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Return to "The Roots of BTJ"
“The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the
nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.”
Isaiah 52:10
An early thrust in the vision of Back to Jerusalem came when God
gave a clear call to a small group of Christians studying at the Northwest Bible
Institute in Shaanxi Province in the early 1940s.
For several years students from the school had been involved with
evangelistic outreach to Muslims, Buddhists and scattered Chinese living in
Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia provinces before the Lord specifically called some of
them to consecrate themselves for the vision of carrying the Gospel outside
China’s borders into the Islamic world, all the way back to Jerusalem.
The founder and leader of this group was Pastor Mark Ma, from the
ancient city of Kaifeng in Henan Province. While ministering as the Vice
President of the Northwest Bible Institute in Shaanxi, Mark Ma had a discussion
with the Lord that changed his life forever and gave him the momentum needed for
pioneer work into the vast unreached Muslim world.
The events leading to the founding of the Back to Jerusalem
Evangelistic Band took place in a quiet, relaxed Bible school in Fengxiang,
Shaanxi Province, central China in the early 1940s. The Northwest Bible
Institute was a beautiful facility surrounded by a thick bamboo grove, with
leafy trees ringing the single-storied buildings of the classrooms, student
dormitories and missionaries’ homes. A flight of steps led down to a vegetable
garden, from where a view could be seen of the Fengxiang City wall.
The Japanese invasion of China was directly responsible for the
formation of the Northwest Bible Institute. James Hudson Taylor II (the grandson
of the world-famous pioneer) and his wife Alice were forced to leave their
mission field in Henan Province due to the continual bombing of enemy aircraft.
They traveled westward into Shaanxi Province, where they had the vision to
establish a Bible school. They had no land to commence the work, but much prayer
was undertaken for God’s provision. The prayer was answered. The China Inland
Mission offered their premises near the city of Fengxiang. The first year just
eight students came for a three month course. James H. Taylor II was appointed
the Principal of the school, and Pastor Mark Ma later became the Vice-Principal.
Although the school had only been open for two years, the Easter
morning prayer-meeting in 1943 was to prove the genesis for a chain of events
that drastically changed the lives of many. The impact of that prayer time could
be said to have impacted the Chinese Church to this day…
On the hard surface of the courtyard, under the tall trees
whose thick boughs spread a leafy shelter overhead, a map of China had been
outlined in whitewash. The students stood around, looking at it. They had been
hearing again of the needs of the great provinces to the North and to the
West…. The sky was lightening in the east, and thin rays of light obliterated
the fading grayness of the night. It was very silent in the courtyard, and the
white-washed outline of the map on the ground stood out sharply. The solemn
moment had arrived, the moment which brought with it an almost breathtaking
hush. ‘Let those who have received the Lord’s commission leave their places
and go and stand on the province to which God has called them’…. There was a
stir among the group of students. Cloth-soled feet moved noiselessly as one,
then another, walked across the courtyard to the map. And as the sun rose over
the distant horizon, eight young people were seen standing quietly on the
patch that was marked with the word XINJIANG.
The vast Northwest region of China is Xinjiang, a Chinese name
meaning “New Dominion.” The traditional name for the area was Eastern Turkestan.
Xinjiang was, and still is, inhabited by millions of Muslims, the majority of
whom speak languages from the Turkic linguistic family, such as Uygur, Kazak,
Kirgiz and Uzbek. Other Muslim groups include Tajiks, Tatars, and
Chinese-speaking Hui people. A large number of nomadic Tibetan Buddhists also
inhabit Xinjiang.
Mark Ma was a native of Henan Province. The only son of Christian
parents, he had been educated in the ancient city of Kaifeng, but refused to
open his heart to the Lord. Later he became a teacher in a Government school. It
was not until 1937 that he was converted to Christ, when the tragic death of his
little son broke his heart and brought him in sorrow and repentance to the foot
of the Cross. He left his secular job and went into training at the Free
Methodist Bible School. When Mr. and Mrs. James Taylor fled to Shaanxi, Mark Ma,
his wife, and their several children accompanied them. He became a founding
staff member of the Northwest Bible Institute.
On the evening of November 25, 1942, while in prayer the Lord
said to me, “The door to Xinjiang is already open. Enter and preach the
Gospel.” When this voice reached me I was trembling and fearful and most
unwilling to obey, because I did not recall a single time in the past when I
had prayed for Xinjiang; moreover it was a place which I had no desire to go.
