Jeff Adams

Last night Cheryl and I brought home a pizza and settled down to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies. No host country ever has ever had so much on the line in wanting to impress the world. No host country has ever nailed the opening ceremony like China, and it is a legitimate question to ask if anyone will ever come close to equaling in our lifetimes what China pulled off last night. Wow!

Napoleon supposedly said, “Let China sleep, for when China wakes, she will shake the world.” Whether Napoleon actually said that or not, whoever said it some 200 years ago was vividly prophetic. China not only put the world on notice that she is awake, she has smelled the coffee. Did you know that Starbucks projects that within two years there will be more Starbucks in China than the United States?

You may not be interested in Olympic games, but what is happening during these two and half weeks in China ought to capture the attention of anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ and interested in taking the good news of Christ to the ends of the world. Watch and listen carefully, and you will see that the world is not the same world in which you were born — even you are a twenty-something.

Indian-born, U.S. citizen Fareed Zakaria is international editor of Newsweek magazine. Earlier this year he published a book called The Post-American World. This is not a book about the decline of the United States, but about the rise of the rest of the world. Zakaria is quick to point out that he is a U.S. citizen of choice. But, he is also very concerned that most Americans still live several decades in the past and have no clue about the reality of the world in which we live. Let me quote just one paragraph from this “must read” book.

Look around. The tallest building in the world is now in Taipei, and it will soon be overtaken by one being built in Dubai. The world’s richest man is Mexican, and its largest publicly traded corporation is Chinese. The world’s biggest plane is built in Russia and Ukraine, its leading refinery is under construction in India, and its largest factories are all in China. By many measures, London is becoming the leading financial center, and the the United Arab Emirates is home to the most richly endowed investment fund. Once quintessentially American icons have been appropriated by foreigners. The world’s largest Ferris wheel is in Singapore. Its number one casino is not in Las Vegas but in Macao, which has also overtaken Las Vegas in annual gambling revenues. The biggest movie industry, in terms of both movies made and tickets sold, is Bollywood, not Hollywood. Even shopping, America’s great sporting activity, has gone global. Of the top ten malls in the world, only one is in the United States; the world’s biggest is in Beijing. Such lists are arbitrary, but it is striking that only ten years ago, America was at the top in many, if not most, of these categories.

Worried? I’m not. As a believer in Jesus Christ my primary focus is to be what God wants me to be, not to compete with other nations or cultures. I am very excited to think that China is beginning to open its doors to the world.

One word of caution. Our reaction to open doors in China (or elsewhere) should not be to immediately dash in armed with our slick, packaged programs of American-style Christianity. This is not a statement that we American Christians have nothing to offer. We do. There are many people still in China who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. If we stay humble, flexible and teachable, we have much to offer by working in partnership with believers in the rapidly-developing world.

Consider this. Some informed estimates put the number of Christians in China at between 60 and 80 million. Stop. Read that again. Do you remember the population of the United States? Believers in China have been through pressures and experiences that most American Christians have never imagined. While we have much to teach them, I think they probably have much to teach us.

Many other issues from China beg to be discussed – persecution of believers, human rights issues and many others. We’ll pick those up another day. My point in this post is simply to make us aware that there is an elephant in the room.

Two other heart-warming stories came out last night. Have you heard? The nine-year-old boy who accompanied Chinese basketball hero, 7 foot 6 inch Yao Ming, is a survivor of May’s earthquake. Two thirds of his classmates perished. Lin Hao risked his life to pull classmates from the rubble. Asked why he did it, Lin Hao replied that he is a hall monitor and that was his job.

The other story is that of the United State’s flag carrier, Lopez Lomong. Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star, one of my favorite writers, had a great front page story this morning that centered on the story of Lopz Lomong. You can read it here.