Prayer Request 5/16--5/22

Tuesday
Buying and growing cactus plants is the newest kind of fraud scheme in China. Because they thought they were valuable, 5800 farmers spent $12,500,000 USD buying and growing Mexican wild cacti in green houses. Believers as well as poor farmers have tried many get-rich-quick projects. Church members are often involved in selling these products creating headaches or even disruption for the leaders. Let us pray for the guarding of hearts of both believers and leaders from greed .

Wednesday
Businessmen from Taiwan invest in high tech schemes and also in agribusiness in Fujian, Hainan, Shandong, and the Northeast of China. These businesses tend to be large farms or factories making all kinds of things from instant noodles to fancy mushroom products for consumption in China and also for export. Let us pray for the spiritual needs of these hundreds of thousands of businessmen whose reputation is "big spender and party animal" and pray especially for ministries directed to this huge group .

Thursday
Among those who seek out the service of the booming marriage introduction agencies, women outnumber men five to three. Generally a woman older than 28 is considered "old" when it comes to marriage.Ladies in China have a harder time finding a husband than vice versa. As we understand the pressure our sisters face, let us remember all who have married unbelievers and pray for their continuing faith, witness to their families, and church involvement .

Friday
Beijing's appointment of the Bishop of Kunming, has brought attention to the churches in this impoverished southwest province. Earlier missionaries by their heroic and sacrificial service took the gospel to many ethnic minorities and there are churches in many remote villages. A lack of adequately trained church workers makes church growth very slow. Let us remember all the foreign and national church workers there, including those who are translating the Bible into tribal languages.

Saturday
Beijing approved an extradition pact with Spain to bring back officials who had swindled funds and fled to foreign countries and will then waive the death penalty of more than $1250. USD which is usually imposed on these people. Currently there are 4000 of these officials abroad with 5000 million USD of swindled funds. We pray for the guarding of the hearts of all church workers who face great and constant temptation in handling church funds.

Sunday
Hangzhou hosted the very first World Buddhism Conference, attended by 2000 monks, scholars and officials. Buddhism is enjoying a phenomenal resurgence with temples erected everywhere and popularity among the young people. We do not know when a similar Christian conference could be held inside China. We pray for the upcoming large conference of Chinese churches in Macau, which will be attended by China churches and officials .

Monday
According to a marketer's study, the average child in Tianjin has six pairs of shoes--leather, cloth, canvas, rain-proof, ice-skating, and tennis shoes. In the past ten years Tianjin has enjoyed an economic boom with many highly-paid professionals there. The disparity between rural and urban churches is very great in China. Rural churches literally have no material for their children's ministry while city churches have keyboards and children's hymnals. Let us remember this great need for resources and training in the rural churches.

星期二
墨西哥仙人掌的廣告「吃我一掌，美味健康」、「種上半畝仙人掌，此地有金三百兩」，吸引5,800名農民花近百萬人民幣購買種植。日前被証實純為一場騙局，仙人掌的毒刺刺傷許多做著「致富夢」的農民。有許多信徒也不斷嘗試各種致富的方法，甚至在教會兜售商品，令教會領袖頭疼不已，頗受干擾。貪財是萬惡之淵藪，求神看顧保守信徒與教會領袖的心懷意念。

星期三
台商在中國的事業版圖除了高科技產業外，也從事農業領域投資。主要分布在福建、海南、山東、東北等地區，大多採農場式大規模經營，或開設工廠生產速食麵、各類食品罐頭等等，產品行銷國內外市場。台商往往予人「愛大肆揮霍、吃喝嫖賭樣樣來」的印象，讓我們為著數十萬台商心靈的需要來禱告，也特別記念以向台商傳福音為主的宣教事工。

星期四
青年男女擇偶困難，使得婚姻介紹所生意興隆。在介紹所登記的資料中，女性與男性的比例為五比三，女性一但過了適婚年齡28歲仍小姑獨處，就會被認為是難以嫁出去的老小姐。中國女性婚配比男性更困難，教會的單身姊妹們也面對相同的壓力。讓我們特別紀念所有與未信的另一半結婚的信徒，能夠繼續持守信仰、熱心於教會服事，並在家中做美好的見證。

星期五
北京政府任命昆明主教一事，使得廣堥卻貧困的西南地區重獲關注。早年宣教士翻山越嶺深入當地、全然犧牲奉獻的將福音傳到許多少數民族區域，在偏遠的村寨中至今仍有基督教會。然而因缺乏受過裝備的牧者，使得教會成長相當緩慢。讓我們紀念在當地服事或從事少數民族聖經翻譯的同工，不論本國籍或外國籍，都願他們的服事成為更多人的祝福。

星期六
日前人大常會通過中國與西班牙的引渡條約，使中國加速編織國際引渡網，緝捕以貪官為主的外逃案犯。條約中免除死刑犯引渡條款，目前為止，至少有4000名貪官逃亡海外，帶走資金500億美元。教會同工在經手財務奉獻時，也經常面臨試探，求主保守他們的心謹慎自潔，以神的賞賜為樂。

星期日
首屆世界佛教論壇於杭州舉行。有來自世界37個國家1000名佛教僧眾、學者與宗教局官員與會。目前佛教在中國十分盛行，寺廟林立，在年輕人中間也相當受歡迎。如果主許可，基督教論壇舉行的日子很快會到來，讓我們為七月即將在澳門舉行的第七屆世界華人福音會議禱告，願神挑起合一興旺福音的靈。

星期一
根據一項市場研究調查，天津的孩子至少擁有六雙鞋：皮鞋、布鞋、帆布鞋、雨鞋、溜冰鞋和球鞋。過去十年來拜天津經濟起飛之賜，許多高收入白領階級的專家學者也都聚集於此。貧富懸殊使農村與城市教會中間存在極大的鴻溝。鄉村教會的兒童事工幾乎沒有任何教材，然城市教會電子琴、兒童詩歌本等一應俱全。讓我們為鄉村教會兒童事工的資源與培訓的廣大需要來禱告。