Why Highland is Headed to China

In a few days I join seven others from Highland on a survey trip to China. We leave early on Monday, March 2 and return in the evening on March 13.

This trip finds its roots in “The Next Big Thing,” a time of prayer and dreaming which Highlanders engaged in during the Fall of 2011. These prayers and dreams submitted by Highlanders eventually became “Vision 2018,” a series of nine initiatives which Highland staff and elders believed God was calling Highland to adopt as we moved toward 2018, our 90th anniversary as a church. The numbers 18 in 2018 reminded us of Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” These nine initiatives would help us pursue that Acts 1:8 vision.

One of those nine initiatives was driven by a belief that it was time for Highland to pursue a new work, possibly in China. Nearly 1.5 billion people live in China. The vast majority are either non-religious (44%) or followers of traditional Chinese religions (29%) or Buddhism (13%). Only about 3% of the population meets in Christian house churches. Though Christian support organization Open Doors ranked China just outside the top 20 of the world’s worst persecutors in 2011, its estimated 67 million Christians make up the world’s largest persecuted church. Last December, the International Monetary Fund declared that China had become the world’s largest economy, taking the title from the US for the first time in 140 years. Today Christianity is spreading as rapidly in urban China as it spread through Palestine in the book of Acts. Experts say that China could become the largest Christian nation by 2025.

From 2012 to the present, Highland’s Chinese Ministry and its leaders have helped us research China. We’ve met many American missionaries and talked to some of the top-minds in Churches of Christ regarding China. Last Fall, Highland’s Chinese Ministry leaders identified three cities which they believed Highland should survey: Beijing, Qingdao and Wuhan. Each city has a network of thriving house churches. Each city has been invested in by missionaries we’ve come to respect and admire. And, each city still has millions who still do not follow Jesus.

During our survey trip we will attend services in house churches in each city, preach/teach in Christian gatherings and converse with missionaries and church leaders. In addition, we will meet with church leaders in Singapore who have expressed an interest in partnering with us in China as well as in Papua New Guinea.

Working from top to bottom, the red markers on the map above show our stopping points: Beijing, Qingdao, Wuhan and Singapore.

Upon our return, I look forward to sharing with you what we’ve learned and how God moved.