Vernacular Media Outreach—Chinese Restaurant Style

Going to a Chinese buffet after church on Sunday is our weekly treat. The restaurant owner recognizes us as we walk in the door and greets us in his Chinese-flavored English. The waitress sees us, and has our table ready by the time we reach it.

Desiring to tell the owner about Christ, I wondered how to do it in the language he understood best—in his vernacular. Then I remembered the JESUS DVD that comes in eight languages, including Mandarin.

The following Sunday, I asked the owner, “Do you have a DVD player?”

“Yes.”

“Would you like to watch a movie in Chinese?”

“Yes. After a busy day, I like to relax at night watching movies in Chinese.”

“It’s a religious movie,” I add.

“That is OK.”

I dashed out to our car for the DVD and gave it to him.

Thanking me, he said, “I’ve heard about Jesus because someone gave me a Bible, but it was in English and I couldn’t understand it.”

Since Spanish speakers work in the restaurant kitchen, I mentioned that a version in their language was on the DVD also. A Hispanic family, waiting to pay their bill right behind us, noticed the big word “Jesus” on the DVD cover.

As we walked across the parking lot, a teenaged girl approached me. “Could I have a movie also?”

“That is the only one I have with me. Maybe we will see you again at the restaurant,” I said as I gave her a big hug. She turned and rejoined her Hispanic family.

The next Sunday eight of us met for the after-church Chinese buffet. As I walked in the door behind my friend Jan, the owner’s face lit up.

“I watched the movie and I understood it. It was in my language!” He was excited. Later he came over to our table to say his younger brother was coming in a few months from Hong Kong to join him. Was this an invitation for us to reach out to the brother also?

As we checked out, I said I would order another video for him if that was alright.

“Yes” he said in anticipation.

The God’s Story: from Creation to Eternity VCD arrived during the week. The next Sunday I gave it to the owner as we paid our bill. And I said to our waitress standing nearby, “You can watch it too.”

“No, I’m not interested, but he is,” referring to her boss.

When we returned a week later, the owner said the VCD would not play on his DVD player, but he could watch it on his computer…no comment about it, however. I asked if I could buy him a Bible in Chinese. He said “yes,” but was concerned about the money I was spending.

“It’s OK.”

Waiting for the Bible to arrive, I downloaded a copy of Campus Crusade for Christ’s “Four Spiritual Laws” in simplified Chinese. I gave that to him as we walked in the next Sunday. As we paid our bill, I asked him if he could read it.

“Yes, it is in mainland Mandarin and I’m from mainland China.” The owner seemed pleased to have it.

We anticipate the Lord working in the hearts of this man and others. Vernacular Media reaches hearts overseas, but also right here in our town.