When A Missionary is Forced to Leave
Pray for the Word of God to be known in China
Pray for China
Invest in China
Invest in ChinaOne of the most difficult questions our kids regularly have to answer when meeting new people here in the United Kingdom is, “Where are you from?”
For most folks, it is a normal and straightforward question, especially in London, where almost half the population wasn’t born in this country. But for many missionaries and their children, the question can carry the weight of a lifetime of sojourning and longing for a home.
There are unforeseen joys and hardships of surrendering your life to making Jesus known among the unreached peoples and places in the world.
Jesus does not hide great rewards of gospel obedience (Mark 10:28-30).
Nor does he hide the cost (Mark 10:30b).
In this article, I want to share our family’s story of leaving our native home, building a life on the mission field, being forced to leave the only home our children had ever known, and seeking a better homeland, “that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16).
My prayer is that, by sharing our story, the worth of Christ would be lifted high and families would rightly count the cost and consider the great reward of making Christ known everywhere.
A HOMECOMING AWAY FROM HOME
My wife, Katherine, and I were sent out from our church in Kentucky 15 years ago to be church-planting missionaries in China. I had already lived in China for two years––learning Chinese, doing evangelism, encouraging new believers, and working to establish a small underground house church.
After finishing my term and returning to Kentucky, Katherine and I were married and we both immediately started seminary in order to prepare for a lifetime of missionary service. By God’s grace, four years later, we left our old Kentucky home with our two young children and moved to China in the hope of building a life there and never leaving.
Coming back to China felt like a homecoming for me. I already had a solid grasp of the language, a deep understanding and appreciation of the culture, and a clear vision for gospel ministry and church planting. I immediately started developing relationships in our community, sharing the gospel, and building deep friendships.
While learning the language was more difficult for Katherine, through hard work with her tutor and the grace of God, she was increasingly able to communicate, make friends, and have deep gospel conversations.
Katherine’s gifts of hospitality and our shared desire to make China our home led us to make our living room the center of our evangelistic and church planting efforts. While it was often my extroverted nature that started the friendships, it was Katherine’s care and culinary skills that created the needed warmth and welcome for deep relationships to flourish.
DEEP ROOTS AND SUDDEN GOODBYES
As the years went by and our relationships and love for the people and place grew, China went from simply being our mission field to truly being the place where we felt most at home in the world. Having friends stop by without notice at all hours of the day or night went from an annoyance to a sign of the depth of our relationships. The “impolite” questions about how much money we made or why we had four children stopped being offensive and started signifying care and concern.
Our favorite day of the week was when we gathered with the 20 to 30 Chinese folks in our living room for church––singing, praying, hearing God’s Word read and preached. These precious saints were our children’s “uncles” and “aunties,” our closest friends, and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Despite government restrictions on evangelism and religious activities, by God’s grace, we held countless evangelistic Bible studies and prayer meetings in our living room, and we saw three new churches formed and launched during our time in China. All glory to God!
As the security threats from the government continued to grow, the leadership of our missions agency suggested that we consider preemptively leaving the country before we were interrogated or forced out, as some of our colleagues had been. Katherine and I prayed about it, but knew that the Lord had called us to stay as long as possible. By God’s grace, we were given another 12 months to live and serve in China before a security breach caused us to be identified as missionaries and forced to leave.
And our family hardships weren’t unique.
During an 18-month period, most people serving with larger missions organizations in China were forced to leave the country. Hundreds of families. And while this situation in China was especially sudden, missionary families serving in all restricted-access countries live with the daily reality that they could lose their home at any moment. That’s a cost they willingly accept for the privilege of being ambassadors for Christ.
Have you considered what Christ is calling you to risk for the sake of the glory of his name?
A COST WITH NO REGRETS
By the grace of God, I can testify that the steadfast love of the Lord has never failed us. I regret nothing. He is sovereign. He is worthy. And I would do it all again. Nonetheless, it is important to count the cost and know that some of the pain cannot be fully understood until what could be lost is gone.
When we initially left the U.S. for the mission field, I had anticipated the homesickness for friends and family in Kentucky. Missing family gatherings, births, high school reunions, and my mama’s cooking.
I was not prepared for the terrible ache of missing China and our life there.
In a moment, not only did we lose everything in our home, we also lost contact and the gift of being with and serving alongside our closest friends, our church family.
To make matters worse, we were expelled from China just as the Covid-19 pandemic was turning the world upside down. When we returned to the U.S., the social-distancing restrictions and the uncertainties of the situation caused us to process the loss of our life in China in isolation and in a place that no longer felt like home.
But, for those who are in Christ, we are never alone.
It took some time, several years in fact, but God brought healing and a renewed and deepened confidence that Christ is our home. And while I would never have chosen this path, I praise God for what this hardship has worked in our lives and in the lives of our children.
By God’s grace, we have a new home here in the United Kingdom, where we continue to work with the large Chinese population here and are developing gospel partnerships and relationships. And we are thankful that we have been able to find creative ways to maintain meaningful contact with our friends and gospel partners in China. It is not the same as being there but we are thankful to still be in contact with them and look forward to joining with them worshipping Christ forever in the new heavens and new earth.
Perhaps the greatest lesson that losing our home in China has taught us is that this world is not our home. We are sojourners and exiles here.
And yet, that does not mean that we should not put down roots.
In fact, it is for the sake of faithful gospel proclamation and making holistic disciples that we absolutely must be fully present where we are and be intentionally committed to making deep, long-term gospel relationships (Romans 16), especially in the context of healthy local churches (John 17).
When we understand that we are “elect exiles” (1 Peter 1:1), then no matter where we are scattered on this earth, we will know who we are (1 Peter 2:9-10), that we’re to be about the business of proclaiming the excellencies of Christ (1 Peter 2:9), living as kingdom citizens (1 Peter 2:13-17), and awaiting his glorious return (1 Peter 4:13).
While that doesn’t necessarily make it easier for my kids to answer the question, “Where are you from?,” it most certainly gives clarity to the question of why we’re here and provides gospel assurance of where our true home is.