Therefore I merely prayed about this matter, not even telling my wife.
After exactly five months of prayer, on Easter morning, 25
April, 1943, when two fellow workers and I were praying together on the bank
of the Wei River, I told them of my call to Xinjiang and one of the fellow
workers said that ten years before she had received a similar call. I thanked
God that He had already prepared a coworker. When I returned to the school I
learned that on that same Easter Sunday at the sunrise service eight students
had also been burdened for Xinjiang. It was with joy that I gathered them all
together, and we planned to have a regular prayer meeting. With permission of
the faculty we decided on Tuesday evening as the time for our weekly prayer
meeting. On the evening of May 4 we held our first prayer meeting and there
were 23 present…. On May 11 we received the first offering for our mission,
amounting to $50.
Gradually the question arose as to what our group should be
called. On the morning of May 23 as I fasted and prayed about the name of the
Band the Lord revealed the verse of Scripture to my heart, “This Gospel of
the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all
nations; and then the end shall come.” Matthew 24:14.
I said, “O Lord what does this mean?” “It is this, I not only
want the Chinese Church to assume responsibility for taking the Gospel to
Xinjiang but I want you to bring to completion the commission to preach the
Gospel to all the world.” I asked, “O Lord, has not the Gospel already been
preached to all the world?”
The Lord said, “Since the beginning at Pentecost, the Pathway
of the Gospel has spread, for the greater part, in a westward direction; from
Jerusalem to Antioch to all Europe; from Europe to America and then to the
East; from the Southeast of China to the Northwest; until today from Gansu on
Westward it can be said there is no firmly established Church. You may go
Westward from Gansu, preaching the Gospel all the way back to Jerusalem,
causing the light of the Gospel to complete the circle around this dark
world.” I said, “O Lord, who are we that we can carry such a great
responsibility?” The Lord answered, “I want to manifest My power through those
who of themselves have no power.”
I said, “That section of territory is under the power of Islam
and the Muslims are the hardest of all peoples to reach with the Gospel.”
The Lord replied, “The most rebellious people are the
Israelites, the hardest field of labor is my own people the Jews.” …. The Lord
continued speaking, “Even you Chinese, yourself included, are hard enough but
you have been conquered by the Gospel.”
I asked, “O Lord, if it is not that their hearts are especially
hard, why is it that missionaries from Europe and America have established so
many churches in China but are still unable to open the door to Western Asia?”
The Lord answered me, “It is not that their hearts are
especially hard, but I have kept for the Chinese Church a portion of
inheritance, otherwise, when I return will you not be so poor?
When I heard the Lord say He had kept for us a portion of
inheritance, my heart overflowed with Thanksgiving and my mouth uttered many
Hallelujahs! I stopped arguing with the Lord.
On May 23, 1943, Mark Ma reported the above revelation to the
prayer group. They decided they needed a name for their group and the name “Bian
Chuan Fuyin Tuan” was adopted. The Chinese name literally means, “The Preach
Everywhere Gospel Band.” This is the name this small group of faith-filled men
and women are known by in China to this day, but the missionaries agreed the
English name of the movement should be “The Back to Jerusalem Evangelistic
Band.”
It was the policy of the leaders of the Band not to solicit
finances in any way, but to pray and trust God to provide for all their needs.
Donations started coming in from all over China from Chinese believers whose
hearts were touched by the vision and were moved to participate. Helen Hayes
Taylor, the wife of James Hudson Taylor II, commented, “In a remarkable way
money came into the treasury almost entirely from Chinese sources and they felt
that they must use up what was sent in and trust God to send more. Chinese
Christians from many places, hearing of this work sent generous offerings. It
was manifest that the movement was God-inspired.”
Despite the urgency of the call, it was not until 1944 that three women and two men were sent to Lanzhou in
Gansu Province for a short term of service. In 1945 they sent two men to preach
the Gospel among the Hui Muslims in Ningxia. In 1946 the Lord called two men,
Mecca Chao and Timothy Tai, to go northwest into Xinjiang for a longer term of
service.
Now that the call was being acted on in a more serious manner, a
business meeting was held on May 15, 1946 at which a constitution was accepted
and Officers elected, thus formerly organizing the Back to Jerusalem
Evangelistic Band. Some of the extracts of the Constitution included:
This is an inter-denominational but not an anti-denominational
group of workers accepting the whole Bible as God’s revelation. Its aim is to
join members of the Lord’s body in fellowship to consecrate strength and will
on the preaching of the Gospel in order to be ready for the Lord’s return. The
sphere of the work is two-fold:
First, pioneer work is as follows:
In the seven provinces on the borders of China: Xinjiang,
Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Xikang [Tibetan areas of today’s western Sichuan],
Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia.
