Fall 1999

Week seven

Unreached People Group (UPG) focus: The Han of China

The Han people are the single largest majority people in China today, comprising 91.8 percent of China’s 1.2 billion population. As such a large group, the Han comprise an estimated 15 to 25 percent of the world’s population. We’re talking a lot of people here, but only 50 million Han Chinese claim Christianity. About a billion Han, therefore, live and die without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. More on this later.

Traditionally the Han are farmers and herdsman, but they are considered advanced in production methods and economic philosophy. Historically Han engineers are credited with inventing the compass, gunpowder, the spinning jenny and the steam engine. The latter two inventions sparked the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Today the Han live in virtually every country and often work in the business world.

The Han place high value on family ties and social harmony. Entire families often live in one-or two-room apartments. Families often emphasize religious tradition such as Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism as an unspoken family ethic.

Prayer Points:

Communism in China keeps the door shut to traditional Christian witness. Added to this challenge, religious traditions upheld for centuries are difficult to replace. Since there is a multiplicity of gods and a variety of ways for the Han to worship, Christianity is often seen as limiting to those unfamiliar with the idea of a single God for all creation. 

• Ask God to send workers into his harvest field among the Han in China and other countries of the world.
• Ask God for unity among Han believers so that other Han would know they are disciples of Jesus because of their love for each other.
• Ask God how you can touch the lives of the Han Chinese on your campus and in your city.

Related links about the Han: www.bethany.com/profiles 
Related links about global prayer: www.imb.org/pray

Opportunities to serve in China: 

*Millennium Vision—this strategy encompasses almost all collegiate projects for China.

For other mission projects in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong see last week’s newsletter and visit our Web site at www.thetask.org/students  under the Mission projects link.

A bit of humor about air travel from Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1991).

Vocabulary to know before getting on the plane:

TURBULENCE: This is what pilots announce you have encountered when your plane strikes an object in midair. You will be flying along and there will be an enormous, shuddering WHUMP, and clearly the plane has rammed into an airborne object at least the size of a water buffalo, and the pilot will say, “folks, we’re encountering a little turbulence.” Meanwhile they are up there in the cockpit trying desperately to clean water buffalo off the windshield.

FREQUENT FLIER PROGRAMS: Each time you take a commercial flight, you earn a certain number of miles, plus bonus miles if you actually reach your intended destination within your lifetime.

THE BAGGAGE CAROUSEL: Where passengers traditionally gather at the end of a flight to spend several relaxing hours watching the arrival of luggage from some other flight randomly spurt out of a mysterious tunnel connected to some other airport.

AIRPLANE FOOD: Not intended for human consumption, but as a form of in-flight entertainment. When the flight attendants ask, “Do you want roast beef or lasagna?” they don’t mean, “Do you want roast beef or do you want lasagna?” They mean: “Do you want this dinner substance which could be roast beef or it could be lasagna (or possibly peat moss)?” 

Tell us your thoughts!

What information about unreached people groups, global prayer needs, mission projects and Bible study topics would you like to see in this newsletter? We are here to serve you. Tell us how to help you reach the nations with the hope of Jesus. 

Bible study:

GOD’S HEART FOR THE NATIONS