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:
Pastor D's Story:
How did I become a Christian? Someone once asked me whether I wanted to go to heaven or hell. I told him that I wanted to go heaven. A brother then spread the Gospel to me saying, "God is coming back soon."I then question him, " How is this information relevant to me?" He replied," Jesus will be back soon for a final judgment on earth. Those who believe in him shall go to heaven, but those who do not will end up in hell." He later continued, " So do you want blessings or pain?" I replied, " I want blessings." That's my conversion story.
As you can see, my journey of knowing Christ is very simple. At that time, a wave of spiritual revival has swept through the land in both house churches and Three-Self Churches between late 1980s to early 1990s.
I still remember the date of my baptism, which falls on 16 November 1990.
I was only 20 years old graduated from junior college at that time. I also engaged myself in the study of mushroom farming to earn my living.
Only seven days after I accepted Christ, I started to be involved in preaching. One month after I accepted Christ, I went to the nearby churches to preach together with other church staff. As I was not theologically trained in bible school, most of my preaching was mainly composed of explanation of certain chapters in the bible.
I saw waves of spiritual revival happening among village churches at that time. Miracles were common as physical and spiritual bondages were broken free among villagers. I saw demon-processed villager's distorted face, which truly scared me at first. However, as I were exposed to more miraculous acts with my own eyes, my faith was gradually built up on God's power.
Persecution once disbursed our fellowship group into three smaller churches in that village. Thus, a house church was branched out at that time to avoid further persecutions.
Initially, the group worshipped together with the Three Self Church. As disagreement occurred over certain worship styles, our church was branched out as an individual preaching point.
Until now, there are both Three-Self Church and a house church in our village. These two churches have different management models and separate church activities.
I have thought of combining both churches and proceeded to talking with leaders from Three-Self Church. I communicated with them about our willingness to adapt to their worship styles but still uncomfortable about giving tithe and offering to the government as part of Three-Self Church's tradition.
Upon unsuccessful negotiation on this tithe and offering matter, we started to build our own church in 2002.
The head of our village, upon seeing the good work done by Christians in our church, began to form a positive perception about Christianity. He also told us that Christians from our house churches tend to be more honest and more willing to put ourselves in other's shoes as compared to some believers in Three-Self Church. Good reputation began to be spread among the villagers as we mobilized fellow believers to repair roads and visit the elderly during Chinese New Year.
