Pinglu County is located at the foot of Zhongtiao Mountain in the southeast of China's northern Shanxi Province. The mountain is the southern gate of the province. Although the county is small and mountainous, it is a corner blessed by God, with abundant testimonies.
During the Qingming Holiday, the two of us went all the way to Pinglu Church for an exclusive report.
When I first met Elder Xu Zhanguo, the head of the church, the first impression she gave me was that of a short and thin woman who was humble and simple, capable and persistent.
Elder Xu was a farmer who worked at home. She believed in the Lord in 1987 when she was eagerly seeking a "God of Justice" who upholds justice. When her neighbor first introduced her to the Lord, she mentioned that she would believe as long as there was justice. Unexpectedly, on just the next day, a fat pig she raised called out for food, so she brought dish-washing water to feed the pig; but the pig was soon dying and instead lay down. After a veterinarian examined it, he was surprised to find that the internal organs of the pig had stinking and rotten. It was so weird that the pig still called out for food. Then, a neighbor who was a Christian heard the news and helped her find the local deacon Zhao to pray for her. Not knowing what praying was, she imitated the deacon to pray for the first time in her life.
After the prayer, the deacon said that the pig should be entrusted to God to see how God might act. Although the pig was not saved, Xu found that there was a God faintly accompanying her, so she strengthened her faith and believed in the Lord no matter what.
After that, Xu, who was still not clear about the doctrine of Christianity, started to attend various churches’ services in the surrounding villages with faith and fellow believers.
"I would go wherever the church is no matter how far that could be", said the elder. Elder Xu became the seventh Christian in her hometown, Sanmen Town, Pinglu County, at that time. Because she had previously been working on home farming, her education level was not high, so she made many ridiculous jokes in the early days of her faith journey.
When she first listened to a sermon, she heard the pastor say "believers are sheep". She took it literally and truly believed that she would become a real lamb after listening to more Bible teachings. She was worried for a while until when she heard the words that "the Lord is a good shepherd and the believers are sheep. God will guide the sheep to the green pastures beside the stream", she realized that she was the Lord's spiritual lamb.
In November 1987, Pinglu County Church offered a baptism training course. Elder Xu was overjoyed when she heard the news. She carried food on her back and walked more than ten miles to the county to sign up for baptism. Unexpectedly, the brothers in charge of believer registration in the church thought she was unfit for baptism because they saw that she was skinny. So they found an excuse to make her return.
Elder Xu, who hit a wall for the first time, could not hide her feelings of forfeit and cried all the way home. In March of the following year, the county held a baptism training class again, and Xu once more went there and was rejected as usual.
After this repeated itself three times, her enthusiasm and confidence finally touched the church staff in charge. A church standing committee member said, "This woman has faith. She has come three times, so give her a place." As such, she attended the training and was smoothly baptized. On the day of baptism, she shed tears.
After the official baptism, a passionate Elder Xu returned to the village and found that although there were many believers in the countryside, there were no pastors. She decided to lead church services by herself.
During the services, she who knew little how to conduct them just read aloud some articles which were found on magazines called Tianfeng or the Heavenly Wind, the magazine of TSPM church in China, and Jiaocai, a brochure compiled by the Jinling Union Theological Seminary for local Chinese churches. She could not read much of the Bible either. She had even pronounced the name Jesus as "ear fish" ("Er Yu" in Chinese, but should be "Ye Su"). She was a laughing stock for a while.
Although there was no regular ministering, Elder Xu still insisted on serving and never stopped for a week. Later, some pastors advised her, "God's words are the truth, which cannot be added to, reduced or read wrong." She realized the importance of education in spiritual growth and pastoral care.
At that time, Elder Xu's family was so poor that she could not afford to buy a dictionary at a price of 4.5 yuan. She prayed to God to give her wisdom and help her read. It was not till her eldest son went to school that the family finally got the first dictionary. She always first read the Bible before looking up the words in the dictionary. At that time, the Bible was still printed in traditional Chinese characters. With the help of God, she got to know many words and rarely made mistakes.
Then there were 14 Christians in her village, and her home became a gathering point. With the concerted efforts of other workers, 93 people in the village believed in the Lord. Then the number of believers increased. Three gathering points were set up in the village. By 2005, there were more than 400 churchgoers in the village.
At the beginning of her ministry, her family was quite critical. Her husband did not understand her faith at first and some contradictions also occurred to her. Once, when she went to serve in another village, her husband chased her to the station at the entrance of the village. Besides the bus, he tore up her hymns and Bible. Elder Xu said to her husband, "Tear it up. There are plenty of copies in the church study room. I'll buy a new one if you tear it up. Tear it up if you have money. You can block me but not my love for the Lord." After this incident, her husband also saw her faith and stopped interfering with her ministry. In 2001, under the influence of Elder Xu, her husband finally converted to Christianity.
