Throughout the month of March, we will be posting daily about Chinese Muslims, the prayer focus for our upcoming Secret Church gathering. We invite you to learn about Chinese Muslims and pray with us for God's glory to be made known among them. If you would like to read other posts in this blog series, you can find them here.
BACKGROUND
There are over 22 million Muslims of 10 distinct ethnic groups living within China without access to the Gospel. “Hui" means Muslim in China, so many times when we refer to the “Hui,” we are referring to these 10 Chinese Muslim people groups. However, the Hui are also the largest of these people groups with a population of 13 million. Our focus at Secret Church will specifically be on the Hui, Salar, and Dongxiang people groups. Today, we want to introduce you to the Dongxiang people.
THE BASICS
The Dongxiang people, with a population of 621,500, are the fourth largest of China's 10 Muslim people groups. Their origin dates back to the 13th century when China was subdued by the Mongols, and Genghis Khan moved some of his garrisons into northwest China to control the land he had taken. Soldiers intermarried with local women and gradually developed their own distinct ethnic group, now known as the Dongxiang people. The largest concentration of the Dongxiang people is in the rugged, dry mountains of Gansu Province. Dongxiang County is a narrow, desolate and arid valley, bordered by rivers on three sides.
THEIR BELIEFS
Islam is the dominant religion of the Dongxiang, with one mosque for every 30 homes and one paid Muslim worker for every 18 families.
THE SITUATION
No official study groups or churches exist among the Dongxiang, though there are a few Christians. Foreigners are restricted from the area, and Han Chinese believers have been harassed and even imprisoned for sharing the gospel. There is currently no Bible, radio broadcast or evangelistic material in the Dongxiang language.
PLEASE PRAY
- Ask God to send believers to live among and boldly proclaim the gospel to the Dongxiang people.
- Pray that God will open the hearts of the Dongxiang to the Good News of salvation so that they may enter His kingdom.
- Pray for the few Dongxiang believers to be discipled, and for their witness to bear fruit in their communities.
Information for this post was taken from Pray4Hui.com. For more information about and prayer requests for Chinese Muslims, please visit Pray for the Hui and follow @pray4hui on Twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment