▼（original English）P3/13▼

This leads to my first cautionary conclusion. BTJ is NOT the monopoly of any one organisation whether in China or overseas. This is despite the publicity put out by some overseas groups. We need to stand back and take a wider view. God is undoubtedly at work in China giving a vision for mission work (in some cases through the BTJ vision, in some cases not). It is to be regretted that the extreme charismatic/pentecostals overseas have already ‘hijacked’ the BTJ vision and are busily marketing it to raise huge sums of money. Asia Link announced at the end of 2002 that “100,000 missionaries from China are ready to start their journey to the West with the Gospel.” (Asia Link, Dec 02) However, I doubt very much that more than a handful of the rural house-church Christians are properly prepared to engage on this mammoth task. Brother S., leader of the China Gospel Fellowship which claims over 2 million members and is one of the largest house-church ‘streams’ told me in January that they have about 50 people in training. I think we can take the 100,000 figure with the proverbial pinch of salt.

When God works in genuine revival (as he has done in China for 30 years) then we may expect mission and evangelism to result. In fact, I have argued, this is the crucial litmus test of genuine revival. We may therefore expect the Chinese church to produce a vigorous missions movement in the 21″ century as a fruit of the extraordinary revival and church growth God has blessed her with. However, that does not mean that every sensational marketing of BTJ should be swallowed uncritically. Quite the reverse. Satan may be expected to try to spoil God’s work and corrupt the first stirrings of this missions movement. Sadly, this is what we are now seeing.

The potential of BTJ is huge both for good and evil. 100,000 properly trained evangelists on fire for Christ would give mission an enormous boost. On the other hand, if they are sent out in the wrong way it would be a catastrophe on an enormous scale.

It is not unspiritual or showing a lack of faith to take a hard look at BTJ. God can surmount any obstacles but that does not mean He will give His blessing to unrealistic plans. The following are areas of real concern:

ORTHODOXY OR HERESY?

What is the message to be preached by the BTJ missionaries? The books proclaim a warm, Christ-centred evangelical Gospel. This is good. As one who has fought for the house-churches for over 2 decades I thank God for the vigorous, holistic approach of so many house-church brothers and sisters.

However, one should recognise that the unity of the ‘Sinim Fellowship’ which backs BTJ and includes several of the largest house-church ‘streams’ (in reality denomininations) is only a façade. The house-church Statement of Faith issued some years back was orthodox with some charismatic content. However, in reality there are serious questions which need to be asked of some of the groups banding together behind the BTJ vision.

The Shouters’ or Local Church are regarded by the TSPM and the government as a dangerous sect and proscribed. Witness Lee in California was extremely litigious and ran the Local Church on exclusive sectarian lines until his death. I know many wonderful Little Flock Christians in China who are very wary of the extremist

▼(checked ChinseseTranslation) P3/13▼

由此引出了我的第一個警示性結論。無論在中國或海外，BTJ 並非可由任何一個組織所壟斷。儘管某些海外團體如此大肆宣傳，但事實並非如此。我們需要退一步，放眼更廣闊的視野。上帝無疑地在中國動工，為宣教工作賦予願景（有時是透過 BTJ 的願景，有時則不是）。令人遺憾的是，海外的極端靈恩派/五旬節派已經「綁架」了 BTJ 的願景，並忙碌於推銷它以籌集巨額資金。亞洲連接會 (Asia Link) 在 2002 年底宣布，「10 萬名來自中國的宣教士已準備好開始他們前往西方傳播福音的旅程。」（亞洲連接會，2002 年 12 月）然而，我非常懷疑，只有極少數農村家庭教會​​的基督徒做好了充分的準備來承擔這項艱鉅的任務。中華福音團契聲稱擁有超過200萬成員，是最大的家庭教會「支流」之的一。其領袖S弟兄今年1月告訴我，他們大約有50人正在接受訓練。我認為，我們對10萬人這個數字需持保留態度。

當上帝真正動工復興時（就像祂在中國30年來所做的那樣），我們就可以期待宣教和福音事工的成果。事實上，我曾指出，這是真正復興的關鍵試金石。因此，我們可以期待中國教會在21世紀掀起一場蓬勃的宣教運動，這應是上帝賜給中國教會非凡復興和增長的成果。然而，這並不意味著我們應該不加批判地接受所有關於「回歸耶路撒冷」的製造轟動效應的營銷宣傳。恰恰相反，撒旦可能會試圖破壞上帝的工作，腐蝕這場宣教運動的最初萌芽。可悲的是，這正是我們現在所看到的。

「回歸耶路撒冷」的潛力巨大，無論對善惡都有用。 10萬名訓練有素、為基督而燃燒的傳道人，將大大推動宣教事業。另一方面，如果他們被差遣的方式錯誤，那將是一場規模龐大的災難。

認真審視「回歸耶路撒冷」並非不屬靈或缺乏信心。上帝可以克服任何障礙，但這並不意味著祂會祝福不切實際的計劃。以下是真正值得關注的面向：

正統還是異端？

應該傳達的訊息是什麼？ BTJ 宣教士會傳講的是什麼？這些書宣揚的是以基督為中心的溫暖福音。這很好。身為一個為家庭教會奮鬥了二十多年的人，我感謝神，讓這麼多家庭教會的弟兄姊妹如此積極、全力地參與。

然而，我們應該認識到，支持 BTJ 的「希尼團契」及其幾個最大的家庭教會「主流」（實際上是宗派）的合一只是幌子。幾年前發布的家庭教會信仰宣言是正統的，帶有一些靈恩派的色彩。然而，實際上，一些在 BTJ 異象背後聯合起來的團體存在一些需要認真思考的問題。

「呼喊派」或「地方教會」被三自愛國運動委員會和政府視為危險異端，並被禁止。加州的李常受極其好訴訟，直到去世前，他一直以排他性的宗派路線管理地方教會。我認識很多中國優秀的小群基督徒，他們對極端分子非常警覺。