I recently talked with a young pastor who is from a county church that I learned about its present situation that for 365 days all year round, its evening service never stops.
The northern county is known for its complicated mountainous surface and poor conditions. However, in this difficult and barren soil, the gospel booms. Since the resumption of church services in the 1980s, the number of local Christians has topped the list in cities in the province.
When the gospel was introduced at the end of the 19th century, the county was remote, cratered, and poor. Its neighboring fortress cities, on the other hand, were convenient, prosperous, and populous. As a result, the missionaries just set up a small missionary station there and seemed to have left hurriedly. After that, they rarely set foot in the area again for more than ten years.
The pastor said, “The harder it is to survive and the poorer the flesh is, the more eager the people here are for the salvation of the soul and for the hope of being born again.” Therefore, when the pure gospel entered this remote mountainous area through many Chinese pastors and preachers, the groaning souls were widely awakened like a single spark starting a prairie fire.
In the early 1940s, Christian training and preaching blossomed everywhere in the local counties. Many people were still not satisfied after attending their local services, however. So, they walked dozens of miles over the mountains for sermons in neighboring villages or counties. No matter when, where, or what people did, the gospel spread out everywhere at every time—the truth simply flowed freely.
The pastor said that when many elderly believers recalled the past, the most frequent answer he got was that they had felt good about the sermons and eagerly wanted to listen to them day and night.
The hard and poor years have long been history. As early as ten years ago, local poverty was alleviated, and the county has become one of the top five cities in the province’s GDP.
The passionate elderly believers are vanishing, but the warm spiritual atmosphere never dissipates. In the whole region, gathering services in cities and townships have evolved into “worship custom” and have been integrated into the daily lives of local Christians.
The young pastor told me that since the resumption of churches in the 1980s, most Christians do not go home after work. Instead, they go to churches for evening services and return home for dinner later.
However, several pastors pointed out that, compared with the neighboring brother churches, the current situation of their own churches is far from "ample”. One of the pastors said that in a church in the suburbs of a main city, except for the night worship all year round, the morning prayer and the praise meetings at noon are never stopped. “The elderly believers in their churches are relatively more so; it is doable. Many believers here have to work, and scheduling is difficult.” He said, “But here, brothers and sisters should be close to God’s word every day, not for a day.”
In the "Peach Blossom Spring", written by Tao Yuanming (365–427 AD), a writer in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there was a story about a fisherman who strayed into an isolated paradise. The people there lived as if they were different from the outside world. They had a happy life without the disturbance of war. During my visit to the county, I also deeply felt that I was entering the spiritual peach blossom spring.
The pastors said that in the local area, because most of them are grass-roots churches below the county level, the church does not particularly emphasize the deepening and systematization in the content of the sermon but is more grounded and related to the lives of believers. “Believers can use words to solve many problems and difficulties in life, so people don’t think listening to the word is boring. They come to the services consciously without being urged by the church,” said a pastor.
It is true that many large and emerging churches have achieved fruitful results in deepening the truth, intensive pastoral care, and discipleship training. In contrast, the church here is really “behind the times”. However, it is in this quaint and isolated countryside that the purest and most simple faith in the gospel has been passed down from generation to generation by local Christians.
- Translated by Charlie Li
最近一次走访中，我同一位县级教会的青年传道聊起了其教会聚会的现状，他们市全年365天的晚场聚会从来没停过。
这一华北地市以条件艰苦的山区而为人所熟知。但就在这片艰难贫瘠的土壤中，福音结出了美丽的果实。自上世纪八十年代恢复聚会至今，其基督徒数量更是高居各地市榜首。
19世纪末福音传入时，相较周边的交通便利、人口繁盛的要塞城市，这里位置偏僻，地势复杂，民生凋敝。于是，传教士仅仅只是在老城里设立了一座小小的传教分站便匆匆离开，此后十余年间便很少再度涉足当地。
“生存越是艰难，肉体越是穷乏，我们这里的百姓对于灵魂的得救和新生的盼望就越是渴求。”牧者说。因此，当纯正的福音则借着许多巡回布道的华人牧者及布道家走进了这个偏僻的山区时，困苦中呻吟的灵魂中的渴慕，如同星火燎原一般被瞬间点燃。
四十年代初期，培灵会、布道会在当地各县遍地开花。许多民众在本村听完道后仍不满足，翻山越岭步行数十华里前往邻乡邻县聆听布道。清晨傍晚、殡葬嫁娶……一时间，乡野农村大大小小各样活动，各个时段都成为真道话语涌流的舞台。
牧师表示，但据他所知，很多老信徒一回忆起往昔，最普遍的回答就是觉得听道好，白天听完晚上还想听。
艰苦贫乏的山区岁月早已成为往事，当地早在十几年前就扔掉了积贫积弱的破帽子，还成为跻身全省生产总值前五的地市。
当年那些火热听道敬拜的身影也逐渐老去甚至消逝，但热烈的属灵氛围却始终没有消散。各城各乡一场场的聚会演变成为了整个地区的“敬拜习俗”，并融入了当地基督徒的生活轨迹之中。
那位青年传道向我介绍，从八十年代恢复聚会起，绝大多数在县城工作居住的基督徒，下班之后的第一件事不是回家，而是先去教会参加晚礼拜，听完道聚完会才回去吃晚饭。
