China (MNN) — What would it look like to base your day around song? 17 million people in southern China do that every day.
"They'll gather in the parks and one group will sing a line or two over to another group. The other group will think about it and then sing another line back to the first group. They make decisions through song. They get married through song. So, music is very important to their society, so we call them the Musical People," said Brent Preston, senior director of East Asia and Asia for The Evangelical Alliance Mission, or TEAM.
TEAM is building relationships among these people while they work among them every day. With the local university, they are trying to archive the music of the people in order to help
the government. The main purpose of being there is not as missionaries. Preston
said, "Inevitably, the people will ask about what makes them different. It's amazing how often the topic of spiritual things comes up. People are very interested in how our families are unified, why we have such good relationships with our wives. They say, ‘What is it that makes you tick? Why are you so happy? How come your family is so joyful?' Different questions like that which lead right into talking about the reason for that which is Jesus Christ."
There are just six TEAM people working among the 17 million Musical People. While there are other ministries there, TEAM's desire is to build up their human resources in
southern China. They are also ministering to another musical people group in a different region where they would like to place a team.
"If you're looking to go to the most unreached regions of the world, this is it. You just don't get more unreached than these people in southern China," said Preston. Though some small groups are not very open to the Gospel, Preston says the Musical People are very open to the Gospel, much like most of China.
People of any occupation can serve in southern China. Business, musical, and relational are just some of the gifting that can be used. Contact TEAM to find out more about this unique opportunity.
