China (MNN) ― In Chinese society, the Village is a concept of community. That concept is woven tightly throughout the folklore of the culture.
One part of community comes from an old belief that when a child is born, invisible red threads connect that child's soul to all those people who will play a part in his or her life. The older that child got, the tighter the threads until the child was an integral piece of the overall picture.
Generations never strayed far from their home turf, and the draw of family kept people coming back. However, with an emerging economy, that is changing. Erik Burklin with China Partner explains, "Young people want to go to the big cities to get wealthy, and they have a huge migration to the major cities."
Many of them are finding new community in the urban setting, and that red thread is becoming more evident to the local church. However, Burklin continues, "That's an issue now, for the local churches: 'How do we deal with that in a pastoral care type situation, or pastoral counseling?"
Specifically, Burklin says that "there are so many new believers that are coming into the churches now--whether that's the unregistered churches or the registered churches--that the existing pastoral staff cannot keep up with training enough pastors and lay pastors fast enough."
China Partner wants to help. They've hit on an effective method, says Burklin. "We sense that the best way that the Chinese will reach their own people is through the Chinese. We come alongside of the Chinese church to participate in what God is doing in their country by providing training and much-needed training material."
As word about their biblical training spreads, they keep getting new invitations. China Partner is responding this week to another round of invitations. "This particular trip, we will be in three brand new cities: two in Heilongjiang Province, and then one brand new city in Guangdong Province."
Essentially, they're training the "trainers," he says. "These three have churches attached to them, or they're part of church ministry. So in these three locations, they will be inviting lay pastors from their neighborhoods, from their county areas, to come for some short-term training."
Each round of training is tailored to the needs of the local church. Burklin says this trip won't be any different. "We normally concentrate on discipleship training, biblical leadership (how to run a church well, how to run a small group well), and then, the third area that we concentrate on is pastoral care."
Often, follow-up comes at a second invitation to repeat and expand a second module of training after a year's practice. Burklin asks prayer for wisdom as they become a part of the pattern of "red threads" in the body of Christ in China. As described in the legend, the red threads draw tighter and bring these new believers closer to one another and to Christ. Burklin says, "Pray specifically for open hearts for those individuals who are coming to our training sessions. This is going to be new for them. In some cases, I would imagine that we will be the very first foreign team that has given them training."
