China Outreach Ministries (COM) shares Christ’s love with Chinese students and scholars from university campuses throughout North America. COM seeks to reach them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and disciple into godly leaders who will share their faith with others here and at home in China. Ken Wagoner, one of our missionaries, has been serving this ministry in Pittsburgh for 28 years. He has found it a great privilege to represent Jesus to many Chinese students and is grateful for your faithful support each month.
It is clear the experience of Christian Chinese living in the U.S. is significantly different than what faces them when they return home. Many of these believers will return to workplace situations demanding long hours and extreme loyalty to those other than Christ. Moreover, many family members and friends may not welcome their new found faith. Add to this a political environment which is not welcoming to Christians and Bible believing churches, and the challenges can seem overwhelming.
With this in mind, Ken has met with the leadership of the Pittsburgh Chinese Church to discuss ways to help prepare our Chinese Christian friends for their return home. Recently they held a three-hour seminar with 10 Chinese Christians who are planning on returning to China within the next 6 months. They are also working on developing a network of believers in different cities in China who can help to bridge the gap for those returning home.
A wonderful answer to prayer has been the recent hiring of a Chinese man to work with Ken in Pittsburgh. His name is Peter Zhou. He’s a former professor of Marxist philosophy in China. He became a believer, and while continuing to teach Marxism, planted a church. But, as he continued to read the Scriptures he saw the disconnect between Marxism and Christianity so he quit his teaching job to focus on pastoring the church.
Peter came to seminary in Pittsburgh in 2015 and began volunteering with Ken. They have begun to develop a fairly effective, but still young, process of two cultures working together. He will be a great help in speaking to those new Chinese Christians returning to China as believers, and the challenges they will face.