Later, her husband suffered from cerebral infarction, which affected his speech and communication. Her husband had two bottom lines: first, no one should say that believing in Jesus is bad; second, no one should say that his wife, Elder Xu, is not good. In 2005 when her husband died, she was sad, but looking back, there was also God's pleasant purpose in it.
"God trained me in this way in order to make me an instrument suitable for God's use", she confessed.
After her husband died, Elder Xu came to serve in Pinglu County Church. What she did not expect were the many struggles inside the church.
She found that the former elders in charge used to misappropriate financial donations, which made many members angry but afraid to speak out. There were only six old rooms which could only accommodate over 300 believers for gatherings while there were more than 1,000 Christians in the county. There was no choice but to build a shed outside to barely accommodate believers. Some disabled and elderly believers in wheelchairs could only sit outside.
Elder Xu, who could not bear to see the believers suffer, immediately ordered the church accountant to tell the cashier that there should be no more corruption and embezzlement. This caused dissatisfaction among some management staff in the church and also laid a hidden danger for the follow-up work.
In 2007, the Pinglu Church held a general election, and Elder Xu was officially elected as the responsible person. The believers also supported her work and made contributions to the church. Although the believers were very enthusiastic, splits gradually appeared in the church at that time. Some management staff disturbed the order of the gathering several times and even privately hired outsiders from unknown sources to teach in the church, which aroused negative influences in the local area.
Affected by this incident, Xu also received many unwarranted criticisms from inside and outside the church. Under a lot of pressure, she once thought of quitting. In constant prayers and meditations, Elder Xu deeply felt that the existence of all this chaos was closely related to many drawbacks in the traditional management of the church.
With the number of believers increasing in Pinglu County, the old church could not meet the needs of normal services, so the construction of a new Pinglu church was officially put on the agenda. And the process of building the church was accompanied by miracles, disputes, and blood and sweat. At the beginning of the church site selection work, without the assistance of suitable staff, she had to go around by herself, find the land designated by the Urban Construction Planning Bureau, and consulted with the village for the allocation of land.
At that time, the first agreed payment was 100,000 yuan. The church had no money, so she had to pay out of her own pocket. Xu and her son gave more than 20,000 yuan. When the site selection was completed, the problem of designing architectural drawings followed. She kept praying to God for wisdom. By God's grace, she painted the houses and structures needed by God's family on the ground while watching the scene with the engineers of the designing institute.
The preliminary work was initially completed, but as soon as the two associations met to discuss the project, different opinions emerged one after another. The debate turned into a fierce quarrel at one time and the work of building the church was once stagnant. After that, the church found a suitable construction company in Yuncheng. After a collective investigation, on June 18, 2013, the building of the church officially started.
With the foundation and the steel bars laid, Xu started a year and seven months' paperwork procedures. For more than a year, she went to various departments every day, usually handling five or six documents a day, or for signing by multiple departments. In desperation, Elder Xu had to wait outside the relevant government units early in the morning and returned to the construction site at noon to coordinate the construction and other issues. Running around all day, Elders Xu did not have time to eat anything but snacks. Also, during this period, she suffered from stomach ulcers, esophageal reflux, and other diseases due to long-term fatigue. Fortunately, after all the hardships, all the qualification procedures for building the church were successfully completed.
Building a church requires constant financial support. In her sermon, Elder Xu advised all believers, "The blessings that Pinglu people deserve can't flow out (can't get lost). With donations, our church will be built and future generations will be blessed." Believers actively gave donations after hearing this. She also organized a sermon group composed of five people, who went deep into various meeting places to preach and encourage believers to give. In addition, Elder Xu also arranged for a sacred drama based on the story of the entire people's dedication towards the building of the Great Temple in the Bible, which caused a sensation after the performance, and received hundreds of thousands of yuan of dedication before and after the performance.
Later, Elder Xu went to Wenzhou to carry out the "fund-raising" work under the recommendation of a sister in Wenzhou who had set up a factory in Pinglu. Despite some setbacks, sufficient funds were raised to build the church. After the completion of the church, the balance was over 310,000 yuan.
Mentioning the miracle that impressed Elder Xu the most during the building of the church is also a wonderful experience in the process of installing the cross on the roof of the church. During the installation of the cross (weighing 3.9 tons) on the top of the seventh floor, from early morning to night, more than 100 believers of Pinglu Church gathered together to praise and pray. On the same day, the crane had to transport the 9.5-meter-high cross to the roof in sections, each section was 3 meters, and the final size was not high enough, which made it difficult to align the bolt holes. Considering that the crane cost 6500 yuan a day, it was getting dark and windy again. Xu stood on the roof wearing a hard hat. She cried out to God, "God, people can't help it. You are omnipotent. There is nothing difficult for you!" After praying, the cross-frame was smoothly installed. The workers at the scene said in unison, "There is God!" It is said that some workers later believed in Jesus.
