월요일 오후 김해를 출발해서 북경을 다녀왔습니다. 십 몇 년 전에 당시 북경 유일한 한인교회 집회를 인도하기 위해서 다녀온 적이 있었습니다. 참 많이 변했다는 생각을 했습니다. 그 때는 완연한 사회주의 국가였습니다. 공항에서 호텔에 도착해서 점심을 먹고 돌아오니 제 객실에 공안이 가득했습니다. 엘리베이터에서 내리는 것을 보고 방에서 줄줄이 나오는데 왜 들어갔는지 그리고 미안하다든지 아무 말도 없었습니다. 언제나 방을 비우면 다녀간 흔적이 남았습니다. 그래서 객실에서 누구를 만나면 텔레비전을 크게 틀어놓고 대화를 해야만 했습니다. 집회를 마치고 북경공항에서 비행기를 타고 이륙할 때의 그 해방감은 특별했습니다.
그러나 이번에는 달랐습니다. 아직도 관료적인 불친절한 분위기는 이곳저곳 남아있었지만 그래도 더 이상 사회주의 국가라는 느낌은 들지 않았습니다. 당시는 북경 곳곳 어디를 가도 거대한 공사판처럼 건물들이 들어서고 있었는데 더 이상 그런 풍경은 아니었습니다. 올림픽 주경기장을 짓는 공사현장 말고는 별로 공사장을 본 기억이 없습니다. 모든 것이 이제 제 자리를 잡은 느낌, 시가지가 꽉 찬 느낌을 받았습니다. 물론 북경이라 중국 전체의 모습과는 달랐지만 하여간 세상은 변하고 있음에 틀림이 없었습니다.
북경, 서안-계림, 상해-소주-황주, 심양, 청도-황도를 그 동안 다녀올 기회가 있었지만 말로만 듣던 가정(처소)교회를 이번에는 처음으로 접할 수 있었습니다. 우리와 연결되어 있는 선교사님을 통해서 도착하던 날 밤에 어느 아파트에서 모이는 가정교회 성도들을 만나서 서로 소개하고 격려하는 순서를 가졌습니다. 1950년대의 기억이나 80년대 서울에서 개척교회를 할 때를 떠올리게 되는 아파트 거실에서 모이는 예배는 특별했습니다. 물론 그 장소로 들어갈 때는 삼삼오오로 나누어서 잠입했지만 모여서는 찬송을 할 때 아무도 소리를 죽이며 찬송하는 사람이 없을 만큼 세상은 달라져 있었습니다.
올림픽을 앞두고 있는 중국은 더 이상 선교의 대상국이 아니라 곧 마지막 추수, 세계 선교를 향한 파트너로서 우리와 함께 설 때가 된 것 같습니다. 몇 년간 우리가 도울 일이 남아 있지만 몇 년 후부터는 함께 세계 선교를 위해서 일해야 할 때가 올 것으로 보입니다. 말하자면 지금은 중국선교라는 단어를 쓰지만 앞으로는 선교중국의 시대가 도래 할 것이라는 말씀입니다. 남은 몇 년 중국선교를 위해서 힘을 쓸 때이고 특히 심양을 기억하고 지원해야 할 것입니다.
On Monday afternoon, I departed from Gimhae for a visit to Beijing. More than a decade ago, I had visited Beijing to lead a revival meeting at what was then the city's only Korean church. Seeing it again, I realized how profoundly things had changed. Back then, it was unmistakably a socialist state. After arriving at the hotel from the airport and returning from lunch, my room was filled with public security officers. Seeing me step off the elevator, they filed out of my room in a row, offering neither an explanation of why they had entered nor a word of apology. Whenever I left the room vacant, traces of someone having visited were always left behind. Because of this, whenever I met anyone in my room, I had to turn the television volume up loud just to converse. The sense of liberation I felt when our plane took off from Beijing Airport after completing the meetings was truly extraordinary.
However, this time was different. Although a bureaucratic and unfriendly atmosphere lingered here and there, it no longer felt like a socialist state. In those earlier days, wherever you went in Beijing, buildings were sprouting up like massive construction sites, but that was no longer the landscape. Aside from the construction site of the Olympic Main Stadium, I hardly remember seeing any construction work. Everything seemed to have settled into place, giving the impression of a mature, well-established cityscape. Of course, because it was Beijing, it did not represent all of China, yet there was no doubt that the world was indeed changing.
