Back to Jerusalem: Called to Complete the Great Commission

by Brother Yun, Peter Xu Yongze, and Enoch Wan

The Back to Jerusalem Movement is the vision of the Chinese underground house church leaders to train, send, and support physically and spiritually thousands of Chinese missionaries to Buddhists, Hindus, and especially Muslims, thus bringing the gospel full circle to Jerusalem in anticipation of Christ’s return to and reign from the Holy City.

Piquant, P.O. Box 83, Carlisle, UK, 2003, 178 pages, £6.99.

—Reviewed by Monroe Brewer, global ministries pastor, Crystal Evangelical Free Church, Minneapolis, Minn.

The Back to Jerusalem Movement is the vision of the Chinese underground house church leaders to train, send, and support physically and spiritually thousands of Chinese missionaries to Buddhists, Hindus, and especially Muslims, thus bringing the gospel full circle to Jerusalem in anticipation of Christ’s return to and reign from the Holy City.

Perhaps the great missionary story at the beginning of the twenty-first century is brilliantly and succinctly captured by Paul Hattaway in this remarkable little book. Hattaway’s name is synonymous with accurate journalism, comprehensive research, and vibrant ministry in the China arena. Operation China, authored by Hattaway and his research team in 2000, astounded many the world over with the variety of unreached peoples within China. Though a completely different kind of book, Back to Jerusalem will equally astound the Christian church with the story of the smoldering fire of passion for the Muslim world that has been growing in the hearts of house church leaders in China for many decades and is now an uncontrolled conflagration.

The book is built upon the personal testimonies of four well-known house church leaders. Chapter 4 is the firsthand report of Simon Zao, who describes the beginning of the Back to Jerusalem Movement in the 1920s through the Jesus Family house church movement’s efforts in Shaanxi Province, originally known as the Northwest Spiritual Movement. Chapter Five is the testimony of Brother Yun, which is primarily a paraphrase from Brother Yun’s biography, The Heavenly Man (London: Monarch Books, 2002). Chapter Six is the testimony of Peter Xu Yongze, the founder of the twenty-million-member Born Again house church movement in China. Chapter Seven is the testimony of Enoch Wang, one of the leaders of the house church movement that sprang from Watchman Nee’s teaching. All four graphically describe the incredible burden that thousands of Chinese believers have for evangelizing the Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims of Asia and the steps that already are being taken toward that end.

In the early chapters, Hattaway presents a brief but adequate survey of the growth of the church in China over the last fifty years, the historical roots of the Back to Jerusalem Movement, and an excellent chapter on the Back to Jerusalem Evangelistic Band of the 1940s—the pioneers of the present movement.

Towards the end of the book, Hattaway fills in details from the testimonies of the four house church leaders, describing the strategy of the Back to Jerusalem Movement (e.g., routes being taken, workers, money issues, etc.), and answering key questions in a catechism-style format. The book concludes with three chapters on important principles for God’s people around the world if the Back to Jerusalem’s vision is to be fulfilled, along with demographic tables on every country of Asia—the missionary focus of the movement.

I can personally vouch for the authenticity, passion, depth and breadth of the Back to Jerusalem Movement. In the past years it has been my joy to work with the “uncles” of several of the largest house church movements, to teach in their schools, and to assist them in their leadership development agendas.

The key to evangelizing the world is to evangelize Asia. And the key to evangelizing Asia is to train and mobilize Chinese house church leaders of the largest underground movements in China. What a fantastic vision for the future Back to Jerusalem presents to Christ’s church around the world!

—–

Copyright © 2003 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

Comments are closed.