I know who you are. The Chinese president s eyes were calm and unflustered as he spoke in careful English.

His comment interrupted the flow of conversation that had carried the room for most of the afternoon. Don Argue looked at the president, uncertain what he meant. The year was 1998. As president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Dr. Argue had been invited to meet with the president of the People s Republic of China, Jiang Zemin, to discuss China s stance on religious freedom. Tens of thousands of Christians were being persecuted for their faith, with thousands more in prison or already executed. Dr. Argue had earlier presented the logic of allowing Christians to practice their faith. They will be your best workers, he had told the president. They are honest and trustworthy. But the conversation had moved on from there, swallowed up in political posturing and diplomatic niceties. I know who you are, President Jiang now repeated, his voice low as he bent toward Dr. Argue. With the help of an interpreter he shared this story: When I was a youth, I was very sick and in a hospital. One of your people, a Christian nurse, cared for me. Even at the end of a long and busy day, she would not leave until all our needs were met. President Jiang smiled and nodded. I know who you are. *** Mahatma Gandhi once said, If Christians lived according to their faith, there would be no more Hindus left in India. This great leader of the Indian nation was fascinated at the thought of knowing Christ. But when he met Christians, he felt let down. Unfortunately, the world is filled with people who feel the same. They are intrigued by the claims of Christ, but they shrink back because of disappointment with his offspring. Don t look at people, we might protest. Look at Jesus. But while that may be true, the sobering truth remains: Whether we like it or not, we re the only Jesus some will ever see. Dwight L. Moody put it this way: Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the ninety-nine will read the Christian. There were no Gideon Bibles in the New Testament church. There were no Bibles at all, except for the Hebrew Scriptures. The only evidence of this new and living way came in the form of the walking, breathing, living epistles that filled the young church s meeting rooms and spilled out into the streets. Templates of Christianity An excerpt from Joanna Weaver s Having a Mary heart in a Martha world