Over the years, I have had opportunities to visit Beijing, Xi'an and Guilin, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, as well as Shenyang and Qingdao-Huangdao. Yet this was the first time I directly experienced the house churches (meeting-point churches) of which I had only ever heard. Through a missionary connected with us, on the very night of our arrival, I was able to meet believers of a house church gathering in an apartment, where we introduced ourselves and shared mutual encouragement. Meeting for worship in an apartment living room—evoking memories of the 1950s or planting a church in Seoul in the 1980s—was deeply special. To be sure, when entering the venue, people slipped inside stealthily in small groups of two or three; yet once gathered, the world had changed so much that no one hushed their voice while singing praises.
With the Olympics on the horizon, China seems ready no longer to be merely a recipient of missions, but rather to stand alongside us as a partner toward the final harvest and world mission. While there remains work for us to assist over the next few years, it seems the time will soon come when we must labor side by side for world evangelism. In other words, while we speak today of "China missions," the era of "Mission China" is dawning upon us. Now is the time to devote our strength to China missions in these remaining few years, and we should especially remember and support Shenyang.
Maandagmiddag het ek vanaf Gimhae vertrek op 'n besoek aan Beijing. Meer as tien jaar gelede het ek Beijing besoek om 'n herlewingsdiens te lei by wat destyds die enigste Koreaanse gemeente daar was. Ek het besef hoe geweldig baie dinge verander het. Destyds was dit 'n onmiskenbare sosialistiese staat. Nadat ek vanaf die lughawe by die hotel aangekom en van middagete teruggekeer het, was my kamer vol openbare veiligheidsbeamptes. Toe hulle my uit die hysbak sien stap, het hulle een na die ander uit my kamer geloop sonder enige verduideliking van waarom hulle binnegegaan het, of selfs 'n woord van verskoning. Telkens wanneer ek die kamer leeg gelaat het, was daar spore dat iemand daar was. Daarom moes ek, as ek iemand in my kamer ontmoet het, die televisie baie hard aansit net om te kon gesels. Die gevoel van bevryding toe ons vliegtuig ná afloop van die dienste vanaf Beijing-lughawe opgestyg het, was werklik buitengewoon.
Hierdie keer was dit egter anders. Alhoewel 'n burokratiese en onvriendelike atmosfeer hier en daar nog bly talm het, het dit nie meer soos 'n sosialistiese land gevoel nie. Destyds was daar orals in Beijing geboue wat soos reusagtige konstruksieterreine verrys het, maar dit was nie meer die prentjie nie. Buiten die konstruksieterrein van die Olimpiese Hoofstadion kan ek my skaars enige bouwerk herinner. Dit het gevoel asof alles nou sy regmatige plek gevind het, 'n gevoel van 'n stad wat volwasse en gevestig is. Omdat dit Beijing was, weerspieël dit natuurlik nie die hele China nie, maar die wêreld is sonder twyfel besig om te verander.
Oor die jare heen het ek die geleentheid gehad om Beijing, Xi'an en Guilin, Sjanghai, Suzhou en Hangzhou, asook Shenyang en Qingdao-Huangdao te besoek, maar dit was die heel eerste keer dat ek die huiskerke waarvan ek nog net gehoor het, eerstehands kon beleef. Deur 'n sendeling wat met ons verbind is, kon ek die aand van ons aankoms gelowiges van 'n huiskerk ontmoet wat in 'n woonstel byeengekom het, waar ons mekaar leer ken en bemoedig het. Die aanbidding in 'n woonstel se sitkamer—wat herinneringe aan die 1950's of die dae van gemeentestigting in Seoul in die 1980's opgeroep het—was baie besonders. Weliswaar het mense in klein groepies van twee of drie stilweg die gebou binnegegaan, maar sodra hulle bymekaar was, het niemand hul stemme gedemp terwyl hulle lofgesange gesing het nie—soveel het die wêreld al verander.
Met die Olimpiese Spele voor die deur blyk dit dat China nie meer bloot 'n bestemming vir sending is nie, maar gereed is om binnekort saam met ons as vennoot te staan vir die finale oes en wêreldwye sending. Al is daar nog take waarmee ons die komende paar jaar kan help, kom die tyd vinnig nader dat ons hand aan hand vir wêreldevangelisasie moet saamwerk. Waar ons vandag praat van "sending na China", breek die era van "'n Sendende China" binnekort aan. Dit is nou die tyd om ons in die oorblywende paar jaar met toewyding te beywer vir sendingwerk in China, en ons behoort veral Shenyang te onthou en te ondersteun.