China - A humbling and moving experience

10 April 2008

Church Army's Chief Executive, Mark Russell described his recent visit to Beijing with Care for Children a charity that works alongside the Chinese authorities in orphanages all over China as "a humbling and moving experience." Mark was invited by Care for Children's CEO Robert Glover to see at first hand the challenges they face in placing 1,000,000 Chinese orphans with families by 2010.

Writing on his blog Mark says, "Because China has a one child policy, many children end up in orphanages. 75% of these children are either physically or mentally handicapped, or have a long term illness. This presents a colossal challenge, but this charity have been seeking to change kids lives. Each child is made in the image of God, and he loves them. Care for Children's vision is awesome, because children are so close to Jesus' heart."

Mark, a former youth worker, was invited as a key speaker at a weekend of mission over Easter, working with a team from The Vine Church in Hong Kong, and was able to challenge over 250 young people from across Beijing with the Christian gospel of good news.

China has 1.3 billion people, and is a very big mission field. Commenting on the impact of his visit Mark adds; "There is such a hunger in this country to hear the message of the gospel and it really brought home to me the way that as evangelists showing something of the character of Jesus Christ we can steadily change lives and, hopefully, realise the transforming impact of a gospel that has freedom, justice and grace as is very bedrock."

Follow this link to learn about the work of Care for Children and The Vine Church