Today is my last day in China. What a phenomenal three weeks’ journey it has been! However, I shall never forget yesterday’s Sunday.

My farewell trip to China took me to Shanghai, Nanchang, Linchuan, Zishi, Ningdu, Nanfeng, Chongren, Wuhan, Changsha, Nanjing and Hangzhou. In all of these cities I preached my farewell sermons. Also, everywhere I went I was feted for my 80th birthday—interestingly, for the Chinese I am already 81 years old—they start counting the years from the actual day of birth.

I look back to almost thirty years of ministry in China. During that time, I made close to one-hundred trips to the land of my birth. China Partner is now known from Harbin in the north to Guangzhou in the south; from Hangzhou in the east to Urumqi in the west. Over the years, we ministered in countless cities, teaching and preaching the Word of God. We invited pastors and Christian mission leaders to help us train thousands of young emerging Christian leaders in cities all across China. We shipped in tens of thousands of Christian study books worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. We helped build a Bible School and churches in five cities.

 

We made hundreds of friends. I wish I could have said farewell to all of them but I only could do that to a few. But I shall never forget the warm reception everywhere received and I will never forget my brothers and sisters in China.

 

On the final day, yesterday, I worshiped with the believers in the largest church of China in the city of Hangzhou. Years ago, the senior pastor Joseph Gu had invited me to come and preach in his church and it finally came to pass. Ed Lyman, who accompanied me throughout, sang my favorite song “Great is thy faithfulness” as he had done in the other cities. Our coworker Daniel Hsu interpreted for me. The church seats 6,000 people and almost every seat was taken. I preached on “The relevancy of Jesus in our world today”. Seldom have I experienced a more attentive crowd. Most of them seemed to be younger than in other churches I have seen. At the invitation, an incredible number—over two-thousand stood to recommit their lives for service in God’s kingdom. Following that, I asked those to stand who wanted to accept Christ as their Savior. More than two-hundred-fifty stood.  What a sight! The Chinese are hungry for the Word of God—Christians and non-Christians alike.

 

Now this church plans to build a sister church on the site where several colleges are located, costing US$10 million. The ground breaking ceremony is on July 7 of this year. They already have one third of this in cash. This dynamic pastor is moving ahead.

 

The most memorable and moving experience I had in Ningdu in the province of Jiangxi, the last city where my parents labored as missionaries before they were forced out of China in 1950. I was asked to preach at the dedication service of their new 800-seat church, which replaced the little chapel in which my father had preached sixty years ago. China Partner helped financially with its construction. It was overflowing with believers that had come from near and far. If only my parents could have been present!

 

What is next? I am so glad that our son Erik is continuing the ministry. Everywhere we went we were asked to return. The teaching ministry on subjects such as evangelism, pastoral care, biblical leadership and servitude is so needed. Erik will concentrate our efforts in the rural areas of China—where the forgotten people live. Tourists and even other Christian ministries flock to the major cities, but the masses live in the countryside. And this is where we want to go.

 

Thank you so much for your prayers and support all these many years. God is doing a mighty work in China and we have had the privilege having a small part in it. Please keep on doing what you have been doing all along. We need your prayers very much. And the Chinese church needs your prayers.

 

China is the land where I was born. It was there where I had my early schooling and where I found my Savior. In Shanghai, I dedicated my life to the Lord’s service under the preaching of Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision. Yesterday’s commitments of those in Hangzhou reminded me of that day. China is the land to which I returned some thirty years ago and where the ministry China Partner was born. I lost my heart there. It is there where I would like to be buried—if that would be possible.

 

Please pray for China and its burgeoning—even exploding church.

 

Rev. Dr. Werner Bürklin

Hangzhou, China, June 14, 2010

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