Editor's note: A pastor's family witnessed the Chinese church's development in the past 30 years. During the one-hour testimony, the wife shared how God raised up a group of young people who loved and devoted themselves to Him. The couple completely abandoned themselves to work for God, and built threshing floors everywhere under financial difficulties, so that more and more people later heard and accepted the gospel. Her personal testimony also provides a glance into how the Chinese church has grown under the guidance of God.
The following is the wife's experience of her faith journey and ministry in the first-person narrative.
1. Initial acquaintance with the gospel
I was born in 1976 and turned to Jesus at the age of 17. That was the era of the gospel revival. In the countryside, during cold winter time, pastors often toured around various villages singing hymns while beating gongs and drums to attract villagers.
Thinking they were performing acrobatics, we all ran out to watch them for fun. They sang the lyrics of hymns, but in all kinds of tunes and musical genres such as pop, Northeast China Duo Turn, Qu Opera and Henan Opera. The lyrics were often to comfort people, especially the elderly. Later, they began to talk about the current world with respect to what happens to those who believe in God and to those who don’t. Only then we knew that they were Christians. The lyrics were very well written, which is why we all loved listening to them.
After they finished their performance, they asked those who wanted to believe in Jesus to raise their hands. Then we went to a family where I followed a lady older than me to kneel down and pray. She asked me if I had hated or scolded anyone before, saying that these were all sins. She said that as long as I was willing to believe in Jesus and repent, He would forgive my sins. We just got down on our knees and prayed our resolutions. Afterwards, she told me, "Today you are God’s child." I just believed it.
2. Serving with pastors
Since I came to faith, I enjoyed following the pastors everywhere to listen to sermons, during which I helped carry their backpacks, and I especially liked singing hymns with them. Three months after I started touring with them, I began teaching others to sing. Then someone read the Bible to me, and my mind was shaken by it. Because I didn't really understand, I was afraid when I heard about the lake of fire and sulfur. Later, when I got a copy of the Bible and started reading it, I gradually realized that I was a sinner. Afterwards, I couldn't help crying when listening to sermons.
Soon, the pastors found that I could pass on the message I heard in the meetings to others, so they deliberately raised me as a "seed" disciple. At that time, I followed the pastors wherever they went.
3. Accepting the calling
I was baptized in 1993. Soon after, the church called unmarried young people to do the mission across the region, whilst married believers were allowed to serve in the local area.
At that time, rural people got engaged at a young age. Before I became a Christian, my parents had already got me engaged and received a betrothal gift. However, I only met my fiancé once or twice a year. I was so eager to serve with other staff, so I asked my parents to end my engagement.
My parents didn't agree at first, but finally ended it when they saw my firm attitude. Since then, I have embarked on a missionary path on which I walked from a small pastoral area to a large mission, and then joined a fellowship, from my hometown to the county, and then across counties and provinces.
From receiving the call in 1994 to 2000, I have been doing the mission on the threshing floor, traveling across the country.
In those days, life was really hard. On the one hand, the body suffered. The allowance for each mission trip was usually only 500 yuan which in fact could only cover travel expenses. Sometimes there were no more seats available on the green-skin trains, so we had to stand for more than 20 hours. It would be better if we could find a host family. Some hostesses bought us toothbrushes, and gave us their children's clothes to wear. Sometimes, without a host family to stay with, we might have to suffer hunger, and even sleep under a bridge in snowy winter time. Sometimes, a single female Christian's pocket money for a year was only a few yuan.
On the other hand, our hearts suffered too when there were also unbelievers in the host families. Some of them were unfriendly because they did not understand, so we even didn’t dare to eat enough when staying with them. Some people misunderstood and considered us a heretical cult, for which they either showed a very cynical attitude, or even reported us to the police.
We shared the faith and prayed for the local people in the love of Christ. Healing conferences were also held during the revival. Under better circumstances, thousands of people attended, and many of them were healed. Speaking of missionary experiences, I remembered Sister Ruth’s (Xiaomin) Canaan Hymns, one of which was called "Not That I Don’t Have a Home".
