Going overseas has been “mission impossible” in the past year. A significant number of missionaries have had to stay in Australia due to the travel restriction, including some missionaries supported by our church. However, it does not mean that missionary work is on a standstill.
Missionaries have been conducting online bible study classes for people who are overseas. One of our missionaries has been running online classes for international students who had returned to their homeland. Not only the total number of online classes flourished, attendees also extended to their friends in Australia and to workers. Our Cantonese Christianity Explained class also welcomed participants from both interstate and overseas in the last term. The sharing of God’s word can transcend physical limitation. This can be a new way for mission.
CPC frequently supports missionaries who serve people who have the same ethnicity as us. It would be harder to go back to some of these areas even post COVID. Would we consider supporting missionary work to other areas and ethnicity?
One of the possibilities could be Nepal. Nepal is ranked 34th most dangerous country to follow Jesus. (more at https://www.opendoors.org.au/get-involved/resources/) It is one of the poorest countries in the world and its population is about 10% more than us. 80% of the population believe in Hinduism, 10% in Buddhism and 2.85% in Christianity. Some of us learnt about the needs of Nepal recently.
You might think that missionary work is beyond what you can be involved in. But your prayers for our own missionaries, our missionary committee, many missionary organizations are absolutely valuable. It is a challenging time for missionaries and missionary organizations as they reflect on their strategies and goals. Our prayer support is more crucial than ever. Let’s pray for them!
出遊海外在過去一年是＂不可能的任務＂。因著外遊的限制，有很多宣教士都要留在澳洲，其中包括一些我們教會支持的宣教士。不過這並不代表宣教工作會停止。
宣教士一直為在海外的人舉辦網上查經班。我們其中一位宣教士所舉辦的網上課程，本來是為那些要回到原居地的留學生參加。後來網課的班數不但加增，甚至參加者延伸到他們在澳洲的朋友和就業的人。即使我們粵語堂上一期的基督教信仰課程，也有來自澳洲其他省份和海外的朋友。分享神的話語是可以超越實體的界限。這可以是一個宣教的新方向。
長老會常常都會支持一些服侍與我們種族一樣的人的宣教士。但即使在疫情之後，宣教士不一定可以回到那些地區。我們可否考慮支持一些其他地區和種族的宣教工作呢？
其中一個可能性是尼泊爾。尼泊爾在跟從耶穌最具危險性國家的排行榜中排三十四位 (可參考https://www.opendoors.org.au/get-involved/resources/)。它也是世界上其中一個最貧窮的國家，人口比澳洲大約多百份之十。宗教信仰方面，百份之八十的人口是信奉印度教，百份之十佛教，百份之二點八五基督教。我們中間有些人最近聽到尼泊爾的需要。
您可能會認為宣教事工超出了您的能力範圍。若你能為我們教會的宣教士、差傳委員會、眾多的宣教機構祈禱，那真是何等的寶貴。現在對宣教士和宣教機構是很具挑戰的時刻，而他們正在思考他們的策略和目標。所以我們禱告上的支持是前所未有的重要。讓我們為他們祈禱吧！
