ACCCN Mission Conference 2026 

Author：Pauline Chiu Settles 
Date: 03/17/2026
Category：Missions Beyond Borders

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA 
& USA Care Ministries International

(from a Chinese American living in Ghana trying to reach the mainland Chinese working with Ghanaian and Nigerian churches and organizations) 

It has been a rather difficult few months, or maybe three years, as I reflect on this topic of collaboration and partnership. I should have known it would be challenging, given my own complex background (I was raised in Taiwan and the U.S. After graduating from the university, I spent some time in Singapore studying about missions as well as working with mainland Chinese students.). Throwing into the mix, our family has been living in Ghana (West Africa) for almost 14 years. We have prayed and started connecting with different churches and organizations in 2019 regarding the Chinese outreach in Ghana. We have been working with a few Ghanaian pastors and one Nigerian organization.

The Nigerian Organization 

The founder, Pastor Adebare Egunjobi, of China Mission Alliance (CMA) was moved to pray for the salvation of the Chinese from 2007 when he and his wife were in the university. From there, they started a prayer altar, where they pray three times a day from Monday to Friday along with an annual 70 days of fasting and prayer. They also raised monthly prayer altars on several university campuses in Nigeria. By 2019, they had finished training the first batch of Nigerian missionaries. These four young men went through internship with a Chinese Malaysian Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) missionary couple in Kenya for a short period. Because of God’s providence and COVID-19 pandemic, I connected with a few pastors and leaders in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya who also have the desire to reach out to Chinese in Africa. We started a monthly Zoom prayer meeting. We laid a good foundation in sharing our stories and prayed together. By 2021, CMA was able to send two of their missionaries and one intern to Ghana. A lady from Hong Kong who had lived in Beijing for many years and I helped them find a suitable place to rent and some basic items for them to settle in Ghana. Since then, they tried different strategies like visiting Chinese prisoners, sharing flyers offering free services (immigration, housing, translation, etc.) for the Chinese, and worshipping in a small Chinese church to practice their Chinese and learn more about Chinese culture. Toward the end of 2024, we realized that the free services were not really needed and actually created hindrances for them to be credible to the Chinese in Ghana. The Chinese Christians advised them to find jobs because it is difficult for the mainland Chinese to grasp the concept of what a pastor or missionary is. Unfortunately, in Ghana there often is a bad reputation for pastors because it seems many pastors preach a lot about prosperity and blessings and sometimes exploit their church members. In exploring various business opportunities at the beginning of 2025, they started to go to the Ghanaian local private schools to see if they could teach Chinese to the children, but there is not an urgent need to have Chinese taught in the schools.

Chinese Christians from the House Churches 

In the beginning of 2025, a small group of Chinese Christians who were brought up under the House Church decided to start meetings. The place where we now meet on Sundays is an international church that used to have a congregation of Chinese that numbered around 50 people. Due to various circumstances, that congregation disappeared. But this group of Chinese with the House Church background has been meeting at a brother’s home to have Bible study and prayer. We started off with about six Chinese adults along with the Nigerian missionaries (three or four of them). After a year, we have about 10 Chinese adults coming to the Sunday afternoon services. Through the help of one Chinese Christian, the Nigerian missionaries started teaching English to some Chinese involved with businesses in Ghana. It happened that one of the students has been friends with some other Chinese Christians. He and his wife received Christ last year. Recently at a meeting they shared that even though they are new in the faith, they can both see and feel changes in their lives.

Intercultural partnerships in missions 

One of the Chinese missionaries in Ghana made this comment to me recently: “You don’t really know the culture of the mainland Chinese in Ghana.” Initially, I was a little offended because I grew up learning Chinese language, history and culture. My father was very knowledgeable about traditional Chinese sayings and idioms. My mother taught us manners and how to behave according to the expectations of traditional Chinese culture. In the last few years, I’ve been helping the Nigerian missionaries with improving their Chinese language abilities and trying to navigate Chinese culture in their interactions with various people. But when I thought about what she said, I realized that she was right. The educational content of Taiwan is different from that of mainland China. I am not sure how much of some traditional Chinese culture the Chinese government has abandoned if they decided to change some of the written characters to the simplified version. There are differences in our cultures and in what we expect to be normal.

From the age of 14, I went through American public educational system, where some of my knowledge and worldview has been affected by the dominant American culture. Sometimes it is easier for me to express myself in English, even though I am fluent in Mandarin Chinese. What I perceive to be “right” or might feel “right” or what I pay attention to is affected by my Taiwanese and American upbringing, not to mention my personality and family influences

Recently I tried to navigate and resolve some challenges with the Nigerian missionaries. There are also times when our leader, the mainland Chinese Christian brother, sharply disagree with certain conduct within the church that really puzzled me. When I was going through seminary training on missions in Singapore and in the U.S., the discussions seemed simpler because the model was taken from one people group to another, one giving and one receiving. As the number of Christians increases in the “Global South,” or southern continents like Asia, Africa and South America, cross-cultural missions or ministries in general might not be as straight forward as they were 20 or 30 years ago. For most places, there is a need for partnership and collaboration of Christians from different cultures, countries and backgrounds. It is an exciting time when God is raising up missionaries from all over the world. There are Chinese missionaries in Africa and South American missionaries in Europe, just to name a couple of possibilities. Besides the Chinese outreach, my husband and I have the privilege to teach in a Ghanaian theological institution. The class that I usually teach covers the book of Acts and how the Holy Spirit stimulated the work of God so that people from the nations heard the Gospel. Peter, Paul, and the apostles went to many places preaching and building the churches with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is my prayer that God and His Holy Spirit will unite us, give us the love that is needed for each other and for those who need salvation in Jesus Christ. Because of the Holy Spirit who is the same Spirit and the love of God that is the same love flowing through us, Nigerians, Ghanaians, Chinese, Brazilians, Thais, Indonesians, Filipinos, Koreans, Americans and others can work together to show the world that we are disciples of Christ. Because of our testimonies of love and unity, many will come to Christ and receive a fuller picture of what it means to follow Christ. The process is not easy, and it will require hard work, but may God help us in achieving the impossible.

P.S. We send out regular updates and prayer requests in both Chinese and English.  

If you wish to receive these updates, please email Pauline (peace2you@gmail.com) . Pauline also uses WhatsApp, LINE and Telegram to share shorter prayer needs.

Please also let us know if you want to receive these short prayer requests.

Thank you! 

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