The Shui of China

Copyright ©2003 by Amanda Brooks   Home

The Shui are located in southern Guizhou province in China. They are surrounded by mountains with many streams running through their land. The majority of them live on the upper reaches of the Longjiang and Duliu Rivers. They call themselves "water people" (shui jen) which originates from their ancient coastal dwelling. Their villages are compact yet spread throughout the mountains. Their land is rich in resources with their crops including rice, wheat, cotton, corn, sorghum, millet, sweet potatoes, plums, oranges, tangerines, pears, and peaches. There is also a wealth of minerals in their land such as iron, coal, zinc, mercury, antimony, sulfur, and aluminum. The bulk of their diet comes from fish and rice but is supplemented by corn, barley, wheat, and sweet potatoes. Their dress is very simple consisting of dark solid colors, usually blue or black. The language of the Shui belongs to the Zhuang-Dong branch of the Sino-Tibetan language. They have an ancient writing system called "Shuishu" which is used more by the sorcerers to call up gods and determine geomancy than it is used from human communication. Until 1949, with the founding of the "New China," this ancient writing was consulted for everyday activity including marriage, divorce, travel, harvesting, etc. The people are polytheistic with great reverence given to the stone god and the god of ponds. Objects of worship include giant stones, old trees, and ancient wells and ponds. They are also involved in ancestral worship. They believe that their dead ancestors have the ability to intervene in the lives of the living. Therefore, they strongly believe that suffering and "bad luck" are a result of direct influence of the spirits. This causes them to consult the sorcerers who use eggs, grass, and stones as mediums to the spirit world.

The Shui practice monogamy and exogamy, meaning they have one mate of the opposite sex and will marry outside of their tribe. Most engagements occur while the girl is between the ages of fifteen and seventeen. Wives usually wait six months before they are allowed to go live with their husbands after the marriages ceremony. Children are raised by their mothers as they are carried on her back as babies and work in the fields beside her growing up. Some of the children are able to attend school, but that is a relatively low number. They make their livings through farming and going to market. Market is held every five to seven days and Shui from surrounding villages will come to the market to buy and sell their products as well as to socialize with their neighbors.

Although there are not on-the ground missionaries working among the Shui, there are non-resident missionaries working with the people, Strategic China Initiative, as well as some ethnic evangelists. Despite this work, they are still and unreached people group because there is not a thriving church among them, nor is there a Bible in their language. Until they have a growing church lead and run by their own people with the Bible in their own tongue, they will be a candidate for evangelization as an unreached people.

Strategic China Initiative sent several of its graduates of the SCI training centers to the Shui in Guizhou and started a school as well as a church two years ago according to Wayne Graham, the director of development. I was unable to get a direct report of the progress of the school and church but I did find that less than one per cent of the people are Christian indicating there is some sort of a response to the gospel. Their devotion to their ancient gods and the fear they have of the spirits doing harm to them are probably some of the biggest hindrances to them accepting the Gospel of Christ. Somehow, we will have to help them overcome their fear of their ancestor's spirits. A possibility to aid them in doing this would be to teach on fear from a Biblical perspective by pointing out that the love of Jesus casts out all fear. We need to present these people with the love of their Savior and demonstrate the power that it holds.

Shui people obviously have and understanding of the relationship between the sprit realm and the natural. This is seen in how they connect objects such as rocks, ponds, trees, etc to spiritual worship. They see the world as a much more spiritual place than we, Westerners, do. Their understanding of the reality of the spiritual world will help them understand the reality of the Gospel as well as the meanings and connections made with the a spiritual eternity spent in either Heaven with the Savior or hell, forever separated from Him. Right now, the greatest challenge of missionary communication (besides the obvious of having to learn the language ) is the Chinese government's crack down on the house church movement and the growing persecution of the church. For the Gospel to be communicated from within the culture in an ongoing way, the work would have to be done undercover. Chinese (Shui) would need to start institutions to teach believers and to minister to the lost in a hidden way. An example of this that is going on now is the house churches.

The best missionaries would be a team effort between Westerners and Chinese. The Chinese need to evangelize amongst themselves but the Westerners are desperately needed for the training and teaching of leaders. Right now, one of the biggest problems facing Chinese believers is that there is no Bible their language which makes them susceptible to believing false teaching. Westerners could help them translate a Bible into their language and help teach the rising leaders the truth of the Word of God. I do not know that non-Western missionaries would be better at this task. Their need for leadership is so great that they need help from outside the non-Western world although there are some very good Chinese theologians. All work done with the Church in any part of China must be done undercover. The penalty for sharing the message of the Gospel is generally death.

