From The
Mission Field

This issue of FOTS features a report from John Grubb following his latest trip to China. John is a member of the Duluth church of Christ in Duluth, Georgia and he is also a staff member of Truth For The World. Started in 1992, Truth For The World (TFTW) is a work of the Duluth congregation and operates under the oversight of the elders there. It is not a missionary society and it is funded by their home congregation and voluntary donations made by individuals and churches world wide.

The goal of TFTW is to evangelize the world and thus carry out the great commission of Jesus, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). They accomplish their work through television and radio programs, internet and printed material, and Gospel campaigns. At the present time, programs are broadcast on every continent around the world. Additionally, their Bible literature is being sent to over 100 nations. Much of the material and broadcast are reproduced in native languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and French.

For more information about Truth For The World, send for their monthly newsletter to: PO Box 5048, Duluth, GA. 30096-0065; or log on their web site at www.tftw.org/.

China Update

Thanks to brother Tim Weekly, I was able to make a trip to Beijing, China during the month of March 2001. Tim Weekly works for a computer security company. He is also a member of the Duluth church. I did not announce this trip in advance because I was not sure it was going to happen until a week before the trip actually took place. Also, this trip was paid for entirely by the computer security company in Beijing.

During the two weeks Tim was there to train workers for a new company, and I served as his translator. The first Sunday we were there, one of those who attended was a sister from Wuhan. She happened to be one of the members who had

Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.
Mark 16:15

corresponded with me in the past. It was good to be able to meet Gloria face-to-face.

This trip gave me an opportunity to meet with the church in Beijing (we actually met in my hotel room for the three weeks) and to assess the situation of the church there. The church normally meets in a residence, but because it is far from the city center, it was decided to meet at our hotel. It was also an opportunity to see what future work could be done in the city.

Our main contact in Beijing is an American businessman who is married to a Chinese woman. It was through him that we were able to meet with the brethren and other contacts in the city. We are thankful that he is there and able to keep the church meeting in Beijing. We were able to make suggestions to him and the church, and also discussed ways to further the cause of Christ in the area. Unfortunately, he and his wife will be coming to the states this summer.

We will hope to continue to make contact with the church in Beijing through some of the local members we met. The church in Beijing is very small and most of the members are very young in the faith and therefore very weak. Most of those who attend are college educated and work in the business sector. I did as much as I could in the short time I had there, but will try to provide materials that will be of help in their spiritual growth.

I also believe it will be possible to make a mission trip there in the future. In the meantime, we are going to try to see if people are interested in studying the Chinese Bible correspondence course I took over there. Also, tracts are available for distribution. We are hoping to compile a list of those who might be interested in studying, and then make a trip over to set up Bible studies while at the same time working on church development. Please pray for these efforts.

John Grubb