After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. Revelation 7:9
In a country of more than 1.3 billion people, where more than 90% of the population is made up of one huge people group – the Han Chinese – and the remaining 10% is made up of 56 different minority groups, it is not difficult to see why the Hui minority would hold strongly to their cultural and religious roots. Because they don’t have a different language and they don’t actually look much different from the Han, they hold tightly to what they do have – religion. For the Hui of China, to be Hui is to be Muslim. To not be Muslim is to not be Hui.
For this reason, you could sit and talk with a nice Hui man all afternoon. You can tell him all about Jesus, why He came and why we need Him, and he might even agree with you! But at the end of the conversation when you ask him if he wants to believe in Him, he says, “Of course not! I’m Hui! But you should go tell other people about this because they really need to know.”
Because being Hui and being Muslim are tied so closely together, imagine what happens when one of them does believe. No one knows who he is anymore, his family, friends and community quite possibly reject him… and at the very least they feel rejected and now see the new believer as a traitor.
Prayer Request:
- In many areas of China, Hui are connected through clan relationships. Pray that not only individuals but also whole families come to faith in Jesus. Pray for cultural sensitivity, awareness and respect among believers as we interact with new believers from among the Hui.