Pray for China’s Missions Movement

The Back to Jerusalem movement began in the 1920s when the Chinese church received a vision from God to take the Gospel to all the unreached people groups between China and Jerusalem. Chinese Christians understood that the spread of Christianity had generally taken a westward path and had reached as far as China. Their mindset was that a Back To Jerusalem effort from China westward would complete the circle around the entire globe, ending where it all began, in Jerusalem.

Through decades of persecution, where the primary work being conducted was often underground, this movement has continued. The contemporary Back To Jerusalem movement started in 1983 when Simon Zhao was released from prison. Simon had been one of the leaders of this movement in the 1940s and 50s. During his time in prison he prayed daily “God, the vision that you’ve given us has perished, but I pray you’ll raise up a new generation of Chinese believers to fulfill this vision.”

The current movement has a goal to have 100,000 Chinese missionaries sent out across the globe, primarily in the nations between China and Jerusalem. Many of these nations are within the 10/40 Window and are primarily Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu. There are approximately 5,100 unreached people groups and tribes in these nations. The Back to Jerusalem movement helps the Chinese church train and send Chinese missionaries into unreached areas of the globe.

Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, during the month of June to pray for the Back to Jerusalem movement. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, June 8.

If you have only a few minutes to pray, pray this short prayer: Ask God to raise up 100,000 Chinese missionaries to go into the nations between China and Jerusalem, and pray that these missionaries would be well trained and supported. For the full prayer information, see below.

Pray for Back to Jerusalem

Prepare to Pray:

• Watch this short video about the Back to Jerusalem movement.
• Ask God to reveal a key prayer request to you that He wants you to pray over and over. Pray this prayer as a breath prayer holding this topic before God throughout the day. Write out a short phrase to repeat in pace with your in and out breath, to pray whenever it comes to mind throughout the day. For example, as you breathe in, you pray: “Merciful and gracious God,” and as you breathe out, you pray: “Have your way in China and westward toward Jerusalem” (or whatever key prayer request the Lord gives to you).

Pray for the Back to Jerusalem movement:

• Pray for continued growth and strength of the Chinese church networks so they can train and send 100,000 missionaries to the 10/40 Window and across the globe.
• Praise God for the growth of the Chinese church. Praise Him also for the Chinese Christians that willingly go, knowing that they may give their life so that the lost can hear the good news.
• Pray that the Back to Jerusalem movement will be protected from people who would want to organize and control it.
• Pray for the Chinese government, who have good historical reasons for being suspicious of Christianity because it was often intertwined with foreign governments and their political and military ambitions. Pray for the Chinese government to recognize that Biblical Christians are trustworthy citizens. Many Christians go out to other nations or to minority tribes within China in the course of their work or as a result of government initiatives.
• Pray for these workers to understand how to be an ambassador for Jesus. Also pray for the many who are wanting to start businesses or engage with other economic activities as part of their missions calling.
• Pray for excellent training to help Chinese missionaries with cross-cultural sensitivities, language learning, etc.
• Pray for financial and prayer supporters to partner with the Back to Jerusalem movement. Pray for the provision of Bibles and of supplies so that Back To Jerusalem can provide for people where disaster strikes and where people have the greatest needs.
• Pray for social change in the 10/40 Window through the impact of the gospel.

Take Action

After you pray, take action to learn about and support the Chinese mission movement.

Consult the Back to Jerusalem website for more stories, information and prayer concerns. Learn about the interesting history of the Back to Jerusalem movement in “A Captivating Vision,” in Christianity Today, April 1, 2004.

Pray about the Back To Jerusalem movement in a deeper and ongoing manner:

• Fast regularly
• Send intercession and spiritual mapping teams to China and 10/40 Window nations and pray on site.

Read books:

• The Heavenly Man, by Brother Yun.
• I Stand With Christ, by Eugene Bach and Zhang Rongliang.
• Back to Jerusalem: Called to Complete the Great Commission, by Paul Hattaway.

Conduct research on:

• The 10/40 Window to learn more about these nations. (Start here.)
• Chinese church history.

Support the Back to Jerusalem movement:

• Become a Back to Jerusalem Gatekeeper.
• Provide Bibles.
• Purchase tea.
• If you sense God calling you to partner with the Back to Jerusalem movement in some way, allow Him to lead you to discern where and when.

Share on the June 8 post on YWAM’s Facebook page, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.

Go to Twitter, search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time or post a picture.

Send us an email letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

Don’t Miss the Invitation

During May The Invitation focused on spending silent time with God.

• YWAM Champagne, France reported that they were very grateful for the proposal for a time of silence.

In April participants prayed about persecution:

• Multiple locations reported praying for the YWAM worker kidnapped last year.
• YWAM Central African Republic reported that receiving The Invitation stimulates them to pray for matters beyond their area.
• A YWAMer from Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa was inspired by 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and asked herself “Am I willing to give it all and give up myself?”
• YWAM Cape Verde prayed and reported that they are grateful to receive The Invitation in Portuguese.
• Several YWAM locations shared that they utilize The Invitation to share information about YWAM with the students and staff at their location.

Future topics for The Invitation:

• July 13, 2017: Two-Thirds-World Workers, Financial Support
• August 10, 2017: Family, Singles, Marriages

Here’s how to participate:

• Sign up for prayer updates. On ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: http://ift.tt/2mXjIgI.
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to http://ift.tt/1UO8eZP. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us.

 

 

 

 

 

from Youth With A Mission http://ift.tt/2r8X74Z