Brother Yun, a Chinese house church leader, and Tilahun Beyene, the IMA coordinator, embrace one another. Photo by Jon Unger Brandt.

BECHTERDISSEN, Germany – For a handful of North American guests, the fifth annual Holy Spirit in Missions Conference (HSMC) hosted by the Mennonitengemeinde Bechterdissen of north Germany, August 30-September 2, 2007, was a return to roots and the heartland of mission sending.

But for many of the 86 international guests representing 17 countries from the Global South, it was a time to say, “Thanks for bringing the gospel to us – and don’t let your love grow cold!”

Guests from six European countries also converged on Bechterdissen for the HSMC, the 10th annual meeting of the International Missions Association (IMA) and the inauguration of the European Missions Fellowship (EMF), a regional body of the Global Missions Fellowship of Mennonite World Conference.

The IMA is an association of Anabaptist mission bodies established for prayer, mutual support and partnering in carrying out the Great Commission. Held in conjunction with the annual IMA business meeting, the HSMC equips the international church with a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit, to bring new vision and release gifts of ministry to build up the mission of the church.

Quotes from German hosts (in a testimony meeting after the conference) “The conference helped free me from doubt and strengthen me to believe in the impossible. They [the international guests] saw lots of potential here in us. We live to work – they live to build the kingdom. We come to church on Sundays, but just work the rest of the time. This has got to change. In every conversation we can be missionaries. Christian faith is something we live everyday.” “The 23 nations didn’t hide their faith. They were happy and eager to pray for others. It was a blessing to see their humility before the Lord. May we learn from them to be more openhearted with others.” “I enjoyed seeing people live their lives for Christ in such an open way. When I took the Chinese guests to the restaurant they just knelt down on the floor and prayed!” “The presence of God touched me and I want to be like this all the time. We can be filled with the Spirit too and freely obey God. “The main reason God gave the Holy Spirit was so we’d spread the gospel. What are we living for?” “In some ways Germans are raised to doubt. Our mentality is to be closed. But I saw another way.” “If we truly confess our sins, God will set us free. I was filled with lots of fears, but someone prayed for me, and I felt like a curse was lifted.” “At the conference I came to realize that God wants to change not only this congregation, but the world.” “I’ve often taught the Sermon on the Mount. It was powerful to meet people who actually live it. They don’t care about earthly power, but just want to follow God.”

“God is looking for human partners, ordinary people who are filled with the Spirit of God -- like Haggai and Zechariah whom God used to rebuild the temple. Now is the time. This is the place. See what God is doing and join Him,” Showalter said.

“We represent just 23 different nations, but we’re part of a powerful movement of the Spirit in our time. When I was 15 years old, 25% of the world’s evangelical Christians hailed from Latin America, Africa, and Latin America. Today, 45 years later, 75% of them hail from the Global South.”

During the following day of prayer and fasting, 40-50 local youth and guests joined the international guests for times of testimony, teaching, and prayer.

After times in regional prayer clusters the groups reported back: From Europe someone shared the image of the prodigal son. “We’ve squandered our spiritual wealth and are now living in spiritual poverty. It’s time to return to the Father.”

From North America there was a call for new wineskins along with the realization that “the world has come to us.”

Latin Americans agonized in prayer for the pervading corruption, poverty, and ignorance – and cried out for healing, for an attitude of faith. “The stone alone didn’t kill Goliath. It was David’s attitude/faith that killed Goliath. In Jesus we too are “more than conquerors.”

Both Africa and Asia highlighted on-going persecution of the church in their regions – Eritrea, Sudan, Laos, Vietnam, China -- and called the group to pray for faithfulness in suffering and growth.

Then 67-year old Peter Xu, a leader of the Unity Movement among the house churches of China, sometimes called the “Billy Graham of China” shared the amazing story of the suffering church in China and its rapid growth.

From 1953-71 Xu said China went through a very dark and difficult time of suffering. Christians suffered along with others as the Cultural Revolution stripped people of hope and confidence in their government. In the midst of their suffering, people noticed the Christians who had supernatural hope, joy, and peace. This testimony caused a great hunger that the Spirit of God is filling.

