Editor’s note: This is the first of a three-part interview series in which we spoke with a Chinese educator involved in establishing a Christian school outside of China. Although his school does not focus solely on Chinese students, the school is filled with many overseas Chinese, who still hope their children can be educated with a strong Chinese foundation. In this interview, he spoke about how he first started to explore the field of Christian education, and how he hopes it can be used as an evangelical tool.

Sharing the Gospel among Chinese Immigrants

China Partnership: Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your background? How did you become interested in Christian education?

Joshua: I became a Christian and was baptized more than 20 years ago. A few years after that, my wife and I began to participate in some parenting and marriage trainings at our church. We saw that Christian faith was connected to real life, and my whole life was renewed. It is not just religious knowledge, but is related to every individual’s relationship with the living God. He is the Lord of our lives, and leads us to live a submissive life in every area of our lives.

After that time, we spent almost 20 years doing parenting and marriage training in China, for both believers and unbelievers. With unbelievers, we didn’t directly talk about Scripture passages, but we used biblical principles. We also did trainings for the church, directly using the Bible in these.

China leads the world in the number of immigrants to other countries. Everywhere you go, you can find Chinese immigrants. We began to think that we need to find these immigrants and share the gospel with them.

Later, about 8 years ago, we began to think about how China needs to participate in missions and evangelism. Chinese Christians need to go out and evangelize and be on mission. I was already a lay pastor at a church at that point and was doing pastoral work there. Outside the church, my job was the parenting and marriage training. Our church became convicted that Chinese Christians need to go out, evangelize, and become missionaries. We were thinking: “How can we do this?”

Normally, we train evangelists and then they go out on mission. Later, we realized it was very difficult for these evangelists to make a living and survive. They faced many challenges, including language barriers, and it was hard on their children. Later, I realized China leads the world in the number of immigrants to other countries. Everywhere you go, you can find Chinese immigrants. We began to think that we need to find these immigrants and share the gospel with them. They have already settled and put roots down, they have made a life in the places where they live. So we need to share the gospel with them, lead them to the Lord, and plant churches. Then, they will be able to continue to bless the places where they already live.

Education as Mission

Overseas, we were finding Chinese immigrants and evangelizing them. These overseas Chinese still have relatives in China, and so when they are converted, they also evangelize their relatives at home. Based on this, we had a thought: because Chinese immigrant families highly value Chinese education for their children, we should start with education. These families want their children to learn Chinese.

We began to look for an opportunity, and found one in Southeast Asia. In this country, the investment and costs are low, and it is more affordable. It is also very easy for people to travel here from China. Christianity is not restricted, and Christian education is open.

Because Chinese immigrant families highly value Chinese education for their children, we should start with education. These families want their children to learn Chinese.

We found an international school that wanted to transfer ownership. We thought it was a good opportunity, so we took over the school. We told the parents of existing students that we would turn the school into a Christian school. We planned to upgrade the quality, but wanted to keep tuition the same. We would have a lot of foreign teachers, but would also add Chinese courses. Because this strategy was good, the families all stayed at the school. Although most were Buddhist, they didn’t mind if it was a Christian school. Later, we added a high school, because previously the school had only included kindergarten and elementary school.

In the last several years, even though it was during the Covid pandemic, we have grown to more than three times our original size. This is a little bit of our background and how God led us to do this.

Preparing the Next Generation

China Partnership: What is the special burden of these sorts of international schools schools run by Chinese Christians?

Joshua: Right now, we have a burden to have Chinese Christians do their part and use their power to participate in global missions. We are in Southeast Asia, and we are happy to see we are evangelizing children here. They are starting to learn the Bible and worship. Because of our involvement, these children have the opportunity to be exposed to Christianity, and their families also come into contact with Christianity. That is our burden, the outward-facing aspect of cross-cultural missions.

We train the next generation here to be fluent in Chinese and English and to understand Chinese culture. We train them to fear God, be honest, and have servant leadership.

We also train the next generation here to be fluent in Chinese and English and to understand Chinese culture. We train them to fear God, be honest, and have servant leadership. They will also have professional skills in their specific majors and areas of study. China will need such talent in the future.

Joshua Liu is a pseudonym for a Chinese Christian educator involved in teaching and training the next generation.

Pray for Chinese teachers working to share the gospel through education.