Our Mission and Vision
316NOW is a ministry of conservative Lutherans committed to bring the gospel to the Chinese people by empowering Chinese Christian leaders through Scripture study. We pray the Spirit would use 316NOW to assist these Chinese leaders in building and growing a network of spiritually united believers. Our ministry
316NOW’s ministry has three major focuses: teaching, networking
, and sharing. Here’s what we do:
EDUCATION: 316NOW helps Chinese church leaders grow spiritually through our Bible institute. Our curriculum includes the key doctrines of Christianity, the central books of the Bible, and sound pastoral practice. Students graduate with a certificate of achievement. Our courses are taught by pastors, teachers, and college professors. Lay people teach some of our classes for non-Christians who are seeking to learn more about Christianity. As often as possible we send teachers to personally meet with our students, to share God’s Word with them, encourage them, and learn from them. NETWORKING: 316NOW assists our students in connecting with each other. The goal is that Chinese church leaders encourage each other, build one another up in the faith, and instruct each other. That equips growing numbers of church leaders to teach more believers and to bring more souls to faith in Jesus. SHARING: 316NOW shares information about the Chinese culture with American Christians. God has been remarkably generous to the most populous nation in the world. We share the stories of those blessings. We also highlight the spiritual challenges there so believers here can consider how God has positioned them to help. Our Name
316NOW reminds of Jesus’ promise in John 3:16 that God loved all people so much he sent his Son to forgive them and give them eternal life. The word NOW focuses on the urgency of sharing that message with all people, particularly the Chinese people. This is who we are: 316NOW: Sharing grace in China.
