towns and villages in the interior of China like a menacing cloud of China is, for the ! rst time, locusts, outdoing local processes. experiencing the problems of Other Problems ! e Chinese sell more girl babies truly massive industrialization. to other countries than any other country, and they turn around and Ralph D. Winter f buy more brides from other countries than any other country. One province has 800,000 men with no brides. ! ey commonly cost $25,000. What is the greatest downside to they have gained a big debt and ! e USA kills millions of infants China’s miracle industrial growth? risked their lives crossing the border. in utero, and turns around and buys It must be the extensive damage to ! ey simply don’t want to go through more babies from abroad than any millions of families whose husbands that again. other country. have trekked off across the country In China, they probably can go home. to south China to take jobs that were In all of this, the issue of morality Nevertheless, the impact upon the becomes more and more urgent and no longer available where they lived. families of China has been enormous Mass production elsewhere kills vil- critical. In a small town universal and tragic. All this is added to years morality is sometimes kept in check lage industry. of “one child” family structure, where China’s Miracle by the fact that a customer is a neigh- the one child grows up with inordi- bor but when customers are a thou- You read about the miracle of nate attention, producing millions of sand miles away, adding a chemical China lifting four hundred mil- what are called “little emperors.” to milk that will make it appear to be lion people out of poverty. But that So, this additional partial migration undiluted by water is something that great achievement has come at great problem rests upon millions of fami- people are more likely tempted to do. cost because in many cases they are lies that are being torn apart by the simply pulling workers from other In the USA, after decades of scuf- “welcome, much praised” economic fl ing, labeling and testing we still have parts of the country and pulling surge in South China. families apart. It is true that in China salmon farmers resisting disclosure of The Root of the Problem the workers may be able to get back artifi cal coloring, while many prescrip- to their families now and then. And, I have hinted at the root of this tion drugs are made in foreign coun- of course, they can send money back. problem. China is, for the fi rst time, tries, and even if pure in manufacture But absent father experiencing the typically pass through the hands of families are not, by any In fact, certain problems of truly mas- fi ve middlemen sometimes becoming means, the best kind. elements in China’s sive industrialization. adulterated in that circuitous route. government ! is is similar to the ! ere is no doubt that in a globalized In many other coun- world where hard candy is made in tries it is worse. already have a high industrial revolution in England which put one part of the world and sold in an- ! ere is often no way regard for much other, the instinctive scruples of local workers—once danger- so many people out of of the work that work at the local level commerce don’t come into play. ously (and expensively) missionaries did. Faith First smuggled across an that London became international border— an absolute hell hole All of this puts a greater strain, in can return to their families. For of poverty, starvation general, upon the need for morality example, in Guatemala, I know from and disease, as those workers, and because there is greater and greater our own visit there a couple of years sometimes their families, streamed opportunity to get away with things in ago, that some towns have 20% of into London to fi nd work. ! at is how a distant relationship to the customer. their people in the United States as Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx got ! ose temptations become very strong illegals. In that case, unlike China, their start—by 1850 twenty percent and morality becomes proportionately the people can’t come back because of English workmen were too poorly more a needed reality. nourished to go to work! ! is is the reason why again today ! us, the very reason that workers are China may be helped a great deal Ralph D. Winter is streaming to South China is usually editor of Mission simply by looking back on people the loss of their trade as manufac- who came from a distance with a Frontiers and the tured goods and agricultural prod- General Director of strikingly higher morality and a very ucts (from more effi cient industrial the Frontier Mission great love for the Chinese people. Fellowship. processes elsewhere) stream into their In fact, certain elements in China’s 4 November-December 2008 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 government already have a high Some good things are already coming from the four hundred regard for much of the work that million who have been lifted out of poverty and are gaining missionaries did. new skills appropriate to a technological world. The Irreducible Record of Missions ! is issue of Mission Frontiers is Yet, there is no way you can overstate Some good things are already coming intended to explain and describe the importance of personal salvation from the four hundred million who that possibility for the future. ! e and individual transformation of peo- have been lifted out of poverty and Chinese government already asked ple into people of integrity and good are gaining new skills appropriate to the Norwegian Missionary Society will. At the same time, our Gospel a technological world. ! e Olympics to establish a university in China compels us to demonstrate God’s love in China demonstrated the incredible because they are apparently aware of as Jesus did, helping people climb out potential of China’s wealth and their that society’s work many years before. of poverty and brutal limitations that intelligence and resourcefulness. God never intended them to suff er. In this issue we introduce Eric But equally true and maybe not so Liddell as an example of that kind However often reported is the terrible need of highly praised work. I describe Most of what has been said so far in (as well in the USA) for heightened the role of one of many, Timothy this editorial may seem negative and morality in business dealings. We Richard. He worked wonders in his ignore the fact that Chinese offi cials can hope and pray that the burgeon- dealing with local offi cials and high have very shrewdly accumulated ing Christian movement in China is governmental people, seeking over- enormous amounts of cash in their concerned for translating their wor- all benefi ts to the people of China. dealings with foreign countries, in ship of God into personal integrity ! is was a radically diff erent ap- their exploitation of a very low priced and actions that glorify God. And we proach from the pure evangelism of labor market. Obviously, in the long need those Chinese believersf to pray other missionaries even though both run that lucrative labor market will for us in the same regard. were very much Christian activities rise in cost as they run out of workers and were very signifi cant to China. and wages have to go up. Could Five Smooth Stones Work Again? David's strategy turned the tide for Israel. Could a new strategy by western missionaries do the same? Register today for one of six meetings this January: -13th: Weatherford, OK -16th: Colorado Springs, CO -20th: Boise, ID -23rd: Seattle, WA -27th: Indianapolis, IN -30th: Lancaster, PA It's time for world missions to use local resources rather than Saul's armor. It is time for... VulnerableMission.com www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers November-December 2008 5 ERIC LIDDELL by Mark Harris Chariots of Fire victions about the Sabbath, and he opts out of that n 1981, movie audiences in the USA and race—much to the consternation of the offi cials of abroad were introduced to 1924 Olympic cham- his Olympic team. A consolation of sorts is off ered, pion Eric Liddell through the fi lm “Chariots of as he is off ered a teammate’s spot to run in the 400 IFire,” which went on to win four Academy Awards, meters—not his best event. including the award for best picture. ! e focus of In the climax of the movie, Harold Abrahams wins this fi lm was on the events preceding and including the 100–yard dash, and then Eric Liddell wins those Olympic games in Paris. the 400 in world–record time. As he is running, For the few that may have never seen that fi lm, his words to his sister from earlier in the fi lm are here is a brief summary. Eric Liddell of Scotland recalled, “When I run, I feel His pleasure.” Not and Harold Abrahams of England are two of the noted in the movie, Eric also earned the bronze top sprinters in the United Kingdom in the early medal in the 200 meters. Also not emphasized in 1920s. ! eir paths cross early in the movie when the movie was the fact that he was assigned the Eric defeats Harold in a 100–yard race – a rare outside lane, and at the gun took off in a sprint.