然而好几位牧者也表示，比起邻近的兄弟教会，自己教会目前的聚会活动还远远谈不上“充实”。其中一位牧者介绍，在主城区近郊的某教会，除了全年无休的晚礼拜以外，甚至连晨祷和中午的赞美会也是从不间断。“他们教会老年信徒比较多，可以做起来。我们这里很多信徒要上班，时间上比较难。”他说，“不过在我们这里，弟兄姊妹每天都要跟神的话语亲近，少一天也不行。”
在东晋文学家陶渊明的《桃花源记》中，曾讲述了一位渔人误入一片与世隔绝的世外桃源的故事，桃花源中的百姓生活与外界恍如异世，在没有战乱纷扰的环境下过着怡然自乐的生活。而在此次的走访中，我也深深地感受到了如同进入属灵的桃花源一般的体验。
牧者们介绍，在当地，由于绝大多数都是县级以下规模的基层教会，因此教会在证道内容方面并不会特别强调精深化与系统性，而更多是以接地气且与信徒生活相关的话语为主。“信徒能用话语去解答生活中许多问题难处，所以大家也不觉得听道是个无聊的事情。不用教会督促，他们很自觉就来参加聚会了，”一位传道说。
诚然，许多大型及新兴教会如今都已在真道进深、精细牧养以及门徒训练上卓有成效。与之相比，这里的教会实在是有些“落伍”。然而正是在这片仿佛与世隔绝的古朴乡土之间，对于福音最纯粹朴素的信心却在一代又一代基督徒的薪火相传中，被延续了下来。
这片属灵“桃花源”让我见识到了返璞归真的火热与信心
I recently talked with a young pastor who is from a county church that I learned about its present situation that for 365 days all year round, its evening service never stops.
The northern county is known for its complicated mountainous surface and poor conditions. However, in this difficult and barren soil, the gospel booms. Since the resumption of church services in the 1980s, the number of local Christians has topped the list in cities in the province.
When the gospel was introduced at the end of the 19th century, the county was remote, cratered, and poor. Its neighboring fortress cities, on the other hand, were convenient, prosperous, and populous. As a result, the missionaries just set up a small missionary station there and seemed to have left hurriedly. After that, they rarely set foot in the area again for more than ten years.
The pastor said, “The harder it is to survive and the poorer the flesh is, the more eager the people here are for the salvation of the soul and for the hope of being born again.” Therefore, when the pure gospel entered this remote mountainous area through many Chinese pastors and preachers, the groaning souls were widely awakened like a single spark starting a prairie fire.
In the early 1940s, Christian training and preaching blossomed everywhere in the local counties. Many people were still not satisfied after attending their local services, however. So, they walked dozens of miles over the mountains for sermons in neighboring villages or counties. No matter when, where, or what people did, the gospel spread out everywhere at every time—the truth simply flowed freely.
The pastor said that when many elderly believers recalled the past, the most frequent answer he got was that they had felt good about the sermons and eagerly wanted to listen to them day and night.
The hard and poor years have long been history. As early as ten years ago, local poverty was alleviated, and the county has become one of the top five cities in the province’s GDP.
The passionate elderly believers are vanishing, but the warm spiritual atmosphere never dissipates. In the whole region, gathering services in cities and townships have evolved into “worship custom” and have been integrated into the daily lives of local Christians.
The young pastor told me that since the resumption of churches in the 1980s, most Christians do not go home after work. Instead, they go to churches for evening services and return home for dinner later.
However, several pastors pointed out that, compared with the neighboring brother churches, the current situation of their own churches is far from "ample”. One of the pastors said that in a church in the suburbs of a main city, except for the night worship all year round, the morning prayer and the praise meetings at noon are never stopped. “The elderly believers in their churches are relatively more so; it is doable. Many believers here have to work, and scheduling is difficult.” He said, “But here, brothers and sisters should be close to God’s word every day, not for a day.”
In the "Peach Blossom Spring", written by Tao Yuanming (365–427 AD), a writer in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there was a story about a fisherman who strayed into an isolated paradise. The people there lived as if they were different from the outside world. They had a happy life without the disturbance of war. During my visit to the county, I also deeply felt that I was entering the spiritual peach blossom spring.
The pastors said that in the local area, because most of them are grass-roots churches below the county level, the church does not particularly emphasize the deepening and systematization in the content of the sermon but is more grounded and related to the lives of believers. “Believers can use words to solve many problems and difficulties in life, so people don’t think listening to the word is boring. They come to the services consciously without being urged by the church,” said a pastor.
It is true that many large and emerging churches have achieved fruitful results in deepening the truth, intensive pastoral care, and discipleship training. In contrast, the church here is really “behind the times”. However, it is in this quaint and isolated countryside that the purest and most simple faith in the gospel has been passed down from generation to generation by local Christians.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Feature: 'Left-Behind' County Church Offers Evening Services All the Year Around
