Although still under the age of 50, Brother Deng suffers from multiple chronic illnesses. As a result, he is unable to seek employment outside his village in North China, unlike many of his fellow villagers. To support himself, Deng initially relied on farming before eventually opening a small grocery store. He also began a ministry, "Compiled Sermon," which has spiritually benefited many believers, some of whom have offered him financial support. With these three sources of income—farming, store revenue, and donations—Deng makes ends meet, particularly with the cost of his medication.
Few would imagine that just six years ago, Deng once twiddled his thumbs and was glued to the screen.
After getting a smartphone, Deng became addicted to scrolling through short videos. These included content from so-called relationship coaches and influencers who flaunted questionable success stories that go beyond the law. "I was gradually drawn in—just watching and scrolling. My whole life revolved around short videos, whether I was walking or standing," Deng recalled.
Deng's experience mirrors that of many digital addicts in China. Some are hooked on short videos, others on online gaming, and still others on the pursuit of wealth, sex, power, fame, even gambling and drugs. Yet Deng's story stands apart because he had encountered the Christian faith.
Deng had accepted Jesus during childhood amid illness. After losing two elder brothers to illness at ages three-and-a-half and one-and-a-half, Deng himself fell gravely ill. Despite numerous treatments, there was no sign of recovery. At that time, someone shared the gospel with his mother. Desperate, she responded, "If it means my child can recover, I'm willing to swallow dung, let alone follow Jesus." Miraculously, Deng made a full recovery, leading both him and his mother to faith in Jesus Christ.
As he grew older, Deng lost his parents and sister one after another. Left with no family, no job, no spouse, no children, and no wealth, he sank into self-doubt, discouragement, and despair. Somewhere along the way, he also lost touch with the God he once believed in. All that remained were his chronic ailments, including pancreatitis, gallbladder inflammation, and gastritis.
In this void, short videos filled the gap, taking the place of God in his life. One day, as he reached for his phone as usual, Deng came across a video in which someone was singing hymns of praise to God. In that moment, he recognized that nothing in this secular world, not even short videos, holds ultimate authority. There is only one true King: God.
Although Deng had initially accepted the Christian faith under his mother's influence, he had never truly committed himself. "Even as a Christian," he admitted, "I was reluctant to read the Bible, to pray, or to listen to God's word. I doubted whether those things could actually feed me."
The transformative work of the Holy Spirit was a pivotal moment for Brother Deng, leading him back to his faith. It was during this time that he discovered his true calling—online ministry, or specifically, "compiled sermon ministry."
Brother Deng lives in a rural area about three hours away from the city. The Christian community in this area consists mainly of individuals from rural backgrounds, mostly middle-aged and elderly individuals. The elderly population within the Christian community is particularly high. However, many of these elderly Christians often have trouble getting to church. Furthermore, there are also many young and middle-aged Christians in the community who are always busy, often working on weekends as well. To address this issue, pastors have started recording their sermons and sending them out as voice messages in chat groups. The problem is, the messages can only be one minute long, so longer sermons need to be split into multiple parts. However, many of the members in the group are unable to listen in real-time due to demanding work schedules or family responsibilities. Plus, it is tough to find specific content from previous days in the flood of messages in the group. As a result, many people ended up missing the sermons or only catching parts of them.
After learning about the distress caused by fragmented audio files, Brother Deng taught himself how to use a mobile phone application to merge the fragments into a single audio file, a process that only takes approximately three minutes. Once he combines the files, Brother Deng uploads the consolidated sermons back to the group. This allows members in the group to listen to the entire sermon with just one click. It also benefits groups without pastors by providing them with access to listen to sermons.
For the past few years, Brother Deng has been spreading the gospel through online platforms while dedicating himself to his "compiled sermon ministry". Many people have been praising him and his impactful ministry work.
Brother Deng mentioned that even though he comes from a rural area, the Internet is pretty advanced these days. He shared that many Christians, including himself, have been able to listen to sermons from famous pastors online. The only issue is that many of these sermons fail to address the specific issues and situations people are dealing with, or give any useful advice for everyday life.
"Many pastors preach based on the needs of their own congregations. While the sermons of these well-known pastors may resonate with educated and cultured individuals, like college students, they may not always connect with older people in rural areas who have had less exposure to education and culture."
"For elderly individuals living in rural areas, using our local language just makes more sense. When it comes to sermons, what works for people in the city might not work for those living in rural areas. Let me give you a simple example. Around here, we call steamed bread 'Momo' and toilet roll 'toilet paper'. We get it right away when you use those terms. This is especially true during sermons, which is why many of us find it difficult to keep up," Brother Deng explained. "So, in my opinion, it is best to stick to the local language when delivering sermons."
Originally published by the Christian Times
- Edited by Karen Luo, translated by Poppy Chan & Joyce Leung
