Story number 1 for 20 Dec 1999

We begin today in Macau where the island was handed back to China at midnight. Today, December 20th, dawns the first day under Chinese rule after 442 years of direct rule from Lisbon. The Southern Baptist International Mission Board’s Jack Ollis. “I think after seeing the situation, and the turnover in Hong Kong a couple of years ago, that there is less concern than there would normally have been. I imagine there is some concern, but people seem to be taking it fairly well.” Ollis says like Hong Kong, Macau will be a “special administrative region” of China, with an autonomy that will help preserve much of its culture and Western ways, including evangelistic outreach. “Pray that the IMB personnel would be able to continue to share openly, would be able to adapt to any possible changes that could take place there, and that we would be able to continue, over a period of years, to share the Gospel with the people of Macau.”