Prayer Request 9/22 - 9/28

Tuesday
The average life expectancy in China has increased from 35 years before 1949 to 71.4 years in 2000 and soon it will be increased to 75 years. The government also reports that 84.6% of the married women are using various methods of contraception. (One-child policy is strictly enforced in urban areas, but farmers are able to have some exceptions.) The graying the Lord bless them and use them to be a great encouragement to the younger generation. It is not unusual to see older pastors still serving so let us remember them in our prayers. We too want to pray for graying phenomenon in the China churches, especially in rural areas. This is made worse by the young people who leave to work in the cities. We pray for all the elderly believers. May the Lord use them to greatly encourage the younger ones.

Wednesday
It is not easy for Chinese intellectuals to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. They grew up in an atheistic society and in a humanistic educational system. Many of them endured the nightmarish time of purging the country of Western ideas. It is particularly true that they find it difficult to accept each other with love and trust and they often question why Christians want to love each other as well as the motive of love. We remember especially those believers who have baggage from the Cultural Revolution days. May the Lord heal the old wounds and help them to see that Christians can love one another with honesty and without competition. As we model ourselves after Jesus Christ, may the Lord help us to be humble, honest, and open with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thursday
An estimate of 250,000 youth in China commit suicide each year. Suicide is the leading cause of death for people 15-34 years old. Experts attribute this to a lack in their belief systems. Half of the youth in China say they don't believe in anything and another quarter say they believe in Communism. Sharing one's Christian faith with teenagers in China is very difficult. Most churches find themselves unable to do it and give up on trying to reach teens. Let us pray for the totally unfilled need for youth ministry as well as for the teenagers from Christian homes to retain their faith.

Friday
Churches in China used to be known as places where mostly women, the illiterate, and peasants attended. During the past twenty years many more intellectuals have been going to house churches. Not only are educated young people serving there, the second generation in the rural congregations are better educated and we have witnessed a boom in ministries on campus as well as in the publication of Christian reading materials. Although as a whole, China is still an atheistic country, we praise God for more and more believers who are young and educated. Many pastors are still not accustomed to preaching to well-educated congregations because of their own limited schooling. Let us pray for the difficulties which arise from ministering to congregations that have both the educated and the poorly educated in them.

Saturday
Many young people leave their village homes to work in the cities after they are married. Since couples are thus separated and get together for only a few days a year, this is a set-up for extra-marital affairs and divorces. Other separated couples file divorces because they really aren't interested in caring for other family members or their own children. The divorce problem is equally acute for rural Christians who leave home to work in the cities. There are no resources for marital counseling and the rural churches are facing the loss of young believers as well as an increasingly greater number of divorces. Let us pray for them.

Sunday
The 187.6 kilometer sixth-ring (circumferential) highway around Beijing opened in September. In 1949 the 2nd-ring road was built, in 1994, the 3rd one, the 4th one in 2003, and in 2005 the 5th ring was completed. The capital city is rapidly expanding in all directions swallowing up many villages as she grows in size and population. Many churches are trying to expand as their members move away from the original city centers. Other churches are trying to reach out to the new communities being built up near the new ring road. Beijing churches are literally diverse, with intellectuals in the city centers and more of the laboring class in the outskirts. Let us pray for churches in Beijing as they contemplate church growth and outreach to new parts of this huge metropolis.

Monday
The government says that more than 20 million ming gong, or about 15 percent of China's 130 million migrants, have left the villages in search of work in cities. These rural jobless are a special social concern, especially those migrant workers who have lost their farmland to development. It is hard to pray for millions of unemployed while we also face financial pressure. Let us pray for His Kingdom and His righteousness first as Jesus taught us. May we all grow stronger in our faith and dependence in Him. We pray especially for unwavering faith of the millions of rural believers.


星期二
中國人的平均壽命從1949年的35歲上升到2000年的71.4歲，並將很快增至75歲。政府的報告還說84.6％的已婚婦女正使用各種方法來避孕。（在城市地區一胎化政策是嚴格執行的，但在農村可以有一些例外。）教會信徒老齡化在中國很明顯，特別是在農村地區。這種情形因年輕人離開農村進城打工而顯得更為嚴重，許多年邁牧師們仍在崗位上殷勤服事著。讓我們在禱告中記念年長的弟兄姊妹，求主賜福並使用他們成為年輕基督徒的極大鼓勵。

星期三
中國高等知識份子歸主並非易事。他們在無神論社會長大，深受人文主義教育的薰陶. 要讓他們從往昔的反西方思想鬥爭，轉化成與人和睦相處、相親相愛的倫理思維，實非易事；對於基督徒無論在動機及行動上都要彼此相愛，這種道裡他們根本不知其所以然。讓我們記念所有仍無法缷下文化大革命包袱的肢體禱告，願上帝醫治撫平他們的種種創傷，能夠真正坦誠與主內肢體相交，無需彼此爭鬥，效法耶穌基督對人謙卑、真誠的榜樣。

星期四
在15-34歲年齡段人的各種死因中，自殺占首位。而中國每年約有25萬青少年自殺。專家認爲信仰缺失是這一代年輕人的問題之一。有調查顯示，近半數青少年明確表示沒有信仰，超過1/4的學生信仰共產主義。向中國青少年傳福音相當困難。多數教會自覺無能爲力，最終選擇放棄。讓我們為中國青少年事工的需要禱告，同時也為基督徒家庭的少年孩子禱告，求主引導他們的信仰道路，持守對神的信心。

星期五
過去人稱中國家教會有三多：「婦女多、文盲多和農民多」。然而二十多年來，家庭教會知識份子的數目不停增加；城市中各類知識份子紛紛參與教會事奉，農村教會第二代知識青年也漸漸崛起。目前大學校園事工正興起，學生團契紛紛成立, 出版社也出版了很多相關的基督教書籍。中國整體上雖仍算是無神論國家，然而越來越多知識份子歸主卻是個不爭的事實，我們為此獻上感恩。很多牧師因學歷低而對牧養高學歷會眾感到力不從心，讓我們用禱告記念他們在牧養高低兩種不同學歷的會眾所面對的種種困難。

星期六
許多年輕人結婚後就離開農村的家進城打工。由於夫妻兩地分居，一年中聚在一起的時間只有短短數天，容易發生婚外情並導致離婚。婚姻破裂的另一原因是他們對照顧其他家庭成員或孩子真的不感興趣。離婚問題對離家到城市打工的農村基督徒們同樣是一大挑戰。由於缺乏婚姻諮詢方面的資源，農村教會正面臨著年輕信徒的流失以及越來越多的離婚個案。讓我們為他們向神禱告祈求。

星期日
總里程達187.6公里的北京六環路九月全線貫通。北京二環路建於1949年，1994年三環路全線通車，2003年四環、2005年五環全線通車。由於面積和人口擴大速度驚人，周遭許多農村已被併入北京城。許多人口往新區遷移，許多教會在增長的同時，卻要面對會友外流。另一方面，這些教會仍努力服事新環附近的新社區。北京教會會友知識水平分界明顯。 知識分子多在市中心教會，勞動階級的教會則在郊外。我們為北京教會有智慧思考和計劃增長和發展方向和方法，求主教導和帶領，尤其如何接觸這超級城市中新興的一環。

星期一
中國政府表示有超過2千萬的民工從農村前往城市找工作，佔了中國一億流動人口中的15％。民工失業的問題，成了頗受關注的社會課題，尤其那些已經失去農耕地的農民，他們的處境更加困窘。經融風暴橫掃全球，我們自顧不暇的當兒，實在很難為眾多失業者代禱。讓我們按著主的教導，先尋求祂的國和祂的義。求神我們對神的信心和依靠，在艱難的日子裡更見增長。讓我們在禱告中特別記念數以百萬的農村信徒，求主賜他們對神堅定不移的信心。