'We Are Human Beings Too' By: Lesley Miller

Location: Beijing, China
Date: 2006
Contact: lesleymiller1@gmail.com

It's been over a year since Jonathan and I returned from China, a country we fell in love with through the three months we spent living, eating, breathing and simply being with the Christians who worship there. I could say a whole lot about the experience-- how delicious the food is, the beautiful countryside of flat rice lands, the monstrosity of the Great Wall, the heat of the summer, the roar of the cities, the wildness of our adventures. Lately though, whenever I think about China I tend to push it to the back of my mind because what I think about most is how guilty I feel for not doing more, not doing enough, to help the Christians we met while working there.
While there, we traveled all over the country-- from the southern lands bordering Laos and Cambodia, to the deep interior, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an. In each of these places we met suffering, persecuted Christians who told stories that you might read about on Christian watch sites or CNN.com. In Hunan, we experienced the persecution first hand when we had to flee from a house church meeting when police arrived. As much as you can hear about persecution happening worldwide, you don't understand what it really feels like until you actually find yourself running, praying, panicking and watching your life flash before your eyes in a Chinese prison. Maybe it's the same reason why people don't care about the AIDS crisis, Darfur or human slavery- we don't understand it because we can't even grasp a small inch of what it feels like or looks like.

What's even worse is that even though I now see faces to the numbers of people suffering in China, I still have moments where I am paralyzed to move and change the situation. I wish I had more money to give, I wish I had more time to share their stories, I wish I had more drive to invest in the charity set up to support them. My excuses are a mixture of a lot of things that I'd guess many other people share.

Today I spent a half hour watching a video I made last year when we returned from our trip. I found myself choked up as I listened again to the stories of our friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ. I once again found myself wishing I made more money to give. Yet the one thing they always asked for was our prayers. I'd like to share their own words with you:

You can't imagine how important your visit is... working in rural areas and facing persecution means we become very lonely.

We are human beings too. And when we know other Christians are praying for us, we are very encouraged

"The house church is a church of God, a body of Jesus Christ. We just want to follow the bible and the Lord's command to share the gospel to the end of the earth. Pray that the Chinese government will understand us, that we are not a threat to them."

Doesn't that just kill you? "We are human beings too!" And so, I remind myself and share with you: The church in China needs our prayers. They need our prayers for comfort and encouragement in their suffering and for a government that will choose to stop persecuting them for believing in Christ.




The church also needs financial help. In particular, Chinese pastors need money to continue traveling throughout the country to rural areas sharing the gospel. There are several huge underground seminaries that we visited that are training high school aged students to become pastors-- yet they don't have the money to keep these seminaries going unless they receive help. This is a picture of an empty, underground room that is used as a seminary. Before this seminary was found by the government it housed hundreds of students underground for months at a time.



Please considering committing to prayer for China. And, if you are interested in giving directly to the people in China please contact me at the address provided above. You can also visit www.stitchandbloom.org to buy unique textiles and crafts with 100% of proceeds directly benefiting the church. This picture shows the factory where many of these textiles are started and stored before being sent to the U.S. The women that are making the products would have no other source of income without their sales.


Another great site to learn how to pray about current situations happening in China is www.chinaaid.org. The website will also list ways to protest what is happening in China.