Our story began with prayers. Back in 2017, God called some Chinese pastors and believers to pray for the souls in Scotland, the UK and Europe. Of the more than 700 million population in Europe, about three million are Chinese (accounting for 0.3%). Yet, less than 1% of the Chinese population are Christians. No wonder Rev. James Hudson Taylor IV (the great-great grandson of Hudson Taylor) said, “Now the largest field for mission to Chinese is Europe!”

Who can share the Gospel with these three million Chinese in the European soils? Surely the Chinese churches in Europe should bear the responsibility. However, apart from a few well-developed Chinese churches, a lot of the Chinese churches in Europe suffer from a long-standing lack of pastors and church leaders. Their growth has been very much restricted. A pressing need is to develop pastors and lay leaders to help build and nourish evangelistic Chinese churches, which can shoulder the responsibility of reaching out to the Chinese in Europe. At the beginning of 2018, God called us to establish the “Christian International Training Centre” (hereinafter “CITC”) in Edinburgh.* Based at the political heart of Scotland, we believe that its strategic location is vital for serving not only Scotland, but also the UK and beyond.

There were Chinese churches in the three major cities of Scotland (namely, Aberdeen, Edinburgh & Glasgow) as well as some fellowships and small groups in other smaller cities in 2018. These three major cities alone accounted for more than 20,000 Chinese, whose mother tongues are either Cantonese or Mandarin. Yet, the number of regular Chinese churchgoers was under 500. Meanwhile, the number of Chinese pastors and missionaries in Scotland was less than ten at that time. Although there was no lack of seminaries and Bible colleges in Scotland, the teaching medium, primarily in English, had become a hurdle for many Chinese believers. Therefore, setting up a training centre for Chinese believers has strategic significance. It helps not only to build up Chinese Christians, but also impart a sense of mission to them, equipping them for evangelistic work among the unbelieving Chinese, locals, and internationals, which in turn can contribute to the spiritual revival of the lands.

The mission of the CITC is to train lay leaders (and perhaps pastors one day) for Chinese churches. Partnering with the local and international churches and Christian institutes, we strive to provide holistic programmes to develop Christ-like disciples, preparing the latter to fit into God’s master plan for His heavenly kingdom on earth.

We are thankful that the vision of setting up a training centre has obtained support from many churches, organisations, Christians and pastors. With the grace of God, CITC was officially launched in July 2019. The centre’s name consists of “International” because Christians from many parts of the world are involved in this ministry. Our target groups are also international. At the outset we focus on serving the Chinese churches in Scotland and the UK. Lord willing, we hope to be able to serve the many nationalities in the wider world in future.

*The 2018 figures reveal that there were more than 8,000 Chinese residing in Edinburgh. Yet, the average number of regular Sunday worshipers in the two Chinese churches at that time was only about 200 (around 0.25%) combined.