Editor’s note: As more and more Chinese leave the country, they are not only moving to the U.S. or Western countries. Many Chinese are settling in other Asian countries, places not so far from their original home, countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and other southeast Asian destinations. Among the current diaspora are many Christians, including house church pastors.

In this season of tumult, Chinese believers are considering how to continue sharing the gospel with other Chinese who are either unsettled or in the process of re-settling. While these changes present challenges to the spread of the gospel, it is also an important opportunity, one the church wants to meet intentionally.

People They Could Never Reach Before

As Chinese move into new countries, you also need to build relationships between the new Chinese immigrants, local Chinese already living there, and local, non-Chinese churches. There are cross-cultural differences depending on the country. For example, Thai people want to move slowly, while Chinese want to move quickly. When working together, there can be cultural clashes. New immigrants are hoping to settle as soon as possible, but local people are in no rush. How can these two groups meet in the middle?

The Chinese people who move to Southeast Asia are not planning to stay in Southeast Asia forever. For them, it’s a transition place. Maybe their kids will study in that country for five years, and then they hope to follow their kids to England, Australia, or America. They feel like this place is temporary for them. So, why would they plant a church? Why would they join a church? They have a mentality of someone on a journey. Very few want to come, stay, and die.

The good thing is that there are more than enough people to reach out to. There are lots of international schools catering to Chinese, and almost 500 Chinese companies in Bangkok alone. We could build ten churches easily!

Another difficulty is that, when you plant a church, you might have some Christians, but those believers are not committed to your church. They might also want to try the local church – those churches are bigger, they are local, and people want to learn the language. They want to build relationships with local people, and want to go to churches that are already established.

But the good thing is that there are more than enough people to reach out to. There are lots of international schools catering to Chinese, and almost 500 Chinese companies in Bangkok alone. We could build ten churches easily! We don’t have even one church in the industrial park – there is a huge opportunity.

If we plant a new church, that church has a chance to reach out to people they never could have reached before, when they were all in China. A lot of single parents and divorced people have found that the gospel can really comfort them. A lot of Chinese parents are accompanying their children to the country for the international schools, and these parents have a hard time. They don’t know how to discipline or raise their kids. Christian churches can be a big help to them.

Small Seeds Can Sprout

Right now, we are still in the stage of planting seeds. I feel this is a good field. God continues to send people out of China. We know the gospel can reach and transform people. I’m confident that we will see more. I believe that what has happened with the gospel movement in China will also happen in the Chinese diaspora. But it takes time.

Yes, the difficulties are real. But the opportunity is huge! We need to think big and dig deeper – but be willing to start with the small.

Things have been developing in China for decades. Imagine: in another decade, if the seeds of the Chinese diaspora gospel movement continue to grow, what do you think we could see? Yes, the difficulties are real. But the opportunity is huge! We need to think big and dig deeper – but be willing to start with the small. The little seed can sprout.

We want to see more discipleship, evangelism, preaching of the gospel, and healthy ministry practices. You want to be fruitful, to have both breadth and depth.

Seeds of the Harvest

Sometimes, people ask, “How long will it take to reach 200 people?” But I tell them not to worry about the numbers. Focus on how many people you are already helping. The people in this group of immigrants have risked everything to leave China. They are courageous people. You would rather have three courageous people who are very involved over a hundred lukewarm people.

Raise leaders; that is the most important thing. Develop leaders of a strong quality. These people are courageous entrepreneurs – God has already helped you select this group. Give them the gospel, and let them take it everywhere. We are expecting a harvest. It won’t happen now, it will be in five or 10 more years. Right now, we are just planting seeds.

These people are courageous entrepreneurs – God has already helped you select this group. Give them the gospel, and let them take it everywhere. We are expecting a harvest.

You can imagine the circles this will reach. First the gospel spreads throughout Chinese in Southeast Asia; then in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe; and then to South America. Now, Southeast Asia is ready. We can cover the world pretty quickly.

We need to follow the trends of where Chinese are moving, and we need to plant churches in those places. Right now there are not many resources, but there is a lot of potential. We need people to help!

Simon Liu is a church planter and works with church planting networks.

Pray that small gospel seeds will sprout into big gospel movements, and that the Lord will be honored as his people move around the globe in various ways.