In my last post, I looked at the language spoken by Chinese people at home. And it was clear that a vast majority of people still speak Cantonese and Mandarin. So is there much of a need for English ministry in Chinese churches?

Have a look at this, which shows the proficiency of spoken English amongst those who speak Cantonese and Mandarin at home (click on the graph for a larger image):

	Cantonese	Mandarin
Very Well	5,703	4,012
Well	4,791	5,552
Not Well	3,500	2,744
Not At All	1,322	796

Interestingly, around 70% of both groups have a proficiency level of "Very Well" or "Well". I'm not sure if this matches up with my own experience with Chinese people, or whether they were overly optimistic in their self assessment. But that's what the data says.

If we break this down into age groups as well, we get this (click on the graph for a larger image):

A few observations and reflections for ministry:

• Overall, there is a larger percentage of Cantonese people who speak English "Very Well" (blue columns), and a larger percentage of Mandarin people who speak English "Well" (red columns).
  
• In the under 35 age bracket, the English proficiency of Cantonese and Mandarin speakers are roughly the same at 85-95% (blue and red columns combined). So ministry amongst this age group can/should still be conducted in English. And in fact that will be the preference for many, especially those who speak English "Very Well" (blue columns).
  
• In the 20-49 age bracket, there is a large percentage of Mandarin speakers who speak English "Well" (red columns) and "Not Well" (green columns). This may be a good group to target for easy English ministry.
  
• Once we go past the age of 45, English proficiency drops below 60%, and continues to drop rapidly in the 60+ age bracket. Because of age and learning ability, the preference will most likely be for their own mother tongue.
  

Here are a bunch of maps to compliment these points (note that the scale for each map is different):

These are the Chinese people that speak English at home (left) and those who speak English "Very Well" and "Well" from both Cantonese and Mandarin background (right). It's pretty spread out, with concentration in a 'T' shape. Those are the areas that is good for doing English ministry.

Here we have people that speak English "Well" and "Not Well" from Cantonese (left) and Mandarin (right) background. The Cantonese map has a bit of a '7' shape, whereas the Mandarin map has more heavily concentrated pockets (note the difference in scale). These are the areas for Cantonese, Mandarin and easy English ministry.

Finally, we have people that speak English "Not Well" and "Not At All" from Cantonese (left) and Mandarin (right) background. The Cantonese map is still a '7' shape, though there is not as many in Rockdale and Kogarah. The Mandarin map is also similar to the one before, but with an addition pocket in Riverwood. These areas we need Cantonese and Mandarin ministry.

One other thing I noticed: it's good to see that the existing churches in the South are in the right areas where Chinese people live. But one area that is a bit lacking is Turrella/Wolli Creek. Chinese people are not there in huge numbers, but there is still a fair few there with no Chinese-specific ministry in the area.

There are other reasons why English ministry amongst Chinese people is important. But I will save that for another time.

Pray for churches with English ministry reaching out to Chinese people that they may think broadly about how to reach all different ages (not just young students) who speak reasonable English. Pray that language will not be a barrier for people to hear the gospel, but that everyone will have a chance to meet Jesus.

One of the tricky things about ministry to Chinese people is that Chinese people don't speak Chinese. But rather, they speak all sorts of different dialects depending on where they are from. For this post I'll just focus on the 2 main Chinese languages: Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as English.

This is the primary language spoken in the homes of Chinese people (click on the graph for a larger image):

Cantonese	Mandarin	English
15,443	13,206	2,278

A few observations:

• The number of Mandarin speakers are catching up to the number of Cantonese speakers. This means we need to put as many resources into Mandarin ministry as Cantonese ministry (if not more).
  
• There are more Mandarin speakers in the 20-34 age range, which reflects the increase in overseas students and young families from China in recent years.
  
• There are more Cantonese speakers in the 5-19 and 40+ age range, which reflects the longer history of migration from Hong Kong.
  
• Only 7.4% of people speak English at home.

From this, it is obvious that churches with Cantonese and/or Mandarin ministries have a big role to play. And this will help in selecting areas to target (click on the map for a larger image):



Both language groups are heavily concentrated in Hurstville, but you can also see that Cantonese speakers are much more spread out, with significant concentration in Kingsgrove, Beverly Hills and Riverwood. On the other hand, Mandarin speakers have less of a spread, with significant concentration in Kogarah, Rockdale and Turrella, and a bit in Riverwood.

Although not many speak English at home, I think that English ministry still has an important role in reaching Chinese people. More on that in my next post.

