. Quietly ayoung girl came forward. Overcome withlove for her Lord, she wiped off the spitwith her dress. “What have they done toyour Word? Please forgive them,” sheprayed. The Communist soldier put hispistol to her head and pulled the trigger.

Philip, a house church leader in China, was thrown in prisonafter he and a number of believers were arrested. His‘welcome’ to prison was a savage beating from the guards.

They kicked him viciously with their steel-capped boots, beathim with batons, and tortured himwith electric cattle-prods. Philipwas left unconscious with abroken collarbone, arm, and ribs.The guards then threw him into asmall cell that already contained28 prisoners. Early in the morning asupernatural light appeared over his body. It shone on him forseveral hours. The other prisoners were absolutely terrified.They cried for the guards to come and let them out. By sunrise,Brother Philip was healed. At no time did he actually see thelight, but all the other prisoners did. Not surprisingly, the firstquestion the prisoners asked him was “Who are you?” He replied, “It doesn’tmatter who I am, but let me tell you aboutJesus Christ.”

He led all 28 of the prisoners to faith inChrist! Today Brother Philip is responsiblefor hundreds of house churches across China.

Who are the ‘Boxer Rebels’? The Boxers were a group of people calling themselves ‘United Fists’.Foreigners in China nicknamed them ‘Boxers’. They worshipped the god of war in temples which was where many Christians were taken and offered as sacrifices to the idols. The Chinese imperialgovernment gave permission for the Boxers to destroy all foreign missionaries and all Chinese associatedwith them. During this uprising 5,000 Christians including 188 foreign missionaries were killed. 5

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Test your missions knowledge, answers at the bottom of the page.

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Back to Jerusalem(BTJ) is the namegiven to the Chinesechurch’s vision tosend missionariesoutside their bordersto fulfil the GreatCommission. Itbegan in the 1930s,when small groupsof brave evangelistsheaded into theMuslim areas of

northwest China with plans to establishchurches along the Silk Road in a westwarddirection, all the way “back to Jerusalem.”

Today there is anever-increasingawareness of theBack to Jerusalemvision among China’sChristians, and agrowing number are volunteering to go asmissionaries. Training schools are operatingboth inside and outside China and excitingreports of what God is doing through theChinese missionaries have begun to emergefrom the nations where God sent them.

Many BTJ missionaries are beginning to seeGod move through them and fruit is beingproduced for the kingdom of God.

There is a growing awareness that the mosteffective way to reach many ethnic groups maybe to win some of their people to the Lord in

China, and then equip them to crossthe border and sharethe Gospel with their cousins in aneighbouring country.

For example, instead of aChinese evangelist goingdirectly to reach people inKazakhstan, it would be moreeffective to send a KazakChristian from China across

the border to Kazakhstan, where he will alreadyunderstand the language and culture of the target group.

This type of strategy is working brilliantly. A co-workerin China sent us a report that through his ministry,320 new believers were baptised in 2008, and churcheswere planted among 13 different ethnic groups.

Please pray that the BTJwould continue to flourishinto a mighty movementthat will flood the darkestnations on earth withthe glorious light of Jesus Christ!

To find out more on how we are partneringwith the Chinese house church visit:www.historymakers.infomissions/china

What is the ‘Silk Road’? The Silk Road (or routes) are massive and well used trading routes across the Asian continent. Chinese believers used these roads as effective means to bring the Gospel to hundreds of unreached groups. This was delayed when the Communists took over China in 1949, and slammed the borders shut. Today, the BTJ believers are carrying on thevision of the early church leaders despite the persecution from the government.

PICK A PEOPLE GROUPThe Chinese church is growing rapidly butstill, despite all the amazing work that goeson, there’s still loads to be done. It’s not justabout reaching indivudual people, it’s aboutplanting the church among every peoplegroup. This is why we’re working withChinese believers to see the Gospelpreached among every tribe and tongue.We’d like to encourage you to take time outto pick a people group and pray for them.See back page for more info.

www.youtube.com/user/Acts1v8 www.historymakers.info/videos

iTunes store: Casting Crowns,Until The Whole World Hears

www.historymakers.info/stuff

www.joshuaproject.net/great-commission-maps.php

iTunes store: Lecrae, Rebel.

historymakers@asialink.org.ukHistoryMakers is a ministry of AsiaLinkRegistered Charity No. 327165

PICK A PEOPLE GROUPGo to the website addressbelow and download the relevant KMZ file.Then open up GoogleEarth, zoom into Chinaand you’ll have hundredsof people groups tochoose from and pray for!

RESOURCES TO INFLAME YOUR PASSION FOR MISSION