China's Minorities

“We have never before heard such a story”

Do you know your Mujis from your Muzis? Or your Nunus from your Yizis? You may not realize it but China has well over 100 million minority people. They come from around 500 distinct tribes and ethnic groups. That’s a huge number. In fact, just based on population alone, China’s minority peoples would rank as the 11th most populated country in the world.

They are growing quickly too. Minorities now comprise around 10% of China’s total population with a growth rate seven times greater than that of the majority Han population. Many of China’s minorities are among the least-reached peoples on earth.

Multiplied growth

One of the minority groups in which AsiaLink has had a particular interest in recent years is the Fu people. They straddle the border between two of China’s southern provinces and today number around 80,000 people. Efforts to reach the Fu have been well thought-through and soaked in prayer. They have required patience but progress has been nothing short of astounding. In January 2003 there was no witness at all. Since then, several hundred new congregations have been started.

One of the keys to the phenomenal spread of the Gospel among the Fu has been the multiplication of churches. New churches have not just been added one at a time, here and there. Instead, two churches become four, four become eight and so on. The key has been simple. The Fu have been doing it themselves. They have both the initiative and the momentum.

Who is this Jesus?

But the Fu are unusual today. The story is very different indeed for most of China’s minorities. On one research trip among the minorities, our partner commented, “We traveled for weeks without seeing a single sign of the existence of Christianity. There are no churches, no Christians and no knowledge of the Gospel at all. This is particularly true in areas of Western China, where Tibetan Buddhism and Islam have reigned unchallenged for centuries. In many places when we spoke about Jesus, the people would ask questions like, “Does He live in your country?”

Some minority groups are small. There are, for example, less than 3,000 Loba people living as hunters and fishermen in Tibet. Others are larger like the 18 million Zhuang scattered across southern China. However, all minority groups remain dwarfed by the 1.2 billion Han population that make up 92% of Chinese people.

There is a huge amount of work to be done today in reaching China’s minorities. AsiaLink is currently helping about 100 Chinese workers in their efforts to make Jesus known among these groups.

Why has it taken so long?

This is basic missions and the work is not easy. Mountainous roads, inaccessible villages, tribal languages, traditional religious beliefs, persecution and the ever-present risk of imprisonment. But still these workers go on. They believe that this is what God wants them to do and that he will bless their efforts.

One reported back, “I remember one incident that took place in a Yao village in Guangxi. After entering a village, we began to call the people to come and listen. It was clear that nobody in the village had ever heard of Jesus before. Our Chinese coworker said in a loud voice, “Friends, please come, we have a very important message for you to hear. It is the most important message you will ever hear in your life!” After a few minutes, a small crowd gathered around and he started to share about Jesus and God’s offer of salvation. In the course of his message, he said, “God sent Jesus Christ into the world two thousand years ago…” An old Yao lady, who had been listening intently, suddenly interrupted. She said, “Young man, you told us this is the most important message we will ever hear in our lives. If that is true, how come it has taken two thousand years for someone to come and tell us?”

Back-breaking ministry

There are millions of ethic minority people in China today with similar questions. In the past, courageous missionaries took the Gospel to some tribal groups and churches were established. But generally, these successes were few and far between and more than 90% of minority groups remained without any knowledge of the Gospel.

It takes patience to visit these communities. Getting the Gospel to unreached communities is a back-breaking, labour-intensive ministry. There is little that is attractive or appealing about it – except the gratitude of those won to Him and the all-surpassing joy of fellowshipping with and encouraging China’s minority Christians. Following a visit, one evangelist commented, “When we reached the hill at the edge of the village, the singing voices had turned to voices of crying. It was deeply touching! One local elder suddenly knelt down. With big tears he asked, ‘Teacher, when will you return to help us again?’ ”. We cried, prayed and blessed one another for almost an hour then reluctantly parted ways. We walked to another hilltop and these dear people were still gazing at us. This was the first time I had experienced such a scene and it was also the first time I cried my heart out.”

Let’s keep praying for China’s many minority groups. We want God’s Name to be praised in areas of this immense country where it has never ever been heard of before! And pray too that as minority churches are begun, God would build vision into them. We want to see churches reproducing themselves on such a scale that the greatest possible number of lost individuals come to life in Him and enter into the greatest possible number of new communities of maturing faith. God can do it!