In those years, I experienced unimaginable suffering to ordinary people, but also many miracles: the blind saw, the mute spoke, and the lame walked. At that time, the work of the Holy Spirit was very powerful. Once at a healing conference in the Northeast, a patient who had been paralyzed for many years came to us to pray. At first, I just encouraged him to build up his faith in words. When seeing that he truly believed in the Lord’s power, we kept declaring in God’s name that the disease was healed. In that moment, the spiritual battle was so fierce that we couldn’t speak after praying. But we saw with our own eyes that the elder man was healed from being unable to walk at all to trying to walk with a cane. Then he put down the crutches little by little and walked, from swaying like a toddler, until finally he could walk steadily. When the miracle happened, the people of the whole village came to Christ.
4. Being equipped with the truth
In 2000, the teachers realized an important problem that most of us who had been running on the threshing field all year round joined the ministry not long after we left school. Most of us had only finished junior high school and had not been equipped with much truth. Therefore, teachers of the team developed a training plan. Some were selected from people on the ministry to focus on studying high school and college courses and obtain corresponding academic certificates. We especially needed to learn English from the basics. I am very grateful that the teachers trained us rigorously in those years, so that I have not only obtained a college degree, but also some other professional certificates. From 2000 to 2004, I was equipped to take the college courses and teach seminary students theology courses at the same time.
5. Entering marriage
In the first four years of our mission, we young pastors were determined not to fall in love, but to serve wholeheartedly. After that, the leading teachers said that we could consider marriage. At this time, there was also a problem, that is, there were many female believers in the church and few male believers. I thought that since there was no suitable partner, I would just continue serving. I got married when I was 29 years old.
Pastor L (pseudonym) and I have become acquainted since doing the ministry in the Northeast, when we worked together for some time while serving there. But only until 2004, when I was returning from Kunming to Shenzhen to visit my family via Guangzhou where L was based, someone set up a date for us and we got into a relationship, after which we gave out love candies (confections symbolizing a serious romantic relationship) to families and friends. In January 2005, I married L who was three years younger than me. Although he came from a poor family without a handsome appearance, L had a deep inner life. Besides, our personalities could complement each other in life and ministries.
6. Doing the mission in a factory
One month after we got married, Pastor L and I were sent by the church to a southern manufacturing city to do a mission in a factory.
The ministry in a factory is to preach in a factory owned by a Christian. The owner supported us in promoting the culture of Christ's love in the factory, and also paid us a very low salary. Other than that, there was no more support. We ate with the staff in the office at noon and with the workers at night. In order to attract people to listen to the gospel and to be more accessible for Christian believers, we didn’t live in the dormitory provided by the factory but rented a place outside.
A few months later, we grew new members from two to five. By November, 11 people had been baptized, some of whom were also from outside the factory.
Our eldest daughter was born in February 2006. Church gatherings held outside the factory were growing steadily. At this time, we had to raise our child and manage the church expenses. The financial pressure was increasing, but the salary remained at only one thousand yuan per month which was delayed sometimes. There was a period that I went to the farmer’s market every day to collect vegetable leaves. We ate the good ones and fed the bad ones to the chickens.
In 2012, the factory that supported us went through ups and downs, and finally declared its closure. Our only financial supply was completely cut off. It was also a critical period for the construction of the church. We had no support or nothing to rely on. L and I could only cry and pray to God, day and night. In the end, God finally opened the way, we dedicated the church successfully. After a few years we paid off all our debts.
After the church was built, we slowly began to expand to the surrounding areas. By 2013, the church had established meeting points in several locations.
Starting in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic surged and affected many churches that suffered a serious loss of members due to the lack of pastoring and care for believers. However, since the church where we work has been doing pastoral care in small groups and various spiritual improvement courses in advance, our believers have not been greatly affected during the epidemic.
7. Regrets along the path of mission
Looking back on the past missionary experience, I also have regrets. This road is very difficult. There were some people who took on the journey with us, but later retreated because of difficulties and weakness. When we were sent out, we needed to be completely independent, like children who had left parents and started a family independently and could no longer rely on their parents. Other than the lessons taught by our teachers, we had nothing, let alone financial support. When we were in a new place, we had to explore everything by ourselves, praying while moving forward. When encountering the real difficulties and various attacks, some people couldn’t carry on and inevitably fell behind. Thinking of these people who were left behind, we were sad. If we could provide more help and support, they might not drop out. But that was a special period, a pioneer period. The situation is much better now, not the same as before.
Afterword
The testimony of the wife is simple but full of affection. We can see that hymns significantly influenced that generation of Christians, the pastors in the 1990s endured hardship, sacrificed and devoted themselves in their lives, and a group of young people handed over the sovereignty of marriage to Him. Some people "immigrated" to a completely new city (or village) to spread the gospel, regarded it as their hometown where they planted themselves as a grain of wheat that bore rich fruits.
Appendix
Not That I Don’t Have a Home, Hymn written by Xiaomin
Not that I don't have a home or miss it,
But there are still many people drifting in the world.
We also have a home, and we also miss it,
But there are still many people drifting in the world.
My family, don't worry about me,
Now we pack up and get ready to depart again.
Do not worry about walking alone, the Lord is our companion,
The Holy Spirit guides every part of the world, and the four seas are home.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
笔者按：最近有幸拜访了一个牧师家庭，牧师安静沉稳，师母直爽健谈。在师母一个小时的见证中，笔者几次落泪，听完不得不感恩上帝在那个年代兴起这样一批爱主、为主完全摆上的青年。他们完全舍弃自己，为主奔跑，到处开拓禾场，才有了后来越来越多的人听到并接受福音。他们是上帝给中国教会的财富。师母的个人见证也是中国教会成长和发展的一段见证，从这里我们看到上帝带领中国教会发展的一个侧面。
以下是这位师母信仰和服事的经历。
1，初识福音
我是76年出生，17岁信主。那个年代是福音复兴的年代。在农村，寒冬腊月的时候，常常有传道人敲锣打鼓在各个村庄唱诗歌吸引村民。
我们都以为是玩杂技的，就跑出来看热闹。他们唱歌，用流行乐，二人转，曲剧，豫剧，什么调都有，套用诗歌词。歌词常常是劝勉人的，劝公公劝婆婆。后来他们开始讲现今的世道，信主的怎么样，不信主的怎么样，才知道他们是信耶稣的。他们歌词写得特别好，我们都很爱听。
他们讲完就问，谁要信谁举手。接着我们就去了一个家庭，一个大姐带我跪下祷告，她问我从前恨过人没有，骂过人没有，说这些都是罪。她说只要愿意相信耶稣，悔改，祂就赦免你的罪。我们就跪下来，做决志祷告。祷告完她告诉我，“今天你就是上帝的儿女了”。我就这么简单地信了。
2，跟班服事
自从信了主，我就很喜欢跟着传道人到处听道，帮着传道人背包，尤其喜欢跟着唱诗歌。三个月的时候我已经开始教人唱诗歌了。后来有人翻圣经给我读，我的思想受到震撼。因为不懂，听到硫磺火湖就害怕。再后来自己得到一本圣经，开始读，慢慢认识到自己是个罪人，再听讲道，就忍不住想哭。
不久传道人发现我可以把聚会里听的信息转述给别人，他们就有意把我当做一个“苗子”来培养。那时候传道人走哪我就跟到哪。
3，接受呼召
我是一九九三年受洗，不久，教会呼召一批人跨地区宣教，但要求是未婚青年，让已婚信徒留在本地服事。
那个时代农村孩子定亲都很早，我在没信主的时候家里已经给定亲了。虽然定亲了，收了彩礼，但是一年只见过一两次。我自己太渴望跟着大家一起去服事，就跟父母说要退亲。
父母开始不同意，但看到我的态度坚决，就去帮我把亲退了。我从此踏上了宣教的道路。我从一个小的牧区到了大的差会，然后进入团契，从本乡到县城，然后跨县跨省。
从一九九四年接受呼召，一直到二〇〇〇年，我一直在宣教的禾场里，走过大江南北。
那个时候是真的苦，一方面肉体受苦，出发的时候费用一般只有500元钱，其实除掉路费几乎不剩什么了，有时候坐绿皮火车买不到坐票，要站二十几个小时。去了一个地方如果找到接待家庭还好一点，有的阿姨会给买牙刷，阿姨家孩子的衣服也拿出来给我们穿。如果找不到接待家庭，也会有吃不饱饭的情况，也有冰天雪地睡桥洞等类似的经历。有时，一个单身姐妹一年的零花钱竟然只有几元钱。
另一方面还要承受心灵的苦，接待家庭也有未信主的成员。有的不理解，会给脸色，所以住在接待家庭也不敢吃饱饭；还有人误解，认为是异端邪教，轻的冷嘲热讽，严重的会举报。
我们本着基督的爱为当地的人分享信仰，为他们祷告。复兴的时候也做医治大会，多的时候有上千人参加，许多人来得到了医治。讲到宣教的经历，就想起小敏姐妹的《迦南诗歌》， 例如小敏姐妹那首《不是没有家》
在那几年，我经历了常人难以想象的苦，但也经历了很多神迹奇事：瞎子看见、哑巴说话、瘸子行走。那个年代，圣灵的工作非常强，有一次在东北做医治大会，一个瘫痪多年的病人来找我们祷告，开始我只是给他话语，鼓励他建立信心，当看到他真的相信主的能力的时候，我们就不断地奉主的名宣告疾病得医治，记得当时的属灵争战很大，祷告完嗓子都不能说话，但是我们亲眼看到老人一点点从完全不能走，到尝试拿拐杖走路，然后一点点放下拐杖走，像小孩子学走路一样从晃晃悠悠，到最后可以稳步行走。那个神迹出来，全村的人都信主了。
4，装备真理
二〇〇〇年的时候，老师们发现了一个重要的问题：我们这些常年在禾场奔跑的人，大多数是从学校出来没有多久就参加了服事。这些人大部分是初中文化，没有受过多少真理的装备。于是团队老师做了一个培养计划：从这些服事的人中挑选出一些人集中学习。包括高中课程，大学课程，还要拿到相应的学历证书。尤其是英文，需要从基础开始学。我非常感谢那几年老师们严格地训练了我们，我自己不仅获得了大学学历，也获得了一些其他方面的专业证书。从二OOO年到二OO四年是我的装备期，我可以一边学习高校课程，一边教导神学生神学课程。
5，进入婚姻
在被派遣宣教的前四年，我们这些年轻的传道人是立志不谈恋爱、一心服事的。四年之后，带领的老师们说我们可以考虑婚姻了。这个时候也出现了一个问题，就是教会里姐妹多，弟兄少。我觉得既然没有合适的，就继续服事就好，我29岁才结婚。
我和L牧师早在东北宣教的时候就认识了，在东北服事的时候同工过一段时间。但是直到二OO四年，我在从昆明回深圳探亲，路过L牧师所在的广州，才被人撮合发了拖糖（确定恋爱关系的喜糖）。于二OO五年一月与比我小三岁的L牧师结婚。牧师虽然家境贫寒，外表也不突出，但是牧师的内在生命很深厚，而且我们两个人的性格在生活和侍奉中更可以互补。
6，工厂宣教
我们婚后一个月就被教会差派，我和L牧师一起来到南方的一个以制造业为主的城市做工厂宣教。
工厂宣教，就是来到一个基督徒老板的工厂，老板支持我们在工厂做宣传基督爱的文化的工作，也会给我们微薄的工资。除此之外再没有别的支持。我们中午跟办公室的人一起吃饭，晚上跟工人一起吃饭。而为了吸引人听福音，方便接待和关怀弟兄姐妹，我们放弃了工厂提供的宿舍，出到工厂外面租房子住。
几个月后，工厂宣教从2突破到5，到11月份，就有11个人参加洗礼了，并且蔓延到厂子之外。
二OO六年二月我们的大女儿出生，教会在厂外的聚会也在稳步发展。这时候既要供养孩子，又要维持教会开支，经济压力越来越大，而工资却始终维持在一千元每月，有时候工资还要延后。有段时间我天天去菜市场捡菜叶，好的我们会自己留着吃，不好的喂鸡。
到了二O一二年，支持我们的工厂几经辗转，最终宣布结业，仅有的供应也彻底断掉。那段时间又正是建堂的关键时期，我们没有任何依靠和支援，牧师和我只能日夜流泪祷告呼求上帝。最后上帝终于开了出路，我们顺利献堂，几年之后还清了所有债务。
教会建立起来之后，我们慢慢开始往周边地区扩展。到二O一三年，教会已经在几个地方建立了聚会点。
二O二O年之后，疫情来临，很多教会受疫情影响，信徒牧养和关怀的缺失导致信徒流失严重。但是我和牧师所在的教会因为提前做好了小组牧养和各种灵命提升课程，在疫情当中信徒没有受到太大影响。
七，途中遗憾
