Brother An Xiaoguang (pseudonym) is a post-70s professional accountant who runs his own accounting company in City A in Eastern China; he is also a Christian who serves the church zealously.
Recently, he told the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper, about his journey to faith as well as his struggles and victories at work. This narrative below is in the first person:
In the first stage, I came to faith and was baptized in a church in 2002. I was studying for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at that time, and a fellow schoolmate gave me a Bible as a present; he also took me to a wedding that was held in a church’s chapel. I found the ceremony very solemn and holy. Later, he gave me another Bible, but I didn't start to read it right away after getting it.
At that time, I lived relatively close to that church, so I started to attend the Sunday services there. I was hoping to get baptized, but the reception staff told me that I first needed to attend the church service every week, and then I could receive baptism after one year.
That church offered Bible study classes as well as other believer development activities and fellowship meetings. After getting into faith, I learned about how Christians should practice their faith, such as not lying, yet I found that it was very challenging to apply such a practice to my actual work; it was especially easy to fall into empty talk when it comes to business transactions. Therefore, for seven to eight years, I was only a “Sunday Christian."
It wasn't until 2010 that a friend introduced me to a church that encourages small-group fellowship. At that time, I had read a book named "Song of a Wanderer," and the systematic expositions that it made from a scientific point of view dispelled many doubts and much uncertainty in my thinking. From being only curious about faith, I began to enter into the life of the Lord.
Moreover, I received excellent guidance on marriage, and I met a Christian sister who became my wife. I also gave my father a Bible and my younger brother, who is a musician, a hymn book. Later, I sent them copies of the book "Song of a Wanderer." My father was a teacher, and after reading the Bible, he indicated on his own that he would like to come to faith; later on, my younger brother also became a Christian.
I majored in accounting at the university and later completed an MBA. Our company’s core business is accounting, and we provide our customers with corresponding services, namely, consulting in accounting and taxation, including business registration and financial and tax consultations. In addition, we provide some extended services, such as company registration, equity change registration, and so on, as well as other tax and accounting services like agency bookkeeping. Our company has been established for more than ten years; I came to City A in 1998 and had already started my career when I came to faith, and it has been almost 20 years now.
In many of the companies I have come into contact with, employment fraud is very common. Before one joins the company, the employer will paint them a rosy picture; but once they get in, they find the company is actually in a bad state, and many things are just smoke and mirrors. However, in my company, we have never deceived our employees.
In the journey of faith, my inner life has also been transformed; I used to like going to those entertainment venues for drinks and dancing, but I am no longer interested in these later on.
As for my career, before I came to Christ, I firmly believed that, in order to develop an enterprise and operate a business, not only must you let more people know about you, but you must also boast of your corporate strength. However, I decided to ignore this rule of the game after I had become more mature in Christ, and in spite of that, in the process of relying on the Lord, I have achieved the accomplishment I wanted.
Furthermore, I began to quit all work-related social events, putting an end to popular and effective methods, from treating guests and giving gifts to paying for advertising traffic on Baidu.
Now that I am a Christian, I have faith in the Lord’s grace when building relationships with our clients. Therefore, since 2010, my company has basically not adopted any traditional sales practices, nor have we done any sales advertising; we only rely on the word of mouth of the clients. Every client has both casual and complex needs. In many cases, when you establish a trustworthy relationship with the client through his casual needs, it may trigger him to put forward his more complex needs so we can provide him with more sophisticated services. If the client approves of our services, he will introduce his friends to us, so there is no need for us to do online auction advertising.
As for business marketing, I insist on following my own method without the help of a sales department. I also refuse to offer another party some actual benefits in the form of bribery. At that time, I was not very firm and had deviated on this matter. During that period, although I had become a Christian, I still offered bribes. But then, I found that I did not experience anything good after bribing. Before I repented on this issue, I started to be convinced that someone could offer me protection in my work through bribery, so I would get very bold after paying a bribe. As a consequence, I got the worst of it. Nevertheless, as I continue to grow, I have completely put an end to giving bribes. I learn to rely on God when I run my company, as God will sufficiently supply my every need.
