The first Overseas Campus Magazine (OCM) Europe Edition will be successfully published as scheduled in early June, marking a new milestone of evangelistic ministry to Mainland Chinese students in Europe.
The partner of OCM in Europe, the U.K.-based Chinese Oversea Christian Mission (COCM), has made a formal announcement this month for the inaugural edition. OCM, a Chinese bimonthly Christian magazine founded in North America, focuses on providing evangelistic messages to students and professionals from Mainland China.
"With the rapid increase of Chinese students in Europe and the United Kingdom, the new Europe Edition is to be launched," COCM explained.
While the new edition will share articles with North America edition relating to faith, apologetics, cultural forums and others, the unique contents will be stories of personal conversion, new Christian experiences in Europe, people and events in the European Christian communities.
Currently, the inaugural edition is ready to be printed in Bamberg, south of Germany, on May 30. Starting from June 1, the finished copies will be sent to churches and individuals who have signed up for free, according to the executive editor of OCM Europe Edition Rachel Shi. The total number of copies will be around 11,000 for all of Europe, but the distribution is mainly in the U.K. and Germany where most Chinese students live.
Shi added that COCM have helped to gather a list of churches and fellowships that would like to receive the publication. The list has almost completed as well.
"Many of the Mainland Chinese students in Europe are very young compared to those in the United States, and they usually stay in Europe just for very short time- from half an year to two years- so it is very crucial for them to receive the Gospel before they go back to China," Shi spoke about the greatest challenge faced by the new Europe edition.
"Their perspective is comparatively unstable; we cannot keep contact with individuals easily with their provided address and phone number," Shi concluded. "Therefore, the role of fellowships and churches is very important. As they receive the publications, they can distribute them to the congregations."
Shi wishes that more churches and fellowship leaders will use the publication wisely as a tool of evangelism, and to help promote it to the many students.
"In Europe, most churches and fellowships are still very small and young, they don’t have much resources as their American counterparts. Although it is impossible for the magazine to reach to every single corner, we hope that when some of them read the magazine, they will introduce to more people and more people will come to us to ask for copies," Shi said.
Shi has also raised the problems concerning financial difficulties, such as the heavy postal cost in Europe. "In Europe, the Mainland Chinese students are not very strong financially and many of them are just seekers. They may not able to afford the heavy postal cost," she said. She urges Chinese Christians in the United States to support the Europe Edition with prayers and donations.
"The need of seekers from Mainland China is huge there in Europe," Shi reiterated. For all the preparation of OCM Europe Edition has been running very well under the guidance of God. OCM will continue to pray that the promotion will be successful and the financial burden can be relieved.
Meanwhile, 30 percent of the OCM Europe Edition’s content is Europe-specific and 70 percent shared from North America Edition. Hopefully, the percentage will shift to more Europe-specific contents as many Europe writers are raised up, according to Shi.
