Now Is The Time

--Written for the first issue of Behold

Director: Rev. Edwin Su

Ten years of work

About ten years ago in the early nineties of the twentieth century, Christianity started to make rapid progress among Chinese scholars both at home and abroad. In America, Europe, Australia and Japan, Chinese scholars started pouring into the churches in search of truth. Overseas Campus was started as an evangelistic publication in response to this development.

In the mid-nineties there was a second wave, and this time it was the wave of immigration. Many Chinese scholars had become Christians and were actively serving the Lord. Chinese churches had began to pay attention to the training of new believers and new fellow-workers among this group. It was at this time that Overseas Campus decided to publish the semi-annual Special Edition and also a popular series of simple Training Materials for Chinese Scholars.

Publication of Behold

As the clock of the twenty-first century has begun to sound throughout the world, yet another new wave has come along with the new era. Many Chinese scholars are now settled in foreign countries. While many of them have merged into existing Chinese churches, many have become the dominant force in churches for Chinese scholars and new immigrants. And now they are actively seeking direction for mission. How are they to take on the path of service? How are they to become established in their Christian faith in a time of multi-dimensionism, post-modernism and information dominance? These are all issues of great concern to Overseas Campus.

On a different front, as China is becoming increasingly involved in global organizations, we believe that she will necessarily move toward a greater openness. How should we grasp opportunities to participate in the evangelism of China? How may we encourage Christians to return to China to serve the Lord? How can we provide the human and financial resources for mission in China and all over the world? We need to give consideration to compelling issues like these.

It is obvious that now is the time to start publication of Behold.

The origin of the name

We have decided to change the name of the publication from Special Edition to Behold, effective 2001.

The word Behold has rich biblical roots. It represents determination as well as action. The word Behold means:

Behold, and look to Heaven - as sons, we fix our eyes on our Father, drawing nearer to Him, seeking God.

Behold, and look on the fields - with the heart of Jesus we survey fields ripe for evangelism, observe the world and shoulder His call to mission and service.

We believe that this new name fittingly represents the new direction of this publication in the new century.

Behold's new face

With regard to its targeted readers and contents, the new publication Behold will have different characteristics from the bimonthly Overseas Campus, which focuses on evangelism, and Special Edition, which was aimed at new believers and their spiritual growth.

Behold hopes to encourage an awareness of our times and a sense of mission among Chinese scholars and overseas Chinese Christians. It will focus on building up their spiritual life and character, and on the applying of biblical principles in the areas of daily work, marriage, family and financial management. It will major on first-hand experience, resources and testimonies about evangelistic work among Chinese scholars. It will also provide training for Christians as they walk the road of service for their Lord.

At the same time, Behold will explore the Chinese churches of the 21^st century: how they respond to different waves of ideologies; how they respond to politics, science and technology, entertainment, literature, economy and other realities; how they transform themselves in response to popular humanism, materialism, evolutionism, pragmatics and emptiness. The magazine will also describe the current situation in Chinese churches both at home and abroad, learning from past experience, evaluating the present and analyzing the journey ahead.

While taking advantage of the energy of the Chinese scholars, Behold also hopes that by bringing together the experience of overseas Chinese churches and tapping into the rich resources of western churches, we may be able to break through boundaries and limitations imposed by geography, culture and ideology. In this new era, our aim is that the new publication will demonstrate by its new appearance a new character and richness.

Let's all work together!

Behold will be published four times a year in March, May, September and November. As always, we will stick to our style of spirituality, passion and intellectual integrity. We will focus on readability. We will conduct spiritual conversations with the insight of a prophet, the single-mindedness of a shepherd and the love of a fellow-worker.

We welcome all writers with the same sense of mission to 'behold' with us and work together on this newly opened ground.

We also urge our readers to give us active feedback and to provide suggestions so that Behold may, indeed, become the testimony of the overseas Chinese and the Chinese scholar Christians of this new century.