In the wake of urbanization, China has been experiencing historically groundbreaking transitions in its economic model, cultural development and network structure in the past 10 years.
During the seventies to the eighties, 20th century, churches in China have gone through the first spiritual revival centred in Henan and An'Hui Provinces in the post-Cultural Revolution Era. After the nineties, massive population blended with village farmers and preachers from the villages started to shift to urban areas in search for better opportunities. As such, many preachers are faced with the dilemma of whether staying in the villages or leaving their villages for the urban mission fields.
The Gospel Time has specially invited two pastors from Henan to share their journey of serving the Lord's ministries in different fields.
Both pastors were born in late 1960, thus reaching their 50s now. They have known each other for a long time since they were schoolmates back then. Interestingly, both have devoted to serve the Lord's ministries for over 10 years ever since late 1990s.
There are shocking similarities in them: both speak with Henan accent and shine sincerity from their eyes. However, the most prominent difference between them boils down to their ministry paths as one of them has gone to urban churches for self-development whilst another decides to stay in his village church.
Honest sharing has been made by these two pastors. Regardless of the paths they choose, they do have good reasons that deserve our understanding and respect. Below are their stories
Bother L's Story:
I'm born in a Christian family as my grandfather was once a pastor appointed by a foreign missionary. I have three other siblings at home. All of us lived through poverty in our childhood. My sister was diagnosed with mental retardation due to inappropriate usage of drug doze. Praise the Lord that I followed my mother to accept Christ at a very young age. In fact, hardship and trials never let go off me since I embark on the journey of faith.
I give up the opportunity of pursuing the university degree to serve the church alongside my dad and siblings after the economic reform. Bible was particular precious at that time. In view of post-cultural revolution era, many bibles had been snatched away by the authority. Thus, I started to script down several books of the bible and share them with others. Though believers were few in number, all of them loved to gather under the oil lamp to listen to my teaching. Indeed, God's word was a lamp to our feet.
In 1980, the printing technology was introduced and bible printing was faciliated. All of us rejoiced over the abundant supply of bibles for a period of time. However, in 1983, our church was severely hit and affected by the cult group's bad reputation. As a result, many bibles were confiscated by the authority.
God is indeed gracious to us after such a crisis. I came to know a brother from Nanyang. He introduced me to pick up free bibles as sourced from overseas donation in Guangdong. I was only 20 years old then, thus carried many bibles from Guangdong to share with others. I was also exposed to the service in house church in Nanyang, which is very different from my experience in Three-Self Church.
There is a wave of spiritual revival among villages between 1986 and 1987. However, persecution follows after in 1992 until 1997. As a result, we have very limited space for worship and must avoid hosting service on Sundays. In 1995, our home was ransacked by the authority again. My family was detained by authority for a 40-day-long imprisonmentI was extremely worried about my newly born daughter and my wife who just gave birth. However, God's vision sticks with me strongly as I'm sure that He will lead my way.
That is indeed the toughest time in my entire life. Through the thick and thin, I understand that God has been molding me according to his plan. I was once crying out to God in pain. This voice came to me ," Brother, given your love, I'll serve your family." I said ," You should let me understand your will in such a challenging situation. " Then the voice followed ," What's the difference between Soloman's cart horses and wild horses? " From then on, I was awakened by the fact that Soloman's cart horses are very obedient to the king. Indeed, the greatest lesson I've learned in prison is obedience.
I was truly scared of fellow inmates as I was severely bullied in jail. When I told them about my background as a Christian, they saw me as a bad breed as they thought good Christians would never be put in jail. As such, they forced me to take off my pants and use them to wipe the floor.
Lesson 1, I learned to be a servant.
Lesson 2: I learned to treasure food.
I used to be picky with food. Ever since I went into the prison, my appetite simply started to crave for all kinds of food due to really poor supply of meals in jail. Praise the Lord for better appetite now.
Lesson 3: I learned to obey and respect the elders.
In prison, any new inmates must obey the voice of the elders. Otherwise, I'd be beaten severely for my disobedience.
Looking back to that time, God's taught me these 3 precious lessons, which appeared to be extremely useful for my future ministry.
I also went through five interrogative sessions. During one of the sessions, they questioned me about the source of my bibles. I know that I can't tell them the truth as it links to the overseas donors. Hence, the prison guards started to torture me. Then God provided me with wisdom to tell them that my bibles were given out by two sisters whom I bumped into on my way to buy bibles.
I was beaten up severely in other occasions too. As they tortured me with metal wire, I kept on praying to God for his help and protection. As I headed back to my room, my fellow brother told me that my face shined as bright as Mose' face at Mount Sinai.
When my case was finalized, I almost fainted when I got to know that I was given a 3-year-long imprisonment. Worries overwhelmed me as I still carry family responsibility of the son and the father. I surrendered my heart in prayer and God deposited a period of "40 days" at my heart. Exactly, after 40 days gone pass, I was released from the prison through the help of other brothers and sisters.
Though hardship never leaves me as my life goes on, my relationship with God has been continuously deepened. I am absolutely sure that God's guiding me through so many years' of walking with him.
I was once robbed on my way to visit a brother. When the robber forced me to give him my money, I was not able to satisfy him as I was very poor. Thus, he beat me with a rod until I wasn't able to stand still. Blood and water condensed together on my pants when I finally dragged my way home.
Despite all these challenges, I am very sure of my calling of doing village mission. God's grace is indeed greater than my hardship. I encourage my children to study in bible school and take on the same mission to glorify God in the future.
Bible says, " So those who went off with heavy hearts, will come home laughing, with armloads of blessings." The blood of missionaries is the seed of the Gospel. The tough road has been thread by many missionaries before us. Though the toughest time has gone pass, the spirit of these missionaries shall be cherished forever.
