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A Christian Evangelism and Discipling Ministry

The Service would Start at 1.00am!

by Pastor Lor Gee, January, 1997

Mission to Spain
Pastor Lor-Gee and Sister Betty Woo visited Spain during December, 1993, for 3 week. They set out to survey the situation over there, and establish contact with local Chinese Christian groups.

Why Spain? It might be surprising to most of us. Of all the countries in Europe, Spain has the largest number of Chinese from Mainland China (see box on this page). Having just recovered from 40 years of international isolation under General Franco, who died in 1975, Spain is the poorest country in Europe outside the former Communist bloc. Industrialization is very much behind neighbours such as Italy, France or Germany. Unemployment is at more than 20%. Beggars can be seen everywhere. Crime is so high that one would find armed security guards outside McDonald's. Being now a member of European Economic Community, Spain has started to clamp down on immigration, especially illegal migrants from countries such as China.

Most of these Chinese migrants came from the same locality around Qing Tian and Wen Zhou, from the coastal province of Zhejiang. The legend had it that a sculptor from Wen Zhou came to Spain about 100 years ago, finding good opportunity in the field of fine arts and stone carving, for which Spain was well known. This news brought his family and relatives to Spain which had adopted an open policy until recently, and eventually, a steady migration of relatives and friends followed. Generally, these migrants came from rural background, and their main "profession" in Spain was in the restaurant business. As a result, the Chinese community in Spain is a very closely knit one, with many of them related by blood or birth-place. They frequently pay inter-city visits to see one another.

Since Zhejiang Province has been a stronghold of household churches, many of these migrants were Christians (many for several generations) before they came to Spain. As a result, the five established Chinese Protestant churches in Spain are carbon-copies of the household churches back home. More accurately, they should be called "restaurant-churches", since they usually meet in restaurants in between meal times. Most of the churches do not have trained leadership. The congregations are led by volunteers, some of them being young in years as well as in faith.

Lor-Gee and Betty first visited Madrid, the capital of Spain. The city reminded them of New York City with its dirty, noisy, polluted streets and subway trains. The congregation here was about 20, some of them being fine arts students from University of Madrid. This church was started with the help of an American missionary couple, who shared a burden for reaching the Chinese community. When the word got around that a young Chinese pastor from Canada would be preaching on Sunday, the congregation brought many of their friends to church. Some said afterwards that they had never heard the word of God spoken so clearly. They begged their Canadian visitors to return soon, or even to consider serving on a long-term basis. The hunger for spiritual food was indeed encouraging.

After spending a week in Madrid, they travelled by bus to Valencia, the third largest city located on the east coast of Spain. The Madrid brethren had already arranged for a brother to meet them at the Valencia bus terminal. What awaited them was a big surprise. First, they were invited to speak at a meeting that same evening. Then the surprise: this brother suggested that they should try to get some sleep before the meeting. Sleep now? When is the meeting? They were shocked when told that the meeting would start at 1 am!

In Spain, the habit of having the siesta (afternoon nap) is still very much a part of life. Lunch time is usually between 2 pm to 4 pm; and dinner between 9 pm to midnight. Many shops and offices still close for the siesta from 2 pm to 5 pm, creating four daily rush hours in Spain. That is the reason why, for these brethren, church meeting times would start either at 5:30 pm or at 1 am, after restaurant business hours are over.

Once again, the Word of God through Lor-Gee and Betty challenged the Valencia congregation. During their stay of 4 days, Brother Lor-Gee was asked to preach 4 times, as extra meetings were immediately arranged to quench their spiritual thirst. They were urged to come back soon. Many asked for message tapes and literature to be sent to them in the future, because they had never heard such preaching before. Some of the Christians expressed interest in some form of discipleship training.

From Valencia, they travelled to the city of Barcelona, the site of 1992 Olympics. The Olympics brought a lot of Chinese to this city in the restaurant business. Here they found the largest congregation of about 80 people. Many of these Christians from China came from a more traditional background, as they would become Christians either because their grandparents and parents were already believers, or that the village elder was a Christian.

Once again, Brother Lor-Gee was asked to preach 4 times in that week, two of them being midnight meetings. Even though the spiritual hunger was there, there was a certain dullness and a lack of urgency compared with the congregations at the previous stops. Perhaps this had to do with the prosperity of these Christians in Barcelona.

The lack of time prevented further visits to the other two Chinese churches, in cities of Saragossa and Malaga. These churches are expanding into smaller cities and towns where there are sufficient Chinese. There is also a close link between these Christians and some seven churches in Italy, where about 1,000 Christians have settled from Zhejiang Province.

Since the Government is now cracking down on illegal migrants, many of these working illegally in Chinese restaurants, the status of these "restaurant-churches" is being evaluated. There is a plan now to have these churches officially registered and established.

The "organic" link between these churches in Spain and the Zhejiang household churches offers us a glimpse into the state of the "household churches" in China. While church attendance is growing, the lack of depth and training is taking a toll on the spiritual vitality of these churches.

Do pray for these church leaders in Spain, as generally they do not have the benefit of any discipleship training. The harvest is indeed plentiful. Many people are thirsting for someone to bring them the water of life. Pray that the Lord of the harvest send forth His workers to the harvest.

Size of Chinese Population in Europe

1. United Kingdom - 250,000 from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore

2. France - 250,000; 50% from Indo-China, others from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan

3. Spain - 100,000 from China

4. Italy - 20,000 from China

5. Holland - 20,000 from Hong Kong, China

6. All others - 60,000 from Hong Kong, China
   (Source taken from Chinese Overseas Christian Mission)

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- First Day in Kupang

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- Opportunity Amidst Adversity

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- The Service would Start at 1:00am!

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