In learning how to apply the Great Commission, students gathered to hear from James Hudson Taylor IV, Overseas Missionary Fellowship worker in the Chinese Mission and Ministry Department, during a Heart for China club event on March 2.

The five “p’s”

Taylor spoke to students about “The Unfinished Task,” in which he briefly discussed John 9, where Jesus healed a man born blind and claimed to be doing the work of the one who sent him. He then talked about five “p’s” in regards to “The Unfinished Task”: pluralism, pioneering, proximity, professional and participation.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to hear from him and to let other people hear from him because I know he’s pretty influential,” said Shirly Tan, Heart for China club president and senior psychology major. “I wanted other people to also hear from him and be encouraged by him, because I know his mission’s pretty big.”

Unreached people groups

In Taylor’s first point of pluralism he shared how the day and age American Christians currently live in causes them to doubt the truths found in Scripture. However, in his pioneering point, Taylor mentioned four major people groups who remain largely unreached, who students can work to share scriptural truths with, including Muslims, Chinese, Buddhists and Hindus.

“I think to share about some of the opportunities that are in global missions today and obviously I think to mobilize [students] to be able to think more seriously about missions, to consider being involved in either short term missions or even become career missionaries,” Taylor said.

Professions as missions

While Taylor shared about the mission field, he also illustrated how missions can occur right in front of one’s doorstep with a story about some of his friends in Homburg, Germany who felt called to serve the Japanese. After several failed attempts to act on this call, the Japanese began coming to Homburg.

“I hadn’t ever realized how it’s often easier to reach people outside of their home country, so just recognizing that we have so much mobility and access to these people even in ways that we hadn’t expected… it’s a perspective I hadn’t really thought about but it makes a lot of sense in the context of evangelism and gospel bearing,” said Emily Larsen, freshmen intercultural studies major.

Taylor’s fourth point, professional, encouraged students to use their profession and experience as a Christian to allow God to use them. With her experience as a Chinese business student here at Biola, and to participate in the Great Commission, senior business major Quincy Liao hopes to serve the Christian community in China.

“I do have a hope and heart to go back one day after my graduation and after getting my work experience done here in the U.S. and go back to serve Chinese, like the Chinese Christian community back in China,” Liao said. “Because with my cultural and language background and also the education that I got from Biola I feel like… I will be prepared to a point that I can evangelize.”