In the seven countries on the borders of Asia: Afghanistan,
Iran, Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Palestine.
Second: To establish new churches in evangelized areas as well
as to shepherd and revive existing churches. In pioneer districts we plan to
establish churches according to the example of Scripture. In places where
churches already exist, we plan to serve such churches. We look to the Lord
alone for all financial supplies.
Mark Ma was always considered the leader of the Back to Jerusalem
Evangelistic Band. In addition to his responsibilities as Vice President of the
Northwest Bible Institute and his busy schedule of evangelistic work, he assumed
the added responsibility of traveling throughout China, “calling the Church to
prayer and spiritual warfare on behalf of the Back to Jerusalem Evangelistic
Band, and enlisting volunteers for service in this great work.”
The following words of Mark Ma ring true for the present generation of Chinese believers who are now pressing forward with consecrated
hearts to fulfill this great call:
“My hope is that our Chinese Church will with
determination and courage hold fast this great responsibility and, depending
upon our all victorious Saviour, complete this mighty task, and taking
possession of our glorious inheritance, take the Gospel back to Jerusalem. There
we shall stand on the top of Mount Zion and welcome our Lord Jesus Christ
descending with clouds in great glory!”
Mecca Chao was born in Linxian, Henan Province, in east-central
China. When he was a child his family fled to Shanxi Province to escape famine.
In his late teens Chao entered into relationship with Jesus Christ and his life
change forever. His heart had been so deeply touched by the love of God that he
unreservedly dedicated himself to the King of Kings, promising to go wherever He
should lead him, to do whatever his master required of him.
A short time after his salvation experience, Mecca Chao was
praying for God’s guidance concerning his pathway in life, when he received a
vision in which he saw a piece of paper being held before his eyes, with the
word “Mecca” written upon it. He had no idea what this word meant and eagerly
asked his fellow Christians if they knew, but nobody could help him. Mecca Chao
testified, “It is not necessary for you to tell me again for now I know that
Jesus is the true God, the living God; I have heard His voice and He has shown
me clearly the way wherein I should go.”
In his first year as a believer, Mecca Chao experienced God in a
similar way to countless Chinese house church Christians today: deep repentance
and zeal coupled with intense spiritual warfare.
At this time my zeal was very fervent. God gave me a special
power in prayer. At each service we only read the Bible, sang and prayed.
Every time I prayed the Holy Spirit worked, convicting the hearts of the
people so that they wept and confessed their sin. This continued for half a
year but the devil was working in great power – assaulting me on every side;
especially when I prayed he manifested his wicked power. He often brought
before me fearful, strange-looking beings to frighten me, causing me to pray
less and less, until finally I did not dare to pray at all. Gradually I fell
into temptation. My spiritual life grew colder and colder each day…. I walked
the way of the world, the ambition for position and gain taking the place of
God in my life…. The heavenly Father’s loving heart must have been sorely
wounded, but in my disobedience I did not realize how His heart was grieved.
For the next several years the backslidden Mecca Chao fought in the Chinese army,
facing death every day and feeling miserable within. He was
captured during battle and became a prisoner of war, experiencing dreadful
torture and deprivation. It was while behind bars that the Lord lovingly called
His prodigal son back to his embrace. In his dingy, isolated prison cell the
Lord started to revive Mecca Chao’s spirit and remind him of everything he had
walked away from. “I asked the Lord, ‘O God, is this the kind of life that
‘Mecca’ means? Is this the way wherein I should go?”
The Lord responded by giving him a vision of a map of Ningxia
Province, the seat of Islam in China. In another vision he saw a long bright
road leading westward along which he must one day travel. He later said:
God was thinking of me and gave me a ray of hope to dispel a
little of my prison despondency. He promised me that at the age of twenty-five
I would leave the prison and at the age of twenty-seven I would take up the
work committed to me. It happened exactly in this way. In May of my
twenty-fifth year I was delivered from prison and in July of my twenty-sixth
year I came to the Northwest Bible Institute as a student. In my
twenty-seventh year I went on preaching tours to Gansu Province and in the
summer to the place I had seen in the vision – Ningxia Province. We must truly
rely on the faithfulness of God.
