Prayer Request 6/14--6/20

Tuesday
Taiwan successfully tested-fired its first cruise missile with a range of 1,000 km, which would allow much of the southeast mainland. Saber-rattling is not new in the cross-strait relation. Beijing has 700 ballistic missiles aimed at the island. There are many leadership, evangelism, music trainings and community work from Taiwan in China, especially in the coastal provinces this summer. Let us pray for their effectiveness and lasting blessing to the local churches.

Wednesday
Wal-Mart just opened its 46th store in China and plans 15 new stores this year. If the company were a country, it would be China's sixth-largest export market. It’s chief competitor is Carrefour of France which has 68 stores. Being big has important advantages. Hangzhou has the largest Chinese church in the world. seats 7,000. Let us pray for all the urban mega-churches (more than 1,000), for their effective ministry, fellowship and their witness in their cities .

Thursday
“What kind of books Chinese children love?” Harry Potters, Japanese and Korean comic and a few Chinese original. Publishers have rushed to fill and fuel the appetite for the mind and imagination of billion of youngsters. Unfortunately, Christian content for children is nearly non-existent. Many of the Western ones are either culturally inappropriate or would not meet censorship. Let us pray for Chinese Biblical content fit and designed to reach children .

Friday
Shengzhen, the special industrial zone established 20 years ago, now has the highest minimum wage for its workers, 690 yuan per month, an 80 yuan increase. This is nearly 3.5 times of national average set by the government. The constant loss of rural church workers because of extremely low wage is understandable. Let us remember all those who chose to stay and serve the poor village churches and their needs .

Saturday
More Beijing pre-school children may ride buses and get into parks for free, as the city raise the height restriction from 110 to 120 cm. The 110 cm policy has been in effect for 50 years. Chinese children are growing taller and healthier. When will we see any children in Chinese churches? Let us not give up praying for change in the government policy .

Sunday
Cankao Xiaoxi (Reference News) is the largest Chinese newspaper (2.6 million daily circulation, 8th in the world), ahead of People’s Daily (9th). Japanese newspaper led the top seven. Cankao started as a paper for Mao in the revolutionary days, and its wide coverage is read mostly by businessmen and officials. Newspapers shape the worldview of the entire China, from top to bottom. Let us pray for divine intervention in favorable coverage of churches and believers .

Monday
Government says that only 53% of population speaks Mandarin, or Putonghua and many of them who can are not frequent Mandarin users. People do not speak Mandarin, because they can get by with their own local dialect. “Chinese was invented by the Devil to prevent the spread of the Gospel” was once a joke among the early Western missionaries. Not able to communicate presents great frustration in presenting the Gospel. Let us pray for wisdom for many who are learning these often hard-to-learn dialects and the believers who use them .

星期二
台灣試射巡弋飛彈成功，有效射程高達1,000公里，涵蓋大陸東南大部份的區域。中國解放軍也有700枚導彈瞄準台灣。海峽兩岸看似寧靜，但兵戎相見的危機一觸即發。暑期許多台灣教會在沿海省份有許多領袖、宣教、音樂事工和社區關懷等陪訓，讓我們求神保守祝福他們的工作，帶給各地教會深遠的影響。

星期三
美商「沃爾瑪」第46家分店開張了，成為名符其實的「超級」連鎖店。除了販賣商品給中國人外，也自中國採購許多產品，如果沃爾瑪是一個國家，將是中國第六大出口對象。競爭對手法國的「家樂福」各地有68家大型超市。杭州擁有全球最大的華人教會，可容7,000人。讓我們為所有都會區的大型教會(千人以上) 禱告，求主賜福、使用他們的諸多資源和恩賜，落實團契生活，活出見証，嬴得人心。

星期四
中國兒童愛看什麼書？《哈利·波特》和日、韓的《冒險小虎隊》、《淘氣包馬小跳》、《窗邊的小豆豆》及古典《隋唐英雄傳》等動畫卡通高居暢銷書榜首。由於傳媒的強勢炒作，孩童們狂熱的追隨流行，毫無獨立選擇能力。目前有關基督為內容的兒童讀物亦是付闕，西方譯本不是文化背景隔閡就是難以通過審核。讓我們迫切為能充份供應兒童靈糧的編著與設計需要禱告。

星期五
七月一日起深圳最低工資調漲爲690元/月，比現行標準提高80元。這個廿年前開發的工業特區內，調整後的最低工資是法定小康標準2,400元人民幣/年的3.5倍，居全國第一。無怪乎農村教會中因過低的薪資而流失同工，讓我們時常記念許多為主忠心留在赤貧農村牧養教會的神僕們，求主豐富的供應他們的需要。

星期六
北京市日前將施行了50年的兒童票身高標準從110 公分升高為 120 cm，估計有眾多小學生在搭乘巴士和進入公園時仍將享用兒童的優待。由於國人經濟能力與營養知識的提升，當今兒童發育普遍良好。在慶幸兒童體格日益健美高大的同時，神家裡小羊羔靈性的培植和茁長誰來關注？讓我們持續為福音能公開地向下紮根來禱告。

星期日
「参考消息」最近躍升為中國第一大報。它以每日發行量260萬份，在全球排行第八，超越第九的人民日報。日本報業囊括了世界前五大。原供毛主席等領導幹部閱讀的「参考消息」創刊於1931年江西，其廣汎內容為大眾了解外部世界的管道，深受政商人士歡迎。讓我們禱告神能透過大眾傳媒預備更多淨化人心，有益教會和信徒成長的內涵。

星期一
官方的報告顯示中國人僅有53%常說國語，也是所謂的普通話．中國各區域各民族存在各種不同的方言，也是普通話普及率不高的原因之一．早年西國宣教士在學習中文時有一句玩笑話：“Chinese was invented by the Devil to prevent the spread of the Gospel” (暫譯為”中文是撒旦發明來阻擋福音的”．讓我們為了投入特定民族工場而學習當地語言的宣教士來禱告，求神格外恩膏賜下智慧，毅力及耐心來學習．