回顾过去的宣教经历，师母也有遗憾，她说：“这条路很艰难，曾经也有一些人跟我们一起奔跑，后来却因困难软弱退后了。因为我们被派遣出去的时候，是需要完全自立的，就好像离开父母独立成家的孩子，不能再依靠父母了。除了老师教给我们的课程，我们什么都没有，更没有经济的支持。我们在一个新的地方，一切都是自己摸索，祷告着前行。现实的难处和各种攻击过来的时候，有些人承受不住不免会掉队。想到这些掉队的人，我们很难过，如果能多一点帮助，多一点支持，他们可能就不会掉队。不过这是一个特殊的时期，是开拓期，现在好很多，跟以前不一样了。”
结语
师母的见证朴实却充满深情。笔者看到了诗歌对于那一代基督徒的影响；看到了90年代的传道人那种吃苦、舍己、奉献的生活；看到了曾经的一批年轻人将婚姻的主权交给祂；看到一些人为了福音“移民”到一个完全陌生的城市（或农村），从此把那里当做自己的家乡，把自己当成一粒麦子种下去；也看到了丰硕的果实。
附 小敏姐妹那首《不是没有家》——
”不是没有家，不是不想家，
只是还有很多的人，漂流在天涯。
我们也有家，我们也想家，
只是还有很多的人，漂流在天涯。
我的家人，别把我牵挂，
现在我们背上行装准备又出发。
不愁独行，主为伴，
圣灵引导天各一方，四海都是家。“
故事|一位牧者从少女到中年的服事历程：教会发展的一个侧面
Editor's note: A pastor's family witnessed the Chinese church's development in the past 30 years. During the one-hour testimony, the wife shared how God raised up a group of young people who loved and devoted themselves to Him. The couple completely abandoned themselves to work for God, and built threshing floors everywhere under financial difficulties, so that more and more people later heard and accepted the gospel. Her personal testimony also provides a glance into how the Chinese church has grown under the guidance of God.
The following is the wife's experience of her faith journey and ministry in the first-person narrative.
1. Initial acquaintance with the gospel
I was born in 1976 and turned to Jesus at the age of 17. That was the era of the gospel revival. In the countryside, during cold winter time, pastors often toured around various villages singing hymns while beating gongs and drums to attract villagers.
Thinking they were performing acrobatics, we all ran out to watch them for fun. They sang the lyrics of hymns, but in all kinds of tunes and musical genres such as pop, Northeast China Duo Turn, Qu Opera and Henan Opera. The lyrics were often to comfort people, especially the elderly. Later, they began to talk about the current world with respect to what happens to those who believe in God and to those who don’t. Only then we knew that they were Christians. The lyrics were very well written, which is why we all loved listening to them.
After they finished their performance, they asked those who wanted to believe in Jesus to raise their hands. Then we went to a family where I followed a lady older than me to kneel down and pray. She asked me if I had hated or scolded anyone before, saying that these were all sins. She said that as long as I was willing to believe in Jesus and repent, He would forgive my sins. We just got down on our knees and prayed our resolutions. Afterwards, she told me, "Today you are God’s child." I just believed it.
