Meeting Christ on a Journey
26 Aug 2021
In 2014, J came to Kenya for an academic exchange as a graduate student with a university in China. She fell in love with the country. After her graduation, she became a “非漂fei piao’’ (which means one who wanders in Africa). Many Chinese perceive Africa negatively, but J was different, she appreciated Africans and their culture, and loves the local natural landscape. Within six months, she had climbed 12 mountains that many Kenyans could not even name. Later J said, “I was restless at that time, so I climbed mountains, one every week, trying to find spiritual satisfaction from the experience of reaching the top, but I was still restless.”
In May 2015, she began to study the Bible with us. In August, she surrendered her life to Christ, and in the same month her boyfriend, P, came to work in Kenya. He too joined the Bible study and subsequently decided to follow Jesus in November. In April the following year the couple married. They were blessed in January 2017 with a son whose name translates as “son of the shepherd” and two years later God gave them a second son.
They became increasingly concerned for others and their ministry included caring for widows and children.
In August 2020, we were at the airport in Nairobi to send off J and P and their children because they had decided to return to China for good. In that same month, eight others from our fellowship returned to China.
J and P are two of many Chinese who have come to Kenya for work and business in the past 10 years – two of very few who came to faith while here. They came without Christ and left with Christ.
Such is our ministry. To build relationship, share the gospel, share life, make disciples, and send disciples. The ministry is fluid. At its peak, there were around 50,000 Chinese in Kenya, but the outbreak of COVID 19 since March 2020 has caused many to return to China, some permanently like J and P, and some temporarily. Less than 1% know Jesus. They are always on the move. Will they meet Him on their journeys?
Long-Term Ministry Opportunities
- Come and establish missional business that creates opportunities for ministry among the Chinese.
- Come and work in Chinese companies in Kenya that allow you to witness for Christ among the Chinese.
Short-term Opportunities (after the easing of the pandemic)
- Prayer walking.
- Help develop new Chinese contacts in Nairobi.
- Minister to the Chinese who are with an international fellowship.
- Wayne Wong
Wayne trains the Pioneers team in ministry to Chinese in diaspora, and is also Country Leader for OMF Diaspora Returnee Ministry in Kenya