Mecca Chao was now a broken young man. His zeal had been balanced
with substance, and he hungered to know God’s Word in an intimate and
knowledgeable way. He testified:
Mecca Chao was now a broken young man. His zeal had been balanced
with substance, and he hungered to know God’s Word in an intimate and
knowledgeable way. He testified:
After passing through seven or eight years of sore testing,
often times in extreme difficulty and danger, I had come through at last to a
state of peace and calm. Had it not been for my Heavenly Father’s great power,
which was my sole protection, I should long ago have returned to dust.
Although I had become greatly weakened because of the hardships of the past
several years, even so I was much stronger than when I had left home years
before, a thin, yellow, weakly specimen of humanity. Hallelujah! This was
God’s wonderful protection over His child in order that He might use him in
the Northwest. Yes, Lord, I am willing for You to use me as You please. You
are the potter, I am the clay…. The Lord understands me perfectly, I belong to
Him. I am brought with a price, never again should I make my own plans…. He
merely asks that I leave myself utterly in His hands to be used by Him.
While studying at the Northwest Bible Institute Mecca Chao had
the mystery of his name unraveled to him by Mark Ma. Ma told him the commission
he had received several years before was to travel westward to preach the Gospel
to the Muslims, going on until he reached the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
From that time onward he discarded his given Chinese name and called himself
“Mecca” Chao.
When Mecca Chao learned about the vision God had given the
leaders of the school to take the Gospel back to Jerusalem, he was amazed to
find it exactly matched his own call. Not surprisingly, he enthusiastically
enlisted in the mission and became one of the first workers of The Back to
Jerusalem Evangelistic Band.
In March 1947 seven members of the Back to Jerusalem Band left
Gansu Province by camel towards Xinjiang. Two men and five women from the Bible
school in Fengxiang set out on the long westward trek. Their luggage was
restricted to a small bag each, and – an interesting item – one wash basin each!
In a magazine of the Back to Jerusalem Band, appearing before the team’s
departure, they wrote:
THE TIME FOR WORK HAS ARRIVED!
OPEN FAITH WARFARE!
These are God’s words to us. He has indicated that some are
soon to leave for the Northwest. So we see it is not only His message to us,
but it is command – an urgent command to advance. It is a message that
involves the sword and blood, but also the crown and song. Because of this it
frightens the weak, but makes the blood of the strong to mount up.
Praise the Lord, there are already five women of Fengxiang
called of the Lord, and following His commission, who have decided to leave
for the West next March (1947). Perhaps the prophecy of Psalm 68:11(R.V.) will
soon be fulfilled in our midst, “The Lord gave the Word; great was the
company of women who published it.” Realizing the dangers and hardships of
the road ahead of them, we fear it is not one which young women should
ordinarily travel, but one of them has said, ‘We may not reach there, we may
die on the way, but we are willing to shed our blood on the highway to Mount
Zion.’…. This shows the caliber of our young women missionaries. But what
about the men? Brethren, awake!
The five women missionaries included Miss Ho En Cheng (Grace Ho),
who had been dedicated to God by her mother when she was a newborn baby. As a
little girl she was well acquainted with Bible stories and pasted the names of
places such as Jerusalem, Bethany and Mount Zion around the family courtyard!
After graduating from Bible School in Tianjin in 1937, the seventeen-year-old Ho
En Cheng received a clear call from the Lord to take the Gospel into Xinjiang,
and ultimately all the way back to Jerusalem
She was attending an evangelistic meeting, and as the
congregation rose to pray, she received a vision from the Lord. Her
immediate surroundings faded from her vision, and she seemed to be standing
alone in a vast, bright wilderness plain. In the distance she heard a voice
– a voice full of sorrow, painfully crying for help. She looked but saw no
one, only the horror of great darkness, from whence the sound of great
anguish came. Then, as she gazed, another voice spoke, a Voice from heaven,
deep with mercy and compassion. ‘The people in the darkness have no one to
preach the Good News to them.’ Greatly moved at the sound of that Voice, the
tears springing to her eyes, she replied, ‘O Lord, here am I.’
Some of the members of the Back to Jerusalem
Evangelistic Band pictured at their farewell meeting. Left to right: Fan Chi
Chieh, Lu Teh (Ruth Lu), Wei Suxi, Chang Moxie (Moses Chang), Ho En Cheng
(Grace Ho), and Li Chin Chuan.
Continue to "The BTJ Evangelistic Band II"
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