A Light On China’s Church Today

Matthew chapter 26, verses 1 to 16, is a passage of powerful contrasts. It's also a passage that shines an illuminating light onto the work of Derek Prince Ministries in China. 

In verse 2, Jesus clearly states that “the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” He sets His face like flint to fulfil the purpose for which He came to earth, which Luke 19:10 makes very clear: “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” How wonderful it has been over our four decades of service to the church in China to see so many who were lost but are now found by the Lord Jesus and are His passionate followers. So many lives in China have been wonderfully transformed by the saving work of Jesus on the cross.

Verses 6 to 13 describe the woman who anointed Jesus from her flask of priceless ointment. Jesus declared that “wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” After his death and burial, other women came to anoint His body, but it was too late. He had risen from the dead. This woman seized an opportunity to pour out her love for Jesus. That is for us the heart of serving our brothers and sisters in China, to assist so many who pay a great price to follow Jesus, wonderful brothers and sisters who pour out their lives as fragrant ointment before Him. 

The disciples struggled with the woman’s ‘wasteful’ action. They got it wrong. Many of us inside and outside of China are like that. We are His disciples, but we need teaching, instruction, and clarification in the Scriptures and in the purposes of God. That's the heart of Derek Prince Ministry’s service to China. We strive to bring clarity and help to those who want to follow but need to learn how to, through Derek's anointed teaching. 

Then there is Judas. Perhaps we'll never understand why this disciple chose thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave in the Old Testament, to betray Jesus. There are also those like that in the Chinese church who have betrayed their Master. And just as the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people “plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him” (verse 4), there are national leaders in China whose desire seems to be to destroy the church through persecution, propaganda, arrests, closures of churches. How much do those who live in that environment need the encouragement of Derek Prince's teaching to help them stand firm - through various means of communication, through books, through proclamation cards, through any means that we can use? 

Surely our ultimate message as we serve the Church in China is the message of the subsequent chapters of Matthew's Gospel. What seemed a tragedy, the trial, arrest, and murder of the Lord Jesus, was actually the door to eternal life. How much needed is the message of the cross for our brothers and sisters in China, and for those who, under pressure, have left China. The cross is not the end of the story. It's the beginning of an eternal one for every brother and sister, indeed, it can be for every man and woman in China. 

Pray for the disciples of Jesus in China who are paying a significant price for Jesus. 

Pray for believers in China who lack teaching in the Scriptures and need help to follow Jesus.