With 40 years of teaching experience as a P.E. teacher and school principal, a believer in Liaoning has won many awards for papers on teaching, and his characteristic P.E. lesson has been made into an observational documentary.
He is the backbone of the reopened church in Anshan City, Liaoning Province, and was awarded "Advanced Individual of Christianity" in Anshan city.
Having believed in Jesus for more than 70 years, Wang Wancheng, at 81, once a deacon and pastor, is engaged in evangelism, praising, and sharing testimonies in the church.
Wang shared his experience of being healed from stomach cancer in the Autumn Harvest Festival service in Laohutun Church on October 8, 2022. He also accompanied the choir and performed a Tianjin allegro created by himself.
Grown-up in Sunday school
Wang is originally from Jilin province, he followed his Christian mother to Sunday school in the 1950s, studying, worshiping, praising, and playing games with other children.
After being baptized to the Lord as an adult, in addition to doing his job well, he participated in church activities as a deacon and pastor, being sent to preach in all the churches in the urban and rural areas of Anshan. By the gift of the Holy Spirit, he gave sermons in the form of storytelling and recitation with the skills of teaching, accompanied by theological thoughts and testimonies.
He is also willing to serve and care for the senior or disabled believers who can only gather in the surrounding meeting points, some even in remote places.
With musical expertise, he organized and participated in the activities on Christmas and Easter Sunday. A church fellowship leader spoke highly of Wang, “He can do many things well, from preaching, singing, and dancing to organizing activities. He guides the rehearsal creatively. “
Did his work well and keep his faith in mind
In his childhood, his family was very poor and even burnt cow dung.
After taking up work, Wang worked as a P.E. teacher in a school in Anshan City. Because of his excellent work, some leaders talked to him, asking him to give up his belief and join the Communist Party so that he could be promoted, but he refused.
In view of his outstanding and unique teaching, he was exceptionally promoted to the principal of a school.
Wang also served as the team counselor of the Young Pioneers, awarded the honorary title of "Excellent Counselor in Anshan City".
At one period of time, Wang worked as the logistics director in a school, being honest and diligent. He did not follow the "hidden rules" in purchasing tables, chairs, and teaching materials, and he is not greedy or possessive.
As a P.E. teacher, he combined music and dance in his physical education teaching. For this reason, the education authority of Anshan City invited the TV station to videotape his interesting P.E. class as a new type of observation course to promote.
Wang is versatile, and he once taught art and music at school. So when students need to relax their muscles after the intense P.E. class, he played music for them.
He has taught in eight schools in Tiedong District, Tiexi District, and Lishan District, and some of his students became Christians as adults since they knew he believes in God.
As an "all-around" teacher, he once served as the deputy chief director, chief planner, and chief conductor of large-scale group gymnastics performances in Lishan District for three consecutive years in 1989, 1990, and 1991, achieving excellent results. More than 1,000 students from different schools were organized to perform, integrating music, dance, and art.
Becoming one of the first group of senior teachers in Anshan City, Wang has no children but treated students as his own.
Suffering from stomach cancer in old age and healed by the Lord
After retirement, Wang continues to serve in churches, gathering places, and fellowships, even in remote villages.
In 2022, over eighty years old, Wang developed symptoms such as fatigue, indigestion, loss of appetite, nausea, and significant weight loss. Finally, he was found to have gastric cancer (poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma) by gastroscopy, and the doctor suggested he be hospitalized for surgery immediately.
Unwilling to undergo surgery, he preferred conservative treatment with medicine and relied on God. A very accomplished entrepreneur overseas, one of his former students, assigned someone to help him to be hospitalized after knowing his situation.
During his stay in the hospital, Wang prepared himself mentally for the operation by praying, praising, and reading the Bible.
Just after the May Day holiday in 2022, he had surgery to remove two-thirds of his stomach, recovering well.
After the operation, he had to eat smaller and more times, at least four meals a day. But when worshiping in some church activities for hours, he didn’t eat anything in the sanctuary, starving until the service was over.
At home, he also uses waste such as playing cards, drink bottles, and foam to make handicrafts, and his wife even bought him a knife for cutting glass.
(The article is written by a guest writer of the Gospel Times in Anshan City, Liaoning Province.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