A family who wanted to minister among the people and learn the language might develop skills to help teach the Shui improve productivity and successfulness in the areas of agriculture, fishing, taking care of livestock. They would immerse themselves in the culture and language in order to learn. The father may help in the area of livestock while the mother worked with the women in agriculture. The children could assist their parents or take up something with the local children. Short term missionaries could do the same thing.

The prayer effort for covering the Shui should involve asking committed people to covenant to pray for the Shui. Their prayer focus should include asking the Lord to break the back of the enemy over the people, to cause the blinders to fall from their eyes so they can see the Truth, and to ask Him for the souls of the people as their inheritance as believers. Everyone who is willing and committed should be involved in this prayer effort. The missionary should keep the intercessors informed of what is happening as effectively as he (she) can through email, phone calls, or snail mail.

As previously mentioned, missionaries to the Shui should get training in an area of agriculture, livestock, etc as a means of ministering to the people. To be able to enter the village and help the people learn more productive and successful ways of agriculture and taking care of the animals, and fishing, you increase their standard of living and convey to them that you love them and have a very real concern for their well being. This will open them up to hear what you have to say about Jesus. You will have demonstrated your love for them and by doing so, you have earned their trust. Sharing the Gospel should probably first come from one on one evangelism but should then be handed over to the people for them to do. The missionary will have to be careful that the people understand it is their responsibility to share the Gospel, not the missionary's. Then the missionary should focus on praying that the Lord would reveal His desired leadership so that the missionary can then focus on teaching the leaders the depths of the Scriptures and teaching them how to teach their people. In doing all of this, the missionary will have to be careful not to come across in an arrogant way treating the people as though they have no sense. This will be a challenge, but they must stay humble before God and the people they are ministering to. They must make sure that they do not present the Gospel in Western clothes.

A flourishing Gospel movement would consist of a church being planted in every Shui village. The Shui should take the Gospel from village to village until each one has a church of its own. Each church should be supported by its own people so that it does not become dependent on others. Westerners should stay out of the financial support. The new believers do not need to learn to lean on the Westerners for anything: money, teaching...anything. They need to learn that God will work through them and God is the one who supplies the needs. The job of the Western missionary is to introduce the Shui to their Lord and to help them get on their feet. Although the West should stay out of the finances of the local churches, they could provide Bibles and teaching material. If caught doing this, however, there would be stiff penalties for both the Westerner and the Shui recipients and the materials would be burned. One of the biggest distractions of the Western missionary for the Shui may be the prosperity teachings. This would not go over well with the Shui who live in the poorest province in China. The Western missionary will have to separated the Gospel from the Capitalist society they are used to. Other groups and organizations should be included in the evangelization of the Shui. These groups should work together to see to it that every Shui village hears the gospel and responds.

A mission agency could collaborate with the local Shui believers to send in missionaries to help in the evangelization of more Shui villages and to aid in training leaders. But, all of this work would have to be done undercover so that neither the missionaries nor the Shui people would be in danger of the Chinese government The missions agencies could help the missionaries get tourism visas or university teachers visas.

International partnerships could be set up between the Shui and Strategic China Initiative, International Mission Board as well as the group in Thailand that desires to take the gospel to the Shui. These three groups have already demonstrated a desire to reach the Shui. They could set up partnerships with t he people to come and help with evangelism and teaching. The Shui should be encouraged to take the Gospel to each village with the goal of establishing a church there as their part in fulfilling the Great Commission. Once they have reached all of their own people, they should be encouraged to take the Gospel to surrounding villages (assuming they have not been ancient enemies which would hinder the spread of the Gospel to t hem) and possibly to other nations or other parts of China. To continue to support and mobilizes churches among the Shui once they are start, Western missionaries could come in periodically to do leadership training, Bible teaching, or bring in teams to help build churches.

The Shui are a beautiful people that Jesus Christ died for so that they could have a relationship with the Father. It is our duty to introduce them to their Savior and help them establish Churches supported and run by the Shui.

Page created November 21, 2003.