In addition, during the construction of the main church, a non-believer project leader visited the site several times to check the construction progress. Later, the person in charge took the initiative to ask the church if he could help build the church. It turned out that this man was the boss of a concrete mixing business. By God's grace, he was touched many times when he saw Elder Xu working hard to build a church alone in government units. Thanks to this brother's dedication, all hardening materials were supplied for the roof and basement of the church. Not only that, but a local sister also donated bricks worth 160,000 yuan to build the church.
Eventually came the day when the church was completed and presented. On September 14, 2015, the principal responsible staffs from 13 counties and cities in Yuncheng, and Sanmenxia Church in Henan Province, came to Pinglu to celebrate; each parish was allocated three days to celebrate the event. A total of 30,000 people came to celebrate the day of the church, and believers in the county also donated 16 sheep and three and a half pigs. There were 10 chefs in the cooking service.
In the new election, Elder Xu adopted the method of "sea election" in each parish to recommend candidates. Now, candidates are not to be designated and the believers vote for the leadership team step by step. Serving staffs should be elected on the basis of leading a good spiritual life and be supported by the believers as a leader.
In daily management, Pinglu Church adopted standardized and democratic management with 57 grassroots gathering points and urban main church systems unified, and unified financing and accounting.
Financial personnel are trained once a year. They are randomly selected once every two years and surveyed once every three years. The accounts are settled daily and monthly. The donation boxes are to be unpacked by three people and the donated figures will be publicized once every six months. The county church accounts are audited by the Audit Bureau once a year. The church’s promise is: anyone can check accounts at any time.
There are currently three theological students serving in Pinglu Church and two of them are still studying. In addition, the church holds a regular meeting once a month, insists on holding special training for pastors every year, and invites other pastors to give lectures. More than 400 volunteer pastors have been trained for three years. At the same time, Xu compiled the pamphlets of 'A Pastor's View of the Church' and 'Pastor and Management', and gave lectures in person.
At present, the main hall on the second and third floors of Pinglu Church can accommodate 2,000 believers to worship at the same time, and the auxiliary hall can accommodate more than 100 people. On the eve of the pandemic, every Sunday was full. Elder Xu said with relief, "According to God's will, this is far from enough."
The church has donated more than 100,000 yuan for earthquake-stricken areas, mudslides, tsunamis, flood fighting and disaster relief, and has carried out activities to visit and sympathize with the disabled and the elderly every year. In addition, in Donghanyao Village, where Pinglu Church is located, on every Double Nine Festival (September 9), the church will donate two pairs of socks, a box of dairy products and fruits to each person over 70 years old, and also donate 32,000 yuan for road repair in the village.
During the pandemic in 2020, the church donated more than 400,000 yuan. Masks and protective clothing were bought for duty personnel stationed in the front line of pandemic prevention. Five electric vehicles were donated for community workers.
After many years of church service, Elder Xu has never received a salary. Sometimes she needs to go to the mortuary to pray and dress-up the dead at two o'clock in the middle of the night. Yet, she is also subjected to many slanders and attacks. However, she never regrets her choice that she only shows commitment to glorify God.
- Translated by Charlie Li
【特稿】照亮山城的金灯台——访山西省平陆县基督教会
山西省平陆县地处山西东南部中条山麓，系山西省的南大门。尽管是个偏居一隅的山区小县，但这里却蒙神恩眷顾，见证丰富。
清明假期，笔者二人前往平陆教会开展专访之旅案。
初见教会负责人徐战果长老时，给笔者的第一印象是个子不高，身材瘦小，却谦卑朴实，干练执著。
徐长老原是在家务农的农民。1987年开始信主。当时，她迫切想寻求一个能主持正义的“公道神”，邻居介绍她信主，她说只要能有公道就信。没成想，就在次日，徐长老家中猪圈里养的一头肥猪叫唤要吃食，她就端来洗碗水喂猪，谁知猪躺下就病得快死了。在联系兽医过来查看病情后，兽医惊奇地表示，猪的五脏都已发臭腐烂了，怎么还会叫唤吃食呢？真是太奇怪了。随后，一位信主的邻居闻讯赶来，帮她找到了当地的赵老执事为她祷告。稀里糊涂的徐长老起初也不知道祷告是什么含义，就也有样学样的开始了她人生中第一次祷告。
祷告结束后，执事表示，（猪的事）交托给神，看神怎么成全。尽管后来猪也没有挽救回来，但徐长老发现真的有一位神在隐隐伴随着她，她便坚定了信心，无论如何都要信主。
在这之后，对于基督教义还不明所以的徐长老满怀着信心与姊妹前往周边各村参加礼拜。
“教会在哪我去哪，不管多远我都要去教会礼拜。”徐长老如此说道。在她的老家，平陆县三门镇，徐长老成为了当时全镇的第7位基督徒。由于之前一直在家务农，文化水平不高，在信主初期还闹出了不少啼笑皆非的笑话。
一开始听道的时候，她听传道人说“信徒是羊”，她便信以为真，以为自己聆听圣经教诲多了会变成真的羔羊，还担心了好长时间。直到后来，徐长老在听道中得知“主是好牧人，信徒就是羊，神要把羊引导青草地，溪水旁边”的话语，这才明白原来自己就是主的小羊。
1987年11月，平陆县教会举办了受洗培训班。徐长老得知消息后喜出望外，背上粮食，走十几里路赶往县城报名受洗。可没想到，当时教会负责登记的弟兄看她长得瘦小，认为她不适合受洗，便找了个理由把她打发回家了。
第一次就碰壁的徐长老难掩失落，一路哭着回到了家。次年3月，县里再一次举办受洗培训班，徐长老再次前去，也再次被拒绝。
就这样反反复复三次后，徐长老的热情与信心终于打动了教会负责的同工，一个教会常委说：“这个女子有信心，人家来了三次了，就收下吧。”就这样，徐长老如愿以偿地参加了培训，并且顺利受洗。在受洗当日，她不禁洒下了热泪。
在正式受洗后，一腔热情的徐长老回村发现，虽然农村信徒有不少，但是没有讲道人，于是徐长老就决定自己开始带聚会。
当时自己懂的也不多，只是在聚会时念一下《天风》《教材》上的文章，而且圣经上也好多字不认识，甚至曾一度把耶稣读成“耳鱼”，闹了不少笑话。
尽管没有正规的牧养，徐长老依旧坚持做工，一次礼拜都不间断。后来有牧者劝勉她，“神的话语是真理，不可添加，不可减少，也不可读错。”她才意识到文化水平在灵修与牧养中的重要性。
当时徐长老的家境也贫寒，连一本4.5元的字典都买不起，她就祷告求神赐她智慧，助她识字。后来，在大儿子上学之后，家里终于有了第一本字典，她就念完圣经，再查字典对照，当时的圣经还是繁体字，在神的帮助下，她认识了不少的字，就很少读错了。
当时她所在的村里有14人信主，她家也成为接待点。在与其他同工的齐心做工下，后来，全村有93人信主，再后来，信徒不断增多，还在村里分设了3个聚会点，到2005年，村里聚会就有400多人。
一开始从事做工侍奉，徐长老的家人还颇有微词，丈夫起初不理解她的信仰，也与她发生了一些矛盾。一次，她去外村做工，丈夫追她到村口车站，在客车旁，把她的赞美诗、圣经一把夺过撕掉。徐长老对丈夫说：“你撕吧，教会书房多的是，你撕坏了我再买，你有钱就撕吧。你能挡住我的人，挡不住我爱主的心。”经过这件事后，丈夫也看到了徐长老的信心，也不再干涉她的礼拜。2001年，在徐长老的影响下，丈夫也终于信靠归主了。
后来，丈夫不幸患上脑梗，说话交流受到了些许影响。有两点是丈夫的底线：一是别人不能说信耶稣不好；其次就是不让别人说自己爱人徐长老不好。2005年，丈夫被主接去。徐长老虽然心怀悲伤，但回头想来，这里面也有上帝的美意。“上帝这样训练造就我，为的是陶造我成为合神使用的器皿。”徐长老这样说。
丈夫去世以后，徐长老遂来到平陆县教会开始服侍，令她没想到的是，在教会里，也有着诸多的争战。
她发现教堂原先负责的长老存在挪用奉献款的行为，如此中饱私囊令很多弟兄姊妹敢怒不敢言。当时平陆教会的状况十分窘迫，只有6间老旧房子，仅能容纳300多名信徒礼拜，而全县信徒有1000多人，没有办法，只好在外面搭了个凉棚勉强容纳信徒。一些坐轮椅的残疾信徒和老年信徒只能坐在外边，风吹潮热。
不忍心看信徒受苦的徐长老随即吩咐教堂会计出纳，不能再出现贪污奉献款的现象。这便引起了教会内部部分管理人员的不满，也为后续的工作开展埋下了隐患。
2007年，平陆教会举行了换届选举，徐长老被正式选为负责人，信徒们也十分支持她的工作，并为教会奉献。尽管信徒十分热心，但当时教会内部却逐渐出现了裂痕，部分管理人员多次扰乱会议秩序，甚至还私自聘请来历不明的外界人士在教堂讲道，在当地造成了一些恶劣影响。
受此风波影响，徐长老也受到不少来自教会内外的无端批评。在诸多压力下，她也一度萌生退意。在不断的祈祷默想反思中，徐长老深感，之所以存在造成这一切乱象，与教会传统管理中的诸多弊端是脱不了干系的。
随着平陆县信徒的不断增长，老教堂实在是无法满足正常礼拜的需求，建设新的平陆教堂就正式提上了日程。而建堂的过程也伴随着神迹、纷争与血汗。教堂选址工作一开始，没有合适的同工协助，她只好一个人四处奔波，找城建规划局指定地块，为划拨土地，找村里协商。
当时议定的第一笔钱要先交10万。教会没有钱，只能自己先垫，徐长老自己与儿子奉献了两万多。选址工作完成，设计建筑图纸的问题随之而来。她不断地向神祷告，求神赐予聪明智慧，借着神的恩典，徐长老在与设计院的工程师看现场时，就在地上画出了神家所需的房屋和结构。
前期工作初步完成，谁知，两会一开会研究，不同意见纷纷涌现，甚至一度演变为激烈争吵，建堂工作一度停滞不前。之后，教会在运城市找到了合适的建筑公司。经集体考察，2013年6月18日，建堂工作正式启动。
随着地基扎好，钢筋铺上，徐长老又开始了长达一年零七个月的施工手续的奔波旅途。在一年多的时间里，她每天辗转于各部门，通常是一天要跑五六份材料，或者是多个部门签字。无奈之下，徐长老只得每天大清早在政府相关单位门外等侯，中午又返回工地，协调施工等各项问题。整日奔波，徐长老吃饭也没有正点，通常是简单凑。也是在这期间，因为长期劳累，她患上了胃糜烂、食管返流等疾病。好在历经艰辛，建堂的各项资质手续顺利办理完成。
建设教堂需要不断的资金支持，徐长老在讲道中劝勉众信徒：“平陆人应得的祝福不能外流，捐款教堂建成，后代也必蒙福。”信徒听后积极奉献。她又组织由5个人组成的讲道团，深入到各个聚会点开展讲道鼓励信徒奉献，除此之外，徐长老还根据圣经中大卫建殿发动全民奉献的故事，编排了一个圣剧，演出后引起轰动，前后总共获得了数十万元的奉献。
后来，徐长老又在原来在平陆办厂的温州一位姊妹（教会曾多次帮助过）的引荐下，前往温州开展“募捐”工作。尽管经历了一些挫折，但还是筹措到了充足的建堂资金。教堂完工后，竟然还结余31万余元。
提起建堂期间最令徐长老印象深刻的神迹，还要属安装教堂楼顶十字架的过程中的奇妙经历。在安装位于七层楼顶的十字架（重达3.9吨）时，从清晨到夜幕，平陆教会100余位信徒在一起同心赞美祷告。当天，起重机要把高9.5米的十字架分段运上楼顶，每段3米，最后尺寸不够，螺栓孔难以对准。考虑到起重机一天的费用要6500元，当时天已快黑了，又起了风。徐长老头戴安全帽站在楼顶，她向神呼求：“神啊，人没办法，你是全能者，在你没有难成的事！”祷告完毕后，十架严丝合缝顺利安装完成。在场干活的工人都异口同声地说“真有神！”据说，后来有些工人信了耶稣。
另外，在教堂主体建设期间，一位非信徒的工程负责人多次来到现场查看施工进展。后来，这位负责人居然主动询问教会，能否帮助建堂。原来，这位弟兄是做混凝土搅拌生意的老板，因多次在政府单位看到徐长老一个人为建教堂奔波劳累，这样的行为感动了他，神的恩典也感动了他。在这位弟兄的奉献下，教堂的屋顶和地面地下室所有硬化原料都得到了供应。不仅如此，当地一位姊妹也奉献了价值16万的建堂所需用砖。
终于到了竣工献堂的那一天，2015年9月14日，运城市所属13个县市区及河南省三门峡教会的主要负责同工前来平陆祝贺，各片区分三天庆祝汇演。献堂当日总共来了三万人前来祝贺，全县信徒还奉献了16只羊，3头半猪，另有10名厨师服侍名。
在新一届的换届选举中，徐长老采用了各点片“海选”的方式推荐候选人，不指定候选人，由信徒投票逐级产生领导班子，选举出了灵命好，信徒拥护的同工担任负责人。
在日常管理中，平陆教会采取了规范民主化管理，57个基层点和城区主堂制度统一，财务统一，账目统一。
财务人员每年培训一次，每两年抽查一次，每三年普查一次。账目日清月结，奉献箱三人一场开箱，半年公布于众一次。县教会账目每年由审计局审计一次。并且承诺：任何人可以在任何时间来查帐。
平陆教会新来了三位神学生，目前还有2个正在上神学。另外，教会每月开一次例会，坚持每年举办牧者专题培训，邀请一些牧长前来授课，400多名义工传道人已经培训了三年。同时，徐长老参考资料整编了《牧者的教会观》和《牧者与管理》的小册子，并亲自授课。
目前，平陆教堂的二、三层主堂能容纳2000信徒同时礼拜，副堂也能容纳100多人。疫情前夕，每次主日教堂都能够坐满信徒。徐长老欣慰地说：“按神的旨意，这还远不够用。”
该堂多次为地震灾区、泥石流、海啸、抗洪抢险赈灾捐款十余万元，同时每年都要开展看望慰问残疾人老年人活动。另外，平陆教堂所在的东韩窑村，每到九九重阳节，教会都会为70岁以上的老人每人捐赠两双袜子、一箱奶制品和水果，为该村修路捐款3.2万元。
在2020年疫情期间，教会共捐赠款物40余万元；又购买了口罩、防护服等送给驻守一线的值勤人员，还为所在社区工作人捐赠了5辆电动车。
多年的教会侍奉，徐长老从没领过工资，有时还要进太平间，半夜两点为逝者祷告穿衣，还受许多毁谤和攻击。但她从不后悔自己的选择，唯有尽上忠心为要讨神的喜悦。
http://www.gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/56023
【特稿】照亮山城的金灯台——访山西省平陆县基督教会
Pinglu County is located at the foot of Zhongtiao Mountain in the southeast of China's northern Shanxi Province. The mountain is the southern gate of the province. Although the county is small and mountainous, it is a corner blessed by God, with abundant testimonies.
During the Qingming Holiday, the two of us went all the way to Pinglu Church for an exclusive report.
When I first met Elder Xu Zhanguo, the head of the church, the first impression she gave me was that of a short and thin woman who was humble and simple, capable and persistent.
Elder Xu was a farmer who worked at home. She believed in the Lord in 1987 when she was eagerly seeking a "God of Justice" who upholds justice. When her neighbor first introduced her to the Lord, she mentioned that she would believe as long as there was justice. Unexpectedly, on just the next day, a fat pig she raised called out for food, so she brought dish-washing water to feed the pig; but the pig was soon dying and instead lay down. After a veterinarian examined it, he was surprised to find that the internal organs of the pig had stinking and rotten. It was so weird that the pig still called out for food. Then, a neighbor who was a Christian heard the news and helped her find the local deacon Zhao to pray for her. Not knowing what praying was, she imitated the deacon to pray for the first time in her life.
After the prayer, the deacon said that the pig should be entrusted to God to see how God might act. Although the pig was not saved, Xu found that there was a God faintly accompanying her, so she strengthened her faith and believed in the Lord no matter what.
After that, Xu, who was still not clear about the doctrine of Christianity, started to attend various churches’ services in the surrounding villages with faith and fellow believers.
"I would go wherever the church is no matter how far that could be", said the elder. Elder Xu became the seventh Christian in her hometown, Sanmen Town, Pinglu County, at that time. Because she had previously been working on home farming, her education level was not high, so she made many ridiculous jokes in the early days of her faith journey.
When she first listened to a sermon, she heard the pastor say "believers are sheep". She took it literally and truly believed that she would become a real lamb after listening to more Bible teachings. She was worried for a while until when she heard the words that "the Lord is a good shepherd and the believers are sheep. God will guide the sheep to the green pastures beside the stream", she realized that she was the Lord's spiritual lamb.
In November 1987, Pinglu County Church offered a baptism training course. Elder Xu was overjoyed when she heard the news. She carried food on her back and walked more than ten miles to the county to sign up for baptism. Unexpectedly, the brothers in charge of believer registration in the church thought she was unfit for baptism because they saw that she was skinny. So they found an excuse to make her return.
Elder Xu, who hit a wall for the first time, could not hide her feelings of forfeit and cried all the way home. In March of the following year, the county held a baptism training class again, and Xu once more went there and was rejected as usual.
After this repeated itself three times, her enthusiasm and confidence finally touched the church staff in charge. A church standing committee member said, "This woman has faith. She has come three times, so give her a place." As such, she attended the training and was smoothly baptized. On the day of baptism, she shed tears.
After the official baptism, a passionate Elder Xu returned to the village and found that although there were many believers in the countryside, there were no pastors. She decided to lead church services by herself.
During the services, she who knew little how to conduct them just read aloud some articles which were found on magazines called Tianfeng or the Heavenly Wind, the magazine of TSPM church in China, and Jiaocai, a brochure compiled by the Jinling Union Theological Seminary for local Chinese churches. She could not read much of the Bible either. She had even pronounced the name Jesus as "ear fish" ("Er Yu" in Chinese, but should be "Ye Su"). She was a laughing stock for a while.
Although there was no regular ministering, Elder Xu still insisted on serving and never stopped for a week. Later, some pastors advised her, "God's words are the truth, which cannot be added to, reduced or read wrong." She realized the importance of education in spiritual growth and pastoral care.
At that time, Elder Xu's family was so poor that she could not afford to buy a dictionary at a price of 4.5 yuan. She prayed to God to give her wisdom and help her read. It was not till her eldest son went to school that the family finally got the first dictionary. She always first read the Bible before looking up the words in the dictionary. At that time, the Bible was still printed in traditional Chinese characters. With the help of God, she got to know many words and rarely made mistakes.
Then there were 14 Christians in her village, and her home became a gathering point. With the concerted efforts of other workers, 93 people in the village believed in the Lord. Then the number of believers increased. Three gathering points were set up in the village. By 2005, there were more than 400 churchgoers in the village.
At the beginning of her ministry, her family was quite critical. Her husband did not understand her faith at first and some contradictions also occurred to her. Once, when she went to serve in another village, her husband chased her to the station at the entrance of the village. Besides the bus, he tore up her hymns and Bible. Elder Xu said to her husband, "Tear it up. There are plenty of copies in the church study room. I'll buy a new one if you tear it up. Tear it up if you have money. You can block me but not my love for the Lord." After this incident, her husband also saw her faith and stopped interfering with her ministry. In 2001, under the influence of Elder Xu, her husband finally converted to Christianity.
Later, her husband suffered from cerebral infarction, which affected his speech and communication. Her husband had two bottom lines: first, no one should say that believing in Jesus is bad; second, no one should say that his wife, Elder Xu, is not good. In 2005 when her husband died, she was sad, but looking back, there was also God's pleasant purpose in it.
"God trained me in this way in order to make me an instrument suitable for God's use", she confessed.
After her husband died, Elder Xu came to serve in Pinglu County Church. What she did not expect were the many struggles inside the church.
She found that the former elders in charge used to misappropriate financial donations, which made many members angry but afraid to speak out. There were only six old rooms which could only accommodate over 300 believers for gatherings while there were more than 1,000 Christians in the county. There was no choice but to build a shed outside to barely accommodate believers. Some disabled and elderly believers in wheelchairs could only sit outside.
Elder Xu, who could not bear to see the believers suffer, immediately ordered the church accountant to tell the cashier that there should be no more corruption and embezzlement. This caused dissatisfaction among some management staff in the church and also laid a hidden danger for the follow-up work.
In 2007, the Pinglu Church held a general election, and Elder Xu was officially elected as the responsible person. The believers also supported her work and made contributions to the church. Although the believers were very enthusiastic, splits gradually appeared in the church at that time. Some management staff disturbed the order of the gathering several times and even privately hired outsiders from unknown sources to teach in the church, which aroused negative influences in the local area.
Affected by this incident, Xu also received many unwarranted criticisms from inside and outside the church. Under a lot of pressure, she once thought of quitting. In constant prayers and meditations, Elder Xu deeply felt that the existence of all this chaos was closely related to many drawbacks in the traditional management of the church.
With the number of believers increasing in Pinglu County, the old church could not meet the needs of normal services, so the construction of a new Pinglu church was officially put on the agenda. And the process of building the church was accompanied by miracles, disputes, and blood and sweat. At the beginning of the church site selection work, without the assistance of suitable staff, she had to go around by herself, find the land designated by the Urban Construction Planning Bureau, and consulted with the village for the allocation of land.
At that time, the first agreed payment was 100,000 yuan. The church had no money, so she had to pay out of her own pocket. Xu and her son gave more than 20,000 yuan. When the site selection was completed, the problem of designing architectural drawings followed. She kept praying to God for wisdom. By God's grace, she painted the houses and structures needed by God's family on the ground while watching the scene with the engineers of the designing institute.
The preliminary work was initially completed, but as soon as the two associations met to discuss the project, different opinions emerged one after another. The debate turned into a fierce quarrel at one time and the work of building the church was once stagnant. After that, the church found a suitable construction company in Yuncheng. After a collective investigation, on June 18, 2013, the building of the church officially started.
With the foundation and the steel bars laid, Xu started a year and seven months' paperwork procedures. For more than a year, she went to various departments every day, usually handling five or six documents a day, or for signing by multiple departments. In desperation, Elder Xu had to wait outside the relevant government units early in the morning and returned to the construction site at noon to coordinate the construction and other issues. Running around all day, Elders Xu did not have time to eat anything but snacks. Also, during this period, she suffered from stomach ulcers, esophageal reflux, and other diseases due to long-term fatigue. Fortunately, after all the hardships, all the qualification procedures for building the church were successfully completed.
Building a church requires constant financial support. In her sermon, Elder Xu advised all believers, "The blessings that Pinglu people deserve can't flow out (can't get lost). With donations, our church will be built and future generations will be blessed." Believers actively gave donations after hearing this. She also organized a sermon group composed of five people, who went deep into various meeting places to preach and encourage believers to give. In addition, Elder Xu also arranged for a sacred drama based on the story of the entire people's dedication towards the building of the Great Temple in the Bible, which caused a sensation after the performance, and received hundreds of thousands of yuan of dedication before and after the performance.
Later, Elder Xu went to Wenzhou to carry out the "fund-raising" work under the recommendation of a sister in Wenzhou who had set up a factory in Pinglu. Despite some setbacks, sufficient funds were raised to build the church. After the completion of the church, the balance was over 310,000 yuan.
Mentioning the miracle that impressed Elder Xu the most during the building of the church is also a wonderful experience in the process of installing the cross on the roof of the church. During the installation of the cross (weighing 3.9 tons) on the top of the seventh floor, from early morning to night, more than 100 believers of Pinglu Church gathered together to praise and pray. On the same day, the crane had to transport the 9.5-meter-high cross to the roof in sections, each section was 3 meters, and the final size was not high enough, which made it difficult to align the bolt holes. Considering that the crane cost 6500 yuan a day, it was getting dark and windy again. Xu stood on the roof wearing a hard hat. She cried out to God, "God, people can't help it. You are omnipotent. There is nothing difficult for you!" After praying, the cross-frame was smoothly installed. The workers at the scene said in unison, "There is God!" It is said that some workers later believed in Jesus.
In addition, during the construction of the main church, a non-believer project leader visited the site several times to check the construction progress. Later, the person in charge took the initiative to ask the church if he could help build the church. It turned out that this man was the boss of a concrete mixing business. By God's grace, he was touched many times when he saw Elder Xu working hard to build a church alone in government units. Thanks to this brother's dedication, all hardening materials were supplied for the roof and basement of the church. Not only that, but a local sister also donated bricks worth 160,000 yuan to build the church.
Eventually came the day when the church was completed and presented. On September 14, 2015, the principal responsible staffs from 13 counties and cities in Yuncheng, and Sanmenxia Church in Henan Province, came to Pinglu to celebrate; each parish was allocated three days to celebrate the event. A total of 30,000 people came to celebrate the day of the church, and believers in the county also donated 16 sheep and three and a half pigs. There were 10 chefs in the cooking service.
In the new election, Elder Xu adopted the method of "sea election" in each parish to recommend candidates. Now, candidates are not to be designated and the believers vote for the leadership team step by step. Serving staffs should be elected on the basis of leading a good spiritual life and be supported by the believers as a leader.
In daily management, Pinglu Church adopted standardized and democratic management with 57 grassroots gathering points and urban main church systems unified, and unified financing and accounting.
Financial personnel are trained once a year. They are randomly selected once every two years and surveyed once every three years. The accounts are settled daily and monthly. The donation boxes are to be unpacked by three people and the donated figures will be publicized once every six months. The county church accounts are audited by the Audit Bureau once a year. The church’s promise is: anyone can check accounts at any time.
There are currently three theological students serving in Pinglu Church and two of them are still studying. In addition, the church holds a regular meeting once a month, insists on holding special training for pastors every year, and invites other pastors to give lectures. More than 400 volunteer pastors have been trained for three years. At the same time, Xu compiled the pamphlets of 'A Pastor's View of the Church' and 'Pastor and Management', and gave lectures in person.
At present, the main hall on the second and third floors of Pinglu Church can accommodate 2,000 believers to worship at the same time, and the auxiliary hall can accommodate more than 100 people. On the eve of the pandemic, every Sunday was full. Elder Xu said with relief, "According to God's will, this is far from enough."
The church has donated more than 100,000 yuan for earthquake-stricken areas, mudslides, tsunamis, flood fighting and disaster relief, and has carried out activities to visit and sympathize with the disabled and the elderly every year. In addition, in Donghanyao Village, where Pinglu Church is located, on every Double Nine Festival (September 9), the church will donate two pairs of socks, a box of dairy products and fruits to each person over 70 years old, and also donate 32,000 yuan for road repair in the village.
During the pandemic in 2020, the church donated more than 400,000 yuan. Masks and protective clothing were bought for duty personnel stationed in the front line of pandemic prevention. Five electric vehicles were donated for community workers.
After many years of church service, Elder Xu has never received a salary. Sometimes she needs to go to the mortuary to pray and dress-up the dead at two o'clock in the middle of the night. Yet, she is also subjected to many slanders and attacks. However, she never regrets her choice that she only shows commitment to glorify God.
- Translated by Charlie Li
A Visit to Pinglu Church in Shanxi Province