Then from 1971-95 Xu said that the gospel has spread all over China. Today there are perhaps 100 million Christians. Even as he and other Christian leaders were hunted down and imprisoned numerous times, the church continued to grow. Prisons became seminaries, centers of growth. “We don’t fear persecution,” he said. “Prison has been a blessing for the Chinese church.”

When his associate, Brother Yun, another key house church leader whose story is told in The Heavenly Man, was brutally tortured and suspended for four hours so he could barely breathe, he took comfort in remembering the sufferings of Jesus and thought to himself, “They don’t know Jesus, that’s why they’re torturing me,” and was filled with a passionate desire to preach the gospel until his last breath.

Both Xu and Yun have been exiled from China and now live in the west, Xu in California, and Yun in Germany. Deborah*, a young associate of theirs, assisted with translation into German and English. She was one of 15 young evangelists who were trained by Xu in the 1980s when she was only 14. Her gripping story (see side bar) gave a first hand glimpse into how the church has spread so rapidly throughout China.

Other major speakers at the conference included Alejandro Colindres, a Hispanic church planter from New England, Tewolde Yohannes, an Ethiopian who lives in Germany, working as a physicist and heading up a network for Ethiopian Christians, Detmar Sheunemann, a German missionary to Indonesia for 30 years, Andi Santoso a youth pastor from Indonesia, Henry Mulandi, a missions leader from Kenya, and Tan Kok Beng, a mission educator from Singapore.

After the HSMC, the international guests split into 20 different ministry teams and fanned out for three days of visits to Switzerland, Holland, the Czech Republic and various churches and ministries in Germany. The events concluded with two additional days of IMA meetings for further interaction with one another and the Chinese Back To Jerusalem* (BTJ) leaders in mission reporting and planning.

Yun said, “God has given China a clear vision for every nation between China and Jerusalem (hence the name Back To Jerusalem).We have a vision to send out 100,000 Chinese missionaries. Jesus is the only true God. May the sons of Isaac and Ishmael be united.”

Chinese mission leader Xu told the IMA, “We have many evangelists who want to extend the Kingdom of God in the unreached regions of the world. They would be self-supporting tentmakers and work to build up the local churches, but your assistance and letters of invitation can help set them free for ministry beyond the borders of China.”

In addition to the IMA, the conference was also sponsored by the European Missions Fellowship, the United Mennonite Churches, and the Ethiopian Christians Association of Germany. IMA coordinator, Tilahun Beyene noted that this is the first time the annual IMA meetings were not hosted by a member organization, but the number of international participants doubled.

		As they plan and pray together about joint mission ventures, Anabaptist African mission leaders pose with leaders of the Chinese “Back to Jerusalem” mission leaders at the IMA meetings in Bechterdissen, Germany. left to right: Ignatius Byamugisha from Uganda, Abraham Gitau Ndungu from Kenya, Kennedy Mbatia, from Kenya, Philip Okeyo from Kenya, Jane and Joseph Kamau, from Kenya, Daling Liu from China and Germany, Peter Xu from China and the U.S., Brother Yun from China and Germany, Mulugeta Zewdie from Ethiopia, Hiewet Tsegay, from Ethiopia and the U.S., Tariku Gebre, from Ethiopia. Photo by Jon Unger Brandt.

And countless other international friendships were forged as the 700-member Bechterdissen Mennonite Church graciously hosted 70 international guests, coordinated transportation to and from the Hannover Airport, and served bountiful meals complete with grilled meat by the champion grill cook of Germany (a member of the church) and homemade fruit platz and kuchen for dessert and coffee breaks.

“In the Bible we’re told we might sometime have the privilege of entertaining angels,” Bechterdissen’s pastor, Peter Huebert said. “Our German Bible story books always show angels with white faces and wings, but these angels had neither.”

In a church testimony meeting after most international guests had left, a German woman said, “Last Sunday was heaven! When the moderator invited all the Germans to stand and all the international guests to kneel, and they thanked God for the faithfulness of German missionaries in bringing the gospel to the world, then prayed for revival in Europe, we couldn’t stop crying.”

- Jewel Showalter

*A missions movement growing out of the unregistered churches of China that desires to take the gospel, which came to China from the east, westward -- “Back To Jerusalem”-- thus circling the globe and hastening the second coming of Christ.

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