Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin with this post. I feel like I’ve only climbed the foothills of a giant mountain. Some of you have never even heard of this mountain or at least didn’t know it was a mountain to begin with. Some of you have been on similar trails and paths as me, and I just want to sit down and share stories. And for some of you, you’ve climbed the mountain…and the rest of us just need to sit as your feet and listen for days.

I have to get over the fact that I cannot even begin to express what’s on my heart in this single blog post. This thing with China is going to take a lifetime of exploring, discovery and processing. I’ve only been to mainland China twice and to Hong Kong twice. They are separate places…kind of. Maybe this will be best described in bullets points…because I can tend to ramble.

- I wish I had a video to show you that explains the history of China over the past 100 years. That would really help. Hong Kong was owned/run by the British up until 1997, when it was handed back over to Communist China (“The Handover”). But because it was already Westernized with capitalism…well, a square peg doesn’t fit into a round hole. However, China is becoming more like Hong Kong each day…not the other way around.

- Hong Kong is treated like a separate country. Separate Visa, flag, etc. However, it’s still owned by China…so it’s fully China…and yet it’s not. Hong Kong is very free. It’s very busy…like New York City crammed into a very small place. It’s very dense.  And it’s also the most friendly place I’ve been to. The main language of Hong Kong is Cantonese, and most everyone speaks English; they write using “Traditional” Chinese characters. The language of Mainland China is Mandarin; they write using “Simplified” Chinese characters.

- Wake-up call: While in Thailand, I had dinner with some of Hong Kong’s finest (leaders in financial, government & ministry sectors)…we were discussing religious freedom in China and how things are changing. We were discussing one of my past trips to China where Nate & I helped visually document the building of a Biblically-themed amusement park (in mainland China, mind you).  Then the conversation switched to America, and they asked me, “Are there Biblically-themed parks in America? Can you even get away with that? We wouldn’t think so; America isn’t very free. You can’t pray in schools anymore, you can speak freely, you can’t….”

- the Church of China is divided into a few factions: The Gov’t established registered “Three-Self Church” (did you know that the Chinese Gov’t actually trains pastors?) …some of these “Three-Self Churches” are very free…a few have restrictions, but it isn’t what you’d think. Then there are the “underground” house churches…these are the churches who hide and refuse to register with the Gov’t and use their Gov’t Pastors. Some are persecuted more than others…but most are not persecuted at all; it all depends on the Province you are in. However, there are a few churches popping up (mostly in Beijing & larger cities) that are not registered but are still meeting publicly…it’s the first of it’s kind. The Gov’t is choosing to turn a “blind-eye”, and they view these “Christians” as friendly and doing good. Pretty epic, huh?

Here’s a little #VisualEaster for you…this is one of those churches in Beijing I’m referring to. This is a line of over 1,000 trying to get in this past weekend. And this is very typical each week. (HT: Biscuet)

- The Church in Hong Kong suffers from a different kind of division. First is the division between Int’l and local Chinese speaking churches. Secondly is the division between Evangelical (Conservative) and Charismatic churches (in both Int’l and local Chinese). However, this is most prevalent in the older generation of leaders…for the younger generation is praying and yearning for unity…meeting together many times a week to pray and worship together. Most of these worshipers come from different churches. For them, the denominational lines are blurring & even disappearing! And the focus of their prayers is on their own generation and the local churches of Mainland China.

- All of these churches and young leaders share a similar passion: the use of visual artistry and technology in worship. They all have a laptop, projector and images. Even the local house churches in China are incorporating technology into their gathering experiences. Many of the young worship leaders are embracing this technology and have a burden for seeing it used correctly. We’ll hear more on this later.

- Opportunities are presenting themselves left and right. Camron, Nate & I are overwhelmed with what’s going on over there, and we’re praying about what’s next. We had no plan when visiting Hong Kong. No agenda. We just wanted to see what’s up and to encourage people along the way. Out of nowhere, we ended up meeting with pastors from some of the largest and most influential churches in Hong Kong…both Int’l and local Chinese. And we were grafted into the younger generation’s community and welcomed with open arms. There are even opportunities opening up to teach visual worship at one of the universities there. The people God aligned us with would blow your mind….we’re still processing it all and wondering what to do with all this.

Camron & I got to visit a local Chinese speaking church:

This is where they meet:

And here’s their tech guy running sound & lyrics all at the same time (any of you out there relate?):

We also got the chance to visit Hong Kong City Church (one of the Int’l Churches):

Their worship style is very edgy and modern; their community is made up of local Hong Kong business people, Australians, Americans & many others:

And they meet at the top of the 2nd tallest building on Hong Kong Island. The owner of the building is a Christian and let’s them meet there for free! Talk about a powerful visual context for worship, especially when praying over the city. And some days, they’re literally caught up in the clouds!

- We have a vision for seeing the Western Church serving the Asian Church. Not Westernizing or commercializing…but truly serving and meeting their needs…training it’s leaders, encouraging them, and helping them to see what mistakes the Western Church has made so that they don’t repeat the same mishaps. But the fact is, when you go over there, you aren’t really teaching them much. You are learning more from them than you could ever imagine, and you are able to catch a clearer glimpse of how God is at work across the entire globe. You get a real sense that the awakening taking place in the Church is truly a global awakening! And visual worship is just a chapter in the story.

All that I have described to you barely scratches the surface. And I know that all that I have seen & will see in my lifetime is just a drop in the bucket.

Get ready. It’s bigger and more exciting than any of us could ever dream or imagine! As I learned when I was young, go where you see God moving. He’s moving in Asia people! He’s been there all along and I’m so grateful for getting to find Him there!

So I’m going. In fact, a bunch of us are going!

What will your response be?

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