Denver Seminary

14 SPRING 2017 took on an even greater amount of uncertainty. Yet opportunities for ministry were everywhere. Although other people groups in China had been quite responsive to the gospel, the Nosu remained resistant to it. Every relationship, every conversation, every interaction with a Nosu was an opportunity to plant some seed of testimony about Christ. So how does someone keep going forward when the circumstances are difficult and the work seems virtually impossible? Covell writes, Keeping on keeping on is at the heart of the missionary task. Nothing is more important than perseverance—that ability to tough it out when the going gets rough. Very few of us are brilliant. Our strategies, no matter how well conceived, will not win the day. I do not mean that we "somehow muddle through." God does not reward unwise plans or lazy thinking. But that ability to hang in there and move forward trusting Him is a pearl of great price. CONTINUING THE CALL In 1951 the Covells were expelled from China by the communist government. Their hopes of seeing many Nosu people come to faith in Jesus Christ were not realized at that time, but their commitment to Chinese people and to the Nosu never died. They moved to Taiwan and continued serving in theological education and Bible translation for the Sediq people in the eastern mountains of the island. They returned to the United States in 1966. During his years in Denver, Ralph was active at local Chinese Christian churches, often surprising people with his fluency in the language. When China began to open up to outsiders again in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he made several trips back. The first time he had a chance to return to the community where he had lived, he was delighted to find an elderly woman who remembered him. In the early 1990s, he had the opportunity to invite Bishop Deng Yi-Ming, a highly respected leader in the Three-Self registered church in China, to Denver Seminary. While Covell respected the underground church and how they had suffered, he always sought to minister to and with the registered church when there was a legal opportunity to do so. SEEING THE BIG PICTURE Before his death in 2013, Ralph had the privilege of seeing the number of Christians in China explode even among some of the smaller ethnic groups in the region where he lived. In 2008, he wrote in an article for Christianity Today, Who would think that in one relatively small geographical area in China, over half of the 480,000 people are committed to Jesus Christ? The area is Yunnan, one of the southwest provinces, and the people are Lisu, one of the large non-Chinese minority people groups. Over the past 100 years, Christianity has in some cases spread even more quickly and thoroughly among these ethnic minorities than among the majority (Han) Chinese. Whole clans and villages have come to Christ. In nearly every case, these mass movements can be traced back to seeds planted by some very influential early missionaries. In 2001 Covell returned to China to meet with a team of Nosu and give them basic training in Bible translation. He was delighted to return there a number of times before his death, encouraging his brothers and sisters in Christ. He was a walking history lesson, embodying how the gospel came to them many years before. And he reminded them that many Nosu were still waiting to hear about Christ. At his funeral in Denver in 2013, the presence of a Nosu woman testified to the enduring legacy of Ralph Covell's life and ministry. The completed parallel Nosu-Chinese New Testament was with her in the pulpit, and she recalled the importance of the early missionaries who had ministered among the Nosu. "Neither I nor my family, my friends, our coworkers, or any of us would have come to know the Lord if it weren't for those early missionaries like Ralph Covell," she said. For nearly 70 years, Covell prayed faithfully for the Nosu people to come to faith in Christ. Today there are estimated to be around 2,000 Nosu believers meeting in over 100 Nosu house fellowships in China. Ralph Covell is one of the thousands who make up our great cloud of witnesses. His life testifies to the deep satisfaction found in serving Christ no matter our circumstances or the visible outcomes of our labor. His life encourages us to persevere in faith, or in his words, "to hang in there and move forward trusting Him." Mark Young, PhD PRESIDENT Dr. Mark Young has served as President of Denver Seminary since 2009. As a theological educator and pastoral leader with over 35 years of global ministry experience, his life passion is to align all that he is and all that he does with the eternal purpose of God—that all people in all places worship Him alone. Mark and his wife, Priscilla, have been married for 35 years and have three grown children and four delightful grandchildren. They are grateful for many opportunities to travel and minister together and love adding new countries to their growing list of "places we've been."

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