South of the Cloud

Yunnan is located in southwestern China. An exquisite name, Yunnan means “South of the Cloud.” Each time Yunnan is mentioned, people think of its postcard sceneries and colorful hill tribes. Indeed, Yunnan as a Chinese province is home to many of the ethnic groups. Officially, China has 55 ethnic minorities of which 25 of them dwell mainly in Yunnan. The ethnic people in Yunnan add up to 12 million representing one-third of its population. Among the people groups are Yi, Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Dai, Miao and Hui. Yunnan has a special place in God’s heart. No ethnic group is outside of God's plan of salvation who wants all of them to know Him, return to Him and worship Him.

Hilly villages

This was my first visit to Yunnan’s hilly peasant villages and their house churches. We were received by Brother Li who was born and raised in Yunnan and now is serving in the church. Brother Li has been a farmer tending to land, cattle and horses. After receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord, Brother Li decided to serve God full-time and launched into a demanding and taxing ministry!

Love of God

Yunnan is known for its intimidating hilly setting and our journey was not without its hair-raising moments. Thanks to Brother Li, being an engaging talker, he entertained us during the few hours of the journey with historical accounts, folk tales and testimonies of the Yunnan’s ethnic minorities.

In the days of old, ethnic peoples from China’s hinterland escaped wars by moving into Yunnan, thus making the province a melting pot of peoples of different ethnicity. The stronger tribes continued to prey upon the weaker ones, pushing them and their kin further into the interior. They soon realized that the safest place to stay alive was a mountain range. Once they had claimed one, they stayed and resumed their primitive livelihood as slash and burn cultivators.

In their spiritual emptiness and helplessness, the ethnic peoples started to look for divine help. This was reflected in their folklore. One story says that once upon a time a heavenly prince was sent to the earth as an ox to help poor farmers plough their field. Subsequently the practice of honoring the deity of cattle grew among the ethnic peoples. On a designated day, owners of cattle were required to celebrate it as the birthday of their animals. The ceremony involved washing up the cattle, combing their hair and donning them with colorful cloth. Special rice was also prepared and placed in the manger as offering to the cattle god.

The practice by the ethnic peoples of honoring the cattle god reflected a dream which was never fulfilled in reality. They continued in their poor existence with hazy future prospects.

However, many ethnic peoples continued to cherish their dream for love and hope. They yearned for the day when someone who really loved them would appear in their midst. Indeed, their dream came true in the persons of early missionaries. These servants of God came to them in all genuineness with the good news that Jesus, God’s only Son had come to the world and died for our sins. Though many consider the ethnic peoples uncouth, untidy, wretched and unworthy, God “will not forsake His people; He will not abandon His heritage” (Psalms 94:14)

Urgent task ahead

Since stepping into the 21st century, Chinese churches are beset with problems. The problems are affecting rural house churches, official “Three-Self” churches and city churches making up of intellectual and middle-class believers. The problem that stands out and concerns most is related to the equipping and training of evangelists. This is the most urgent task ahead for the Chinese church!

It is God’s will to raise workers from among the local believers. Church workers are raised through systematic and comprehensive training in the truth. Towards this end, Brother Li and his siblings are doing their best with all of their available resources. They offer their house for the operation of a Bible school and a student hostel, apart from giving financial and other helps. They do all this for the purpose of equipping a new generation of evangelists. The Bible school students are aged between teenager and early twenties. Because of their different education levels, the school had previously no systematic syllable for the three-year full-time training and teaching was done in a haphazard manner. However, the school is now working toward a structure for a systemic curriculum. This is an encouraging development except that the lack of teaching staff is seriously hindering the growth of the school. In the past, overseas Bible teachers had offered their services to the school but their number remained few and far between. The Bible school is therefore suffering from the shortages of regular and adequately trained teachers. This makes the task ahead for the churches difficult.

May we dedicate more for China! May the overseas members of the Body of Christ remember the needs of the Yunnan ethnic churches!