China (MNN) — While China continues be considered one of the top 10 countries where Christians face persecution for actively pursuing their faith, thousands of Chinese are coming to Christ. But due to the lack of adequate discipleship and theological instruction, heresy is common.
Trans World Radio is trying to curb the problem with their Seminary On The Air broadcasts, says TWR's John Summerville. "Seminary On The Air is a program that's aired a couple times daily. It's a three-year program that basically gives them seminary-style teaching so that they can be attending seminary from the privacy of their very own home."
According to Summerville, this type of training is so valuable. "Christianity Today cited that there were over 20,000 people coming to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior every single day. There is just a huge vacuum for leadership. And so, Trans World Radio is seeing that need and wanting to build a seminary."
TWR couldn't afford to build a seminary to house that many students, so they put the material on the radio. "We can be teaching this volume of people who need to know God's Word on a deeper level so that they can turn around and be sharing it with their congregations."
The Seminary On The Air has been able to help debunk a lot of the heresies that have affected the church. Summerville says, "We're distributing radios, Bibles — and these are study Bibles so that they can study the Word of God — and then also books that correspond with the programs."
While theological training is a huge need, so are churches with qualified pastors. That's why TWR is handing out China Radio Church Kits. These kits, in essence, start a church around a radio.
Summerville says they're in hot demand. "We asked the question at one point, 'Could you use more radio church kits?' And their immediate response was, 'Yes, send us 10,000 or 100,000.' That's a little overwhelming for us, but there is such a great need especially for those who live in the rural areas."
The Radio Church Kits are given to house churches in China, says Summerville, "so that they can be planting a new church. For $75 you can basically be planting a church in China."
TWR has already distributed 75,000 kits since 1995, and still the need is great. If you'd like to contribute to this project, click here.