2. Serving with pastors
Since I came to faith, I enjoyed following the pastors everywhere to listen to sermons, during which I helped carry their backpacks, and I especially liked singing hymns with them. Three months after I started touring with them, I began teaching others to sing. Then someone read the Bible to me, and my mind was shaken by it. Because I didn't really understand, I was afraid when I heard about the lake of fire and sulfur. Later, when I got a copy of the Bible and started reading it, I gradually realized that I was a sinner. Afterwards, I couldn't help crying when listening to sermons.
Soon, the pastors found that I could pass on the message I heard in the meetings to others, so they deliberately raised me as a "seed" disciple. At that time, I followed the pastors wherever they went.
3. Accepting the calling
I was baptized in 1993. Soon after, the church called unmarried young people to do the mission across the region, whilst married believers were allowed to serve in the local area.
At that time, rural people got engaged at a young age. Before I became a Christian, my parents had already got me engaged and received a betrothal gift. However, I only met my fiancé once or twice a year. I was so eager to serve with other staff, so I asked my parents to end my engagement.
My parents didn't agree at first, but finally ended it when they saw my firm attitude. Since then, I have embarked on a missionary path on which I walked from a small pastoral area to a large mission, and then joined a fellowship, from my hometown to the county, and then across counties and provinces.
From receiving the call in 1994 to 2000, I have been doing the mission on the threshing floor, traveling across the country.
In those days, life was really hard. On the one hand, the body suffered. The allowance for each mission trip was usually only 500 yuan which in fact could only cover travel expenses. Sometimes there were no more seats available on the green-skin trains, so we had to stand for more than 20 hours. It would be better if we could find a host family. Some hostesses bought us toothbrushes, and gave us their children's clothes to wear. Sometimes, without a host family to stay with, we might have to suffer hunger, and even sleep under a bridge in snowy winter time. Sometimes, a single female Christian's pocket money for a year was only a few yuan.
On the other hand, our hearts suffered too when there were also unbelievers in the host families. Some of them were unfriendly because they did not understand, so we even didn’t dare to eat enough when staying with them. Some people misunderstood and considered us a heretical cult, for which they either showed a very cynical attitude, or even reported us to the police.
We shared the faith and prayed for the local people in the love of Christ. Healing conferences were also held during the revival. Under better circumstances, thousands of people attended, and many of them were healed. Speaking of missionary experiences, I remembered Sister Ruth’s (Xiaomin) Canaan Hymns, one of which was called "Not That I Don’t Have a Home".
In those years, I experienced unimaginable suffering to ordinary people, but also many miracles: the blind saw, the mute spoke, and the lame walked. At that time, the work of the Holy Spirit was very powerful. Once at a healing conference in the Northeast, a patient who had been paralyzed for many years came to us to pray. At first, I just encouraged him to build up his faith in words. When seeing that he truly believed in the Lord’s power, we kept declaring in God’s name that the disease was healed. In that moment, the spiritual battle was so fierce that we couldn’t speak after praying. But we saw with our own eyes that the elder man was healed from being unable to walk at all to trying to walk with a cane. Then he put down the crutches little by little and walked, from swaying like a toddler, until finally he could walk steadily. When the miracle happened, the people of the whole village came to Christ.
4. Being equipped with the truth
In 2000, the teachers realized an important problem that most of us who had been running on the threshing field all year round joined the ministry not long after we left school. Most of us had only finished junior high school and had not been equipped with much truth. Therefore, teachers of the team developed a training plan. Some were selected from people on the ministry to focus on studying high school and college courses and obtain corresponding academic certificates. We especially needed to learn English from the basics. I am very grateful that the teachers trained us rigorously in those years, so that I have not only obtained a college degree, but also some other professional certificates. From 2000 to 2004, I was equipped to take the college courses and teach seminary students theology courses at the same time.