Pray for the churches who are seeking to reach Chinese people in their mother tongue. Pray that there will be solid preaching of the gospel and strong, biblical discipleship of new believers that will lay a firm foundation for ministry in the long term.

Tomorrow I will be running a workshop on evangelism with a large group of leaders at Grace Chinese Christian Church Kogarah (GCCCK). Combining my experience with a number of things I've read & learnt over the years, I am developing my own approach to explaining the gospel. It's nothing revolutionary, but simply a synthesis of what's already out there. If my readers are interested, I might post some of these thoughts on here in the future.

Pray that I will be able to give a clear, engaging and practical presentation. Pray also for the leaders at GCCCK that they will not only be able to understand the information, but that they will be challenged to actually go and evangelise

Haven't had a chance to post much lately. Been working on our newsletter which just came out. If you didn't get it, send me an email or leave a comment.

If you're wondering what's the difference between this blog and our newsletter, the answer is not much. The blog has more posts, whereas the newsletter is like a "best of" selection. But the newsletter will go into more specific and personal details that are not mentioned on a public forum like a blog.

As I mentioned in previous posts, there are lots of Chinese people in the South, especially in Hurstville. And the vast majority of them are non-Christians. Which means we need lots of churches in the area to be active in reaching out with the gospel.

So how many churches are there in the South?

As far as I know (which admittedly is limited), there are 17 churches in the area that have a ministry to Chinese people (though they are not necessarily a Chinese church). Here is a map of where they are, superimposed on top of the previous map of where Chinese people live (click on the image for a larger version):


It's good to see that most of the churches are located in places where more Chinese people live. One of the exceptions is actually my church in Mortdale. We really want to be in Hurstville, but being a small church we can't afford to rent much (yet).

Now 17 churches may sound like a lot. But some of those churches only cater for one language group. Some of them have no English pastor (or no pastors at all). And each of these churches would need to reach over 12,700 Chinese people! That's a lot of people!

Pray that God would send more pastors and church planters to make disciples and equip Christians in this area. Pray also for my church that we can find a more suitable location to do ministry.

Here's how things went today:

Spent the whole morning working on my talk. Much of the time was just on packaging since the actual content was stuff I've done before. But because it was packaging, I kept chopping and changing. It was like decorating your house. I would arrange the furniture and move things around. But when I stepped back and had another look, I decided I didn't like it after all. So then I would move things around again...and the cycle continued like that for awhile, until...

...it was 15 mins before it started! I quickly hit the print button, saying a quick prayer under my breath hoping that it was good enough.

I planned to show a short video at the start to introduce the topic. I had already packed into the car a few days earlier the data projector, extension cord and power board. I made sure I remembered to grab the PC speakers from my office.

I jumped in the car and quickly drove off. 10 mins to go! I was about half way there when I realised I forgot a most crucial piece of equipment - my laptop with the video file!!!

My instant reaction was to turn around and go get it. But after a brief attempt at going back, I had to admit that I wouldn't make it in time. So with less than 5 mins to go I quickly continued my way to the school, berating myself for my forgetfulness.

Got there a tiny bit late. No worries - the first 10 mins is just eating and socialising. But walking into the school, the place seemed really empty. There were only a few people around, not the usual crowds you get at lunch time.

I found the classroom and went inside. There were less than 10 people there - half of our usual numbers. It turns out that today was the start of exams, and those who don't have exams don't have to come to school. That kind of changed things, as I had hoped to do some group interaction. But with so few people it wouldn't really work.

So I quickly made some changes on the spot and got started. The students seemed (at least to me) to be listening, and they answered my questions with "safe" answers. The time goes quickly, and before I know it, the end-of-lunch bell had gone. I didn't finish all my material, but I had to wrap it up anyways.

All in all, it could've been better, but it wasn't a wipe-out either. I learnt a few things for next time, and hopefully the students did too.

Thank God for helping me to get everything together and speak clearly today, even though I was nervous and flustered. Pray that the students would not be like the man who looks at the mirror but immediately forgets what he looks like.

One of the things I've been involved with this year is the lunch time ISCF group at one of the local high schools. The group is made up of mainly Aussies. And it's made me realised just how Chinese I am - I don't know how to relate to them at all! It's a bit better with other non-Aussie students, but there's not many of them at this group.

As far as I can tell, most of the students are not Christians, and they come because there's free food. In term 1, I was simplying observing while the regular leaders gave a talk/Bible study. But this term I am trying to get more involved. Tomorrow I will be leading for the first time, and I'm a bit worried about how it'll go, given my inability to relate to them.

Please pray that I will be able to prepare well and engage the students. Pray also that they will listen and be challenged by God's Word.