- Translated by Joyce Leung
安晓光（化名）弟兄，是一位70后职业会计师，他在华东A市经营一家自己的会计公司，同时也是一个热心事奉教会的基督徒。
日前，他告诉一中国网络基督教报纸基督时报 他信主的历程和在职场上的挣扎与得胜。
第一个阶段，我是在2002年一个教堂受洗信主的。当时我在读工商管理的MBA，在那里有一个校友他送给我一本圣经，他又带我到教堂的礼拜堂去参加婚礼。我觉得很庄严，很圣洁。后来他又送给我一本圣经，我当时拿回来也并没有马上开始读。
那个时候我住的离这个教堂比较近，开始去这里去参加礼拜，想要受洗。接待人员说你先从每周来做礼拜开始，一年以后可以受洗。
这个教堂有查经班，也有其他一些信徒栽培和信徒交流活动。接触信仰以后，我就了解了基督徒实践信仰之类的信息，比如 ，不能撒谎之类的，但我发现在应用于实际工作当中，挑战很多的。尤其在商业交往中，容易夸夸其谈。有七八年的时间，我成为了主日基督徒。
直到 2010年的一个朋友，他带我进入到一个小组式、团契式的教会之中。那个时候，我读了一本《游子吟》，它从科学的角度进行系统的论述，打消了我思想上的很多的疑虑和怀疑。我从对信仰的好奇，开始进入到了主的生命之中。
在婚姻上，我也得到了很好的教导，我也遇到了一个基督徒姊妹做自己的伴侣。我送了圣经给我的父亲，给我弟弟送赞美诗歌本。因为我弟弟是学音乐的。后来我把《游子吟》寄给他们。我父亲是一名教师，他后面看了圣经之后自己主动提出来，要信主，我弟弟后面也信了。
我在大学是学会计专业的，后面又读工商管理MBA。我们公司主要是以会计专业为核心，为客户提供相应的服务。就是会计税务方面的顾问代理，帮别人公司注册财税顾问。另外还有一些延伸性的服务，公司注册，股权变更等等。在会计税务方面的代理记账这些。我们公司从成立到现在是十几年， 我98 年来到A市的，我从初信开始，那个时候已经在职场了，已经快20年了。
在我接触到的很多公司欺骗员工的行为也很普遍的。一开始还没有进去的时候，他会给你画很大的饼，你进去以后会发现其实公司很衰，很多事情是骗人的。但在我的公司里面，我们从来都没有发生欺骗员工的行为。
信仰的过程中，我内在的生命改变后，我曾经喜欢去那些娱乐场合的，喝酒跳舞之类的，后来对这些就不感兴趣了。
在职场上，信主之前，我坚信，要发展企业经营业务，既要去让更多的人知道你，又要去吹嘘自己的企业实力。但是信主生命成长之后，我放弃了这个游戏规则。反而在依靠主的过程中，我也获得了想要的成就。
我开始放弃应酬从请客送礼，到花钱在百度上买广告流量，这些大行其道的有效方式。
现在成为基督徒 ，我都是依靠主的恩典，去建立客户关系。所以从2010年后，基本上我的公司就没有传统的销售方式了，也没有做销售广告了，都是靠着客户口碑相传。因为每一个客户，他有浅层次的需求，也有深层次的需求。很多时候，通过浅层次的需求，你给他建立可靠的信用关系。触发他更深层次的需求，我们就可以给他提供更深层次的服务。他认可我的服务，他就会把他的朋友给你介绍，这样不需要去网上做竞价广告。
在职场营销方面，我坚持自己的营销方式，不需要销售部门，放弃行贿这种给对方一些实际利益的方式。我当时在这个事情上还不是很坚定，还是游离的。在那期间我信主以后也去行贿过的，我发现行贿都没有经历到什么好事情。我未在这个问题上悔改前，因为工作的需要，我开始会觉得跟某人行贿了，就觉得有谁可以保你。事情成就后，我的胆子会很大，最后就吃亏了。但后期，我的生命成长，就彻底的杜绝这个行贿的行为，学习依靠神来经营自己的公司，神都会给我充足的供应。
故事｜一华东弟兄在职场中活出正直的生命
Brother An Xiaoguang (pseudonym) is a post-70s professional accountant who runs his own accounting company in City A in Eastern China; he is also a Christian who serves the church zealously.
Recently, he told the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper, about his journey to faith as well as his struggles and victories at work. This narrative below is in the first person:
In the first stage, I came to faith and was baptized in a church in 2002. I was studying for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at that time, and a fellow schoolmate gave me a Bible as a present; he also took me to a wedding that was held in a church’s chapel. I found the ceremony very solemn and holy. Later, he gave me another Bible, but I didn't start to read it right away after getting it.
At that time, I lived relatively close to that church, so I started to attend the Sunday services there. I was hoping to get baptized, but the reception staff told me that I first needed to attend the church service every week, and then I could receive baptism after one year.
That church offered Bible study classes as well as other believer development activities and fellowship meetings. After getting into faith, I learned about how Christians should practice their faith, such as not lying, yet I found that it was very challenging to apply such a practice to my actual work; it was especially easy to fall into empty talk when it comes to business transactions. Therefore, for seven to eight years, I was only a “Sunday Christian."
It wasn't until 2010 that a friend introduced me to a church that encourages small-group fellowship. At that time, I had read a book named "Song of a Wanderer," and the systematic expositions that it made from a scientific point of view dispelled many doubts and much uncertainty in my thinking. From being only curious about faith, I began to enter into the life of the Lord.
Moreover, I received excellent guidance on marriage, and I met a Christian sister who became my wife. I also gave my father a Bible and my younger brother, who is a musician, a hymn book. Later, I sent them copies of the book "Song of a Wanderer." My father was a teacher, and after reading the Bible, he indicated on his own that he would like to come to faith; later on, my younger brother also became a Christian.
I majored in accounting at the university and later completed an MBA. Our company’s core business is accounting, and we provide our customers with corresponding services, namely, consulting in accounting and taxation, including business registration and financial and tax consultations. In addition, we provide some extended services, such as company registration, equity change registration, and so on, as well as other tax and accounting services like agency bookkeeping. Our company has been established for more than ten years; I came to City A in 1998 and had already started my career when I came to faith, and it has been almost 20 years now.
In many of the companies I have come into contact with, employment fraud is very common. Before one joins the company, the employer will paint them a rosy picture; but once they get in, they find the company is actually in a bad state, and many things are just smoke and mirrors. However, in my company, we have never deceived our employees.
In the journey of faith, my inner life has also been transformed; I used to like going to those entertainment venues for drinks and dancing, but I am no longer interested in these later on.
As for my career, before I came to Christ, I firmly believed that, in order to develop an enterprise and operate a business, not only must you let more people know about you, but you must also boast of your corporate strength. However, I decided to ignore this rule of the game after I had become more mature in Christ, and in spite of that, in the process of relying on the Lord, I have achieved the accomplishment I wanted.
Furthermore, I began to quit all work-related social events, putting an end to popular and effective methods, from treating guests and giving gifts to paying for advertising traffic on Baidu.
Now that I am a Christian, I have faith in the Lord’s grace when building relationships with our clients. Therefore, since 2010, my company has basically not adopted any traditional sales practices, nor have we done any sales advertising; we only rely on the word of mouth of the clients. Every client has both casual and complex needs. In many cases, when you establish a trustworthy relationship with the client through his casual needs, it may trigger him to put forward his more complex needs so we can provide him with more sophisticated services. If the client approves of our services, he will introduce his friends to us, so there is no need for us to do online auction advertising.
As for business marketing, I insist on following my own method without the help of a sales department. I also refuse to offer another party some actual benefits in the form of bribery. At that time, I was not very firm and had deviated on this matter. During that period, although I had become a Christian, I still offered bribes. But then, I found that I did not experience anything good after bribing. Before I repented on this issue, I started to be convinced that someone could offer me protection in my work through bribery, so I would get very bold after paying a bribe. As a consequence, I got the worst of it. Nevertheless, as I continue to grow, I have completely put an end to giving bribes. I learn to rely on God when I run my company, as God will sufficiently supply my every need.
- Translated by Joyce Leung
Story: Christian Accountant Strives to Stay Upright at His Work
