RCMI e-newsletter July 2017
Caring for China's Minorities
RCMI's Scholarship Program, initiated in 2010 and now seven years in operation, relies on the prayers, support, and giving of God's family. First in February and then in May this year, RCMI coworkers traveled to Kunming and to Nujiang, Yunnan, to visit Chinese minority preachers and the families of students receiving help through our scholarship program.
The minority people are simple, honest folk, and Christians among them have a zealous love for the Lord. Once they believe they are very loyal to the Lord, transmitting their faith from generation to generation. Now Christians among the Yunnan minorities are already third- or fourth-generation Christians. Most live in remote mountain regions, farm for a living, and have a relatively low level of education.
Our Scholarship Program is for the purpose of helping these minority preachers’ families and other Christian students to finish high school or university level studies. We want to enable them escape poverty and ignorance by improving their educational level and living standard.
The Price of Providing an Education
Brother Wang, a village evangelist, lives in a grass-thatched mud house with his family of four. The floor is uneven and the house dark, with just one feeble lamp to light up the four-walled structure—kitchen and bedroom use the same space. A few corn stalks are piled on the rafters. When Brother Wang is out preaching and sharing, his wife is out working in the fields: farming is their means of livelihood and has to satisfy all their material needs. They were living this way until their two daughters had both reached high school level. Then the elder daughter was fortunate enough to get into university, but this made their life at home even more difficult! Then after a few years at the time she graduated, the younger daughter also began university. These two girls were the only university students in the entire village. But besides exhausting their savings for tuition plus room and board for their daughters, they also incurred a debt of about sixty thousand yuan! They became the poorest home in the entire village.
Brother Wang can see that China is urbanizing and realizes that education can change his family’s lot in life. But his hope is that after graduation his daughters will go to Bible school to be equipped and will spend their lives for the sake of the Kingdom of God! Because they are so poor, they are despised by their neighbors, and even some believers don’t understand. But for the sake of God’s blessing on the next generation, they welcome the lot of a hard village life, continuing to serve the Lord, persevering to the very end!
God Takes Responsibility For His Will
“Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.”
(2 Thessalonians 1:4)
John was a high school student of age 20 in a family of five. His father was working a job outside their home province. In August 2016, his mother and two younger sisters had a serious accident while going to a church meeting, and the mother died saving her two daughters. John’s father couldn’t return in time for the funeral, so John had to take care of all the arrangements for his mother. Then one day in December, he received notice at his school that his father had suddenly passed away! He was hardly able to bear it. He didn’t even have money for bus fare to return home. All he could do was borrow some money from his classmates and return home at once. From that time he has had to take on the role of both Mom and Dad for his two younger sisters, besides continuing his studies. He takes odd jobs outside in order to have money to live.
During our visit with John, we asked him, “You’ve been through so much difficulty… Do you hate God?” With a beautiful smile, he answered, “Although it was incredibly difficult at the time, I didn’t blame God. I just knew that if it was His will, He would take responsibility for everything! I thank Him for the strength He’s given me—if it weren’t for the Lord, I don’t think I could have handled so many different things.” His unshakable faith in the midst of such a great trial was a great encouragement to us!
2017 Students’ Sharing Camp
In August this year, we have invited a mission team from Hong Kong to participate in the Students’ Sharing Camp. They will visit students who receive scholarships, build relationships with them, worship and study the Bible together, and help establish them in the faith, as we all encourage one another!
Plan for This Year
To date, more than 180 students have received scholarship aid. This year we plan to help 40 students. We estimate that the cost will be about 450 thousand Chinese yuan (about $67,000 USD).We love these students and their families, and therefore we are reaching out to them. Our goal is to help them break through the ‘poverty barrier’ and leave poverty behind altogether. In mid-August we will take their tuition money to them personally so they can pay to continue their studies. Thank you all for your support and positive response; may God bless you!
Prov 19:17 “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done.”.
If you have desired financial assistance to the program, please visit our website:
