An update from Hong Kong
August 25, 2020
Update on Ministry Partnerships from Gregg Harris, President of Thru the Bible:
In many parts of the world, governments are clamping down on free speech. In places like Russia, Iran, China, and Hong Kong, politics will affect our ability to preach the gospel.
Some ministries that work in China aren’t perceived as Chinese-based, so they're not as popular and governments are even more suspicious of them. But our partner, FEBC, actually started broadcasting to China in the 1940s from inside the country.
If you remember recent history, 1949 was the year of China’s cultural revolution, when Mao Tse-tung expelled all foreign Protestant missionaries. During the years China was closed to outside influence, missionary experts stated that about half of everyone who came to Christ first heard the gospel through radio—that’s tens of millions of people. So, we're very privileged to be working with FEBC. They mostly make their own programming, but they love Thru the Bible’s content and mission and welcome us to join with them.
What FEBC models for us is ingenuity and perseverance—critical skills when doing global ministry. There are always unique complexities to deal with; it’s almost never straightforward.
For example, FEBC is very effective on digital platforms. They use a popular texting service called WeChat. The government knows everything they're doing and lets them do it. But then, without warning, they just shut down their account.
Recently, they had around 10 million users when the government closed their account. “What did you do?” I asked our partners in Hong Kong. “We started a new account,” they said. People eventually found them, and the audience built back up again.
See why these international partnerships are so important? Our ministry partners know their culture, they understand what works, and they apply tremendous grit and grace in getting God’s Word out there. We could never do this ourselves. Pray for these men and women, God’s servants in Hong Kong, and for God’s direction for a path forward in taking God’s whole Word to China.
We’re not done praying for China. Meet us tomorrow as a listener tells us about her favorite verse.