I am surrounded by Hui people every where I go. We are neighbors with a large Hui family. The restaurants and stores where I shop are run by Hui people and most of the customers are also Hui. I cross paths with hundreds of Hui people monthly; yet, it is difficult to discover ways to make our paths cross for relationships to form which means even though I live among thousands of Hui people only a small few are hearing the Gospel because of my presence.
This reality is disturbing. I did not move here just so I can say that I live among an unreached people group of 15 million people that has only a few believers and a few small churches. I moved into this city so that I would be surrounded by Hui people making it easy to share the Gospel with them often. However, I am finding it to be much harder than I expected to share the Gospel regularly.
For starters, language is a barrier. Mandarin is not an easy language for anyone to learn. Even if you are fluent in Mandarin, there are other language complexities that must be addressed. Hui people have a different spiritual vocabulary that the rest of Chinese society, so even Chinese believers born on the mainland must learn new words. The other language issue is all the local dialects that exist. Every province in China has a local dialect and within many provinces there are several different dialects. Locals prefer to use their local dialect than to speak Mandarin. Some older people as well as many people from the countryside are not able to speak Mandarin. This means that even though I now am able to speak and understand Mandarin I still interact with many people with whom I am unable to communicate. Just yesterday I visited a local business where I was hoping to have conversations. However, everyone except for me was speaking the local dialect. I did not understand anything that was said.
Second, the busyness of city life is a barrier to relationships and opportunities to share. Most Hui people work seven days a week and only get one or two days off a month! Many Hui operate small restaurants or noodle shops that are open all day long. Even Hui who have better jobs like working for the telephone company or in a government office still work long hours and only have a few days off a month. This leaves no time for hobbies or recreational activities. Usually, the best place and possibly only place to develop a relationship with a Hui person is at their place of business. Talking at someone’s business makes it harder to have spiritual conversations as there are always interruptions of some kind or another. The other issue with talking at someone’s place of work is how do I explain why I keep coming back to their shop over and over again? There are only so many bowls of noodles that I can eat. These conversations sometimes are very forced especially when they do not understand why I have time to stop by their little shop and talk with them.
Third, Hui tend to only spend time with other Hui people and usually only other family members. Many Hui women will openly say that they do not have any friendships outside of the other women in their family. Many men also spend most of their time with the other men in their family or a few friends they have made at the local mosque. Hui are not looking for friendships with “outsiders.” How do I develop relationships with people who are not interested in being friends with an outsider?
When we moved into our apartment, I was convinced we would develop a close connection with our Hui neighbors. They were the friendliest neighbors in our building and seemed very interested in getting to know us. They send food to us during the major Muslim holidays. They continue to say that they plan to invite us over for dinner. They also say they will call when they have time so we can go out for coffee. These assurances have continued for several years, and we still have not eaten with them or gone out for coffee. I am not sure what else we can do to foster this relationship. We continue to wait.
I am surrounded by Hui people who have never heard the Gospel. It seems that it should be easy to share the Gospel often. However, I am not. I have many excuses and great reasons for this dilemma. There seem to be few natural ways to spend time with Hui people and there are many cultural issues, but Hui people need to hear the Gospel.
Prayer Requests
- Please pray that God will give workers wisdom and discernment to know where, when and how best to share the Gospel regularly.
- Please pray for boldness for all followers of Christ who live among the Hui. May they not miss any chances to share truth with those they interact with daily.
- Pray that God will give workers creative ideas for how to interact and develop relationships with Hui people.
- Pray that God will provide opportunities for Christ followers to find employment in businesses where Hui people work and shop.
- Pray that Hui will open their doors and welcome Christ followers into their homes.