MINISTRY / Hope in the midst of superstition

In the middle of a modern ten-story shopping center, superstition announced itself with percussion instruments and a dancing dragon.

I was with a half dozen Confessional Lutheran church leaders on the way to lunch. The Chinese city around us displayed state-of-the-art buildings. Sleek cars crowed the streets. Western dress clothed the people on the packed sidewalks. The shopping center’s stores, kiosks, and restaurants felt like home. The scene could have taken place in Chicago or Atlanta.

Except for the dragon and its band.

The calendar said we were in the final days of celebrating the New Year Festival, the Year of the Dragon. Apparently, people felt there was still time to drive away ill-intentioned spirits from the shops and to welcome in a year’s worth of good fortune. That’s why shopkeepers hired the dancing dragon and his clanging instrumentalists.

Because of its atheistic Communist government, China has supposedly left behind superstitious beliefs. But the fear of spirits and the attempts to garner their favor have a hold on Chinese culture that reaches back millennia.

How wonderful, I thought, that our God of grace has raised up church leaders like my lunch companions. They are dedicated to replacing those ill-founded beliefs with the truth of the gospel. How wonderful that he has created 316NOW to help them.

And how wonderful that he has brought 316NOW to your attention so, through your prayers and support, Chinese people are freed from the fear of spirits and introduced to the love of the true God.

Mark Wagner, Executive Director