5. Entering marriage
In the first four years of our mission, we young pastors were determined not to fall in love, but to serve wholeheartedly. After that, the leading teachers said that we could consider marriage. At this time, there was also a problem, that is, there were many female believers in the church and few male believers. I thought that since there was no suitable partner, I would just continue serving. I got married when I was 29 years old.
Pastor L (pseudonym) and I have become acquainted since doing the ministry in the Northeast, when we worked together for some time while serving there. But only until 2004, when I was returning from Kunming to Shenzhen to visit my family via Guangzhou where L was based, someone set up a date for us and we got into a relationship, after which we gave out love candies (confections symbolizing a serious romantic relationship) to families and friends. In January 2005, I married L who was three years younger than me. Although he came from a poor family without a handsome appearance, L had a deep inner life. Besides, our personalities could complement each other in life and ministries.
6. Doing the mission in a factory
One month after we got married, Pastor L and I were sent by the church to a southern manufacturing city to do a mission in a factory.
The ministry in a factory is to preach in a factory owned by a Christian. The owner supported us in promoting the culture of Christ's love in the factory, and also paid us a very low salary. Other than that, there was no more support. We ate with the staff in the office at noon and with the workers at night. In order to attract people to listen to the gospel and to be more accessible for Christian believers, we didn’t live in the dormitory provided by the factory but rented a place outside.
A few months later, we grew new members from two to five. By November, 11 people had been baptized, some of whom were also from outside the factory.
Our eldest daughter was born in February 2006. Church gatherings held outside the factory were growing steadily. At this time, we had to raise our child and manage the church expenses. The financial pressure was increasing, but the salary remained at only one thousand yuan per month which was delayed sometimes. There was a period that I went to the farmer’s market every day to collect vegetable leaves. We ate the good ones and fed the bad ones to the chickens.
In 2012, the factory that supported us went through ups and downs, and finally declared its closure. Our only financial supply was completely cut off. It was also a critical period for the construction of the church. We had no support or nothing to rely on. L and I could only cry and pray to God, day and night. In the end, God finally opened the way, we dedicated the church successfully. After a few years we paid off all our debts.
After the church was built, we slowly began to expand to the surrounding areas. By 2013, the church had established meeting points in several locations.
Starting in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic surged and affected many churches that suffered a serious loss of members due to the lack of pastoring and care for believers. However, since the church where we work has been doing pastoral care in small groups and various spiritual improvement courses in advance, our believers have not been greatly affected during the epidemic.
7. Regrets along the path of mission
Looking back on the past missionary experience, I also have regrets. This road is very difficult. There were some people who took on the journey with us, but later retreated because of difficulties and weakness. When we were sent out, we needed to be completely independent, like children who had left parents and started a family independently and could no longer rely on their parents. Other than the lessons taught by our teachers, we had nothing, let alone financial support. When we were in a new place, we had to explore everything by ourselves, praying while moving forward. When encountering the real difficulties and various attacks, some people couldn’t carry on and inevitably fell behind. Thinking of these people who were left behind, we were sad. If we could provide more help and support, they might not drop out. But that was a special period, a pioneer period. The situation is much better now, not the same as before.
Afterword
The testimony of the wife is simple but full of affection. We can see that hymns significantly influenced that generation of Christians, the pastors in the 1990s endured hardship, sacrificed and devoted themselves in their lives, and a group of young people handed over the sovereignty of marriage to Him. Some people "immigrated" to a completely new city (or village) to spread the gospel, regarded it as their hometown where they planted themselves as a grain of wheat that bore rich fruits.
Appendix
Not That I Don’t Have a Home, Hymn written by Xiaomin
Not that I don't have a home or miss it,
But there are still many people drifting in the world.
We also have a home, and we also miss it,
But there are still many people drifting in the world.
My family, don't worry about me,
Now we pack up and get ready to depart again.
Do not worry about walking alone, the Lord is our companion,
The Holy Spirit guides every part of the world, and the four seas are home.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
Moving Testimony: Wife of Pastor Shares Ministry Journey From Being Teenage to Middle Age as Glance into Chinese Church Growth
