The
Back To Jerusalem Vision
The early expansion of the gospel saw a growth of churches stretching westwards from Jerusalem across North Africa, Asia Minor and into Europe and eastwards from Jerusalem across Asia all the way to China. Before a Church was built in Canterbury there were thriving Churches in Bukhara. Samarkand and Merv in Central Asia, Herat in current day Afghanistan, Tibet, and in Xi’An and Beijing in China. In 4 centuries following Moslem conquest these Churches disappeared and Christian witness was lost in much of the area we commonly call the 10/40 window. This area is seen as the last great challenge for modern day Christian missions.
In the 1920s a group of Chinese Christians had the vision to take the gospel westwards from China towards Jerusalem along the ancient Silk Routes thus completing the Great Commission. In the 1940s a small band of Back to Jerusalem missionaries started out from North West China in response to the vision and reached the frontier with Central Asia just as the border was closed by the communists. All of this group were arrested and imprisoned and the vision lay dormant until the release of Simon Zhao the only surviving member of the group in 1981 and the vision was revived through his testimony.
The early expansion of the gospel saw a growth of churches stretching westwards from Jerusalem across North Africa, Asia Minor and into Europe and eastwards from Jerusalem across Asia all the way to China. Before a Church was built in Canterbury there were thriving Churches in Bukhara. Samarkand and Merv in Central Asia, Herat in current day Afghanistan, Tibet, and in Xi’An and Beijing in China. In 4 centuries following Moslem conquest these Churches disappeared and Christian witness was lost in much of the area we commonly call the 10/40 window. This area is seen as the last great challenge for modern day Christian missions.
In the 1920s a group of Chinese Christians had the vision to take the gospel westwards from China towards Jerusalem along the ancient Silk Routes thus completing the Great Commission. In the 1940s a small band of Back to Jerusalem missionaries started out from North West China in response to the vision and reached the frontier with Central Asia just as the border was closed by the communists. All of this group were arrested and imprisoned and the vision lay dormant until the release of Simon Zhao the only surviving member of the group in 1981 and the vision was revived through his testimony.