Published: May 15, 2008 04:06 am            

Holding on to his faith

Missionary with local ties raided in China

Media reports show the Chinese military involved in a massive rescue and recovery effort in the wake of the earthquake that devastated the Sichuan province of China.

But about 2,000 miles away in the southeastern corner of China, an independent missionary, whose parents live in Palestine, was raided by the military police, according to Jan Dixon, mother of missionary Jeff Dixon.

Jeff Dixon owned and operated the Good News Restaurant in Aotou in China, as part of his own personal missionary organization, China Witness.

Through his restaurant he helped feed and clothe homeless people in the village along with holding services in the restaurant, Jeff Dixon told the Herald-Press in a January interview.

Helping him in that work was a Chinese man known as Pastor Feng, who helped spread the gospel through the village. All of that is gone now.

“Yesterday (Monday) the military police came in and shut down the restaurant and the mission,” Jan Dixon said Tuesday night. “They burned all the Bibles and shredded papers and Pastor Feng was taken by police to another province.”

While what happened is devastating to the Dixon family, Jan Dixon said there was a blessing in the event.

“If they (military police) would have come a day earlier they would have found two Bible smugglers from Australia there and about 80 people at the service,” Jan Dixon explained. “It was really a blessing God did not allow that to happen that day.”

Currently, Jeff Dixon’s fate in China is uncertain. He could be facing deportation, but Jan Dixon said he is planning to go to Hong Kong. Under Chinese rules, once he enters Hong Kong he will not be allowed back in China.

He also is in contact with The Cornerstone International, an organization that accepts donations for Dixon’s China Witness.

One of the tragic parts of the ordeal, Jan Dixon said, is that many of the people he cared for will no longer be receiving help, such as a young epileptic girl named Mira, as Jeff Dixon makes sure she gets the medicine she needs from Hong Kong.

The other tragedy, Jan Dixon noted, “is that they won’t be getting the gospel preached to them any more.”

What’s taking place in China right now, Jan Dixon said, is a coordinated effort to squash political and religious dissent before the Olympics on Aug. 8.

Jeff Dixon’s case is not an isolated incident, as according to an Associated Press report, three leaders of unauthorized churches in the eastern province of Shandong were detained during a Bible study group last week with a pastor from Taiwan being expelled and banned from returning to China as part of China’s ban on missionary work of all types.

“I would encourage everyone to pray for all the missionaries over there,” Jan Dixon said. “While they might not be able to fight the Chinese government, God surely can.”

To learn more about donating to independent missionaries like Jeff Dixon, go to The Cornerstone International Web site at www.cornerstoneinternational.org.

        

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