“Some people don't believe it firmly and some take it casually. In the Christian faith, I am determined to believe to the end,” said the 80-year-old Elder Sun Zhaocheng when recalling his more than 70 years' walks with the Lord.
These brief confessions summed up how he was dedicated to the church as a child similar to the story of Samuel; his hard work acknowledged by his community; the running of building churches in urban areas and grass-roots churches; and the “shepherd” life for believers.
From 1988 to 2017, Elder Sun served as the chairman of the Danyang Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement for 30 years, during which he also served as the vice-chairman and vice president of the Zhenjiang Christian Council for many years. He was a member of the CPPCC National Committee and a member of the Standing Committee of Danyang Municipal Committee on behalf of religion.
Childhