The Gospel Needs of the Naxi

There are more than 270,000 Naxi living in the northern part of Yunnan Province. Most of them live in the Lijiang Naxizu Autonomous County, while others are scattered in Yanyuan, Yanbian and Muli Counties in Sichuan Province and in Markam County in Tibet Autonomous Region. The Naxi originated from an ancient China tribe known as the Qiang. They settled in the Lijiang County around 3 A.D. Since the Yuan and Ming dynasties the Naxi have been fluent in Chinese because of their frequent contacts with Han Chinese. The Dongbas¢wpriests of the Dongba religion¢wused the ancient pictographic script known as the Dongba script to record the Dongba Scriptures. Because of their close connection with Han Chinese, most Naxi can speak Chinese.

Most of the Naxi believe in Dongbaism, while some of them practice Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism). Dongbaism is a primitive religion; its followers believe in polytheism and animism and practice ancestor worship. With the influence of other religions (especially Lamaism), Dongbaism has become a mixed religion. Dongbaism has a wide influence on all aspects of the lives of the Naxi. They treat the Dongba Scriptures as their encyclopedia.

The first missionary reached the Naxi people in 1912; 8 or 9 Naxi believers were baptized by 1930. In the early fifties, the Naxi churches went through a difficult time and nearly all of them ceased to exist. The Naxi can definitely be identified as a group of un-reached people. Currently there are only two Naxi churches with about 100 believers and no ministers with proper seminary training. There are believers within the Naxi tribe who are now studying in Bible schools. Even though the Naxi are deeply rooted in their tribal religion, our Heavenly Father still has mercy on them and desires to save them.

The Gospel Needs of the Jingpo

There are more than 130,000 Jingpo. Most of them live in Yingjiang, Ruili, Luxi, Lianghe and Longchuan Counties in the western region of Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan Province. Some Jingpo live in Nujiang Prefecture while more than 600,000 of this tribal group live in northern Myanmar. There are different dialects within the tribe. In 1957 the Jingpo script was developed from the Latin alphabet. The Jingpo believe in polytheism and animism, worshipping more than 100 evil spirits. They spend a lot of their resources and manpower on extravagant worship activities, thus retarding the development of their society. Since China opened its economy to the outside world, even the once poor Dashan (Big Mountain) region has experienced some prosperous development.

There are also some Christians within the Jingpo tribe. At the beginning of the 20th century Christianity started to spread from Burma (now known as Myanmar) into Dehong Prefecture and soon it reached the Jingpo people. In 1913 James Outram Fraser (1886-1938), a missionary of the China Inland Mission, preached the Good News in Yingjiang County in Yunnan Province. Some of the Jingpo upper class members and intellectuals were converted. Later on, Rev. Johnson, an American pastor, translated the Bible into the Jingpo language together with some Jingpo evangelists. Many Jingpo people began to realize that it was much better to believe in Jesus than to believe in evil spirits so they eventually became Christians. In those early days the evangelistic ministry thrived and abundant spiritual fruits were produced. Between the 1950's and the 1980's, Christianity spread rapidly among the Jinpo people. It was common for all family members to confess faith in Jesus together.

There are more Christians in the Jingpo tribe compared to other minority groups in Yunnan. There are about 30,000 Jingpo Christians. These Christians are eager to share their faith, reaching out to all the areas with a major Jingpo population. They worship in the Jingpo dialect. Most of their ministers cannot speak Han Chinese. A small number of Jingpo ministers receive training from the seminaries in China while the majority receives training in Myanmar before they begin to serve in Jingpo churches. On the whole, there is still a lack of ministers and church workers. Many Jingpo Christians are third generation believers. However, some of them have just inherited the faith of their older generation without understanding what it really means to be a Christian. These third generation believers do not have a firm spiritual foundation; to them Christianity is just a form of religion. Thus, there is an urgent need for pastoral and teaching ministries within the Jingpo churches.

PRAISE AND RAYER REQUESTS

The Gospel Needs of the Naxi

1. May the Lord show His power among the Naxi, so they can acknowledge Him as the Lord of all. May the Lord deliver the Naxi from their idol worshipping so they can experience a great spiritual transformation and become new beings by accepting Christ.

2. "How can they hear without someone preaching to them?" With only a few Naxi believers, pray that the Lord will send dedicated servants to share the Gospel with the Naxi people.

3. Pray for the ministry of training workers for the Naxi churches. Ask God to equip more believers to develop the church, to become light and salt for the Lord, and to spread God's good tidings among other tribal groups.

4. Pray for the new churches that the Lord will add to them the number of new believers daily.

The Gospel Needs of the Jingpo

1. Pray for the salvation of the Jingpo people. May the Lord have mercy on those who have not believed in Him and send more workers to share His great love with the Jingpo people.

2. Pray for the Jingpo Christians to keep growing strong in their faith. Pray for God to raise up more servants to guide them in their spiritual growth.

3. Pray for God to bless the ministry of training workers for the Jingpo churches, so there will be more equipped workers to serve in the churches.

References:
1. http://www.cnmuseum.com/index_e.asp
(The Chinese Museum of Ethnology)
2. Who Cares for Them¢wA Survey of China's Minorities
(Chinese Coordination Center of World Evangelism)
3. Operation China by Paul Hattaway, published by Piquant

Another Prayer Request

"A sister in Christ knows a scholar in Beijing and wants to invite him to church. She brought with her on a recent business trip to Beijing a copy of the book The New Evidence that Demands A Verdict in simplified characters and gave it to the scholar as a gift. He responded very well to this gift, because he found the answers to a lot of his questions in the book. After this sister came back to Hong Kong, she called the scholar. He told her over the phone that he was willing to accept Christ! Praise the Lord! May the Lord bless this new believer so he can grow strong in Him and become His servant to spread the Gospel." (Sharing by a sister who has been requesting Christian books for mainland China)

Thanks be to the Lord for using this sister to bring a Christian book to a mainland Chinese seeker. May the Lord use books like The New Evidence that Demands A Verdict to communicate the Truth with the scholars in Mainland China and to answer the difficult questions they have regarding Christianity. May the Holy Spirit speak to the scholars through the books and rid the unbelief and pride in their hearts so they will submit to the Truth and enjoy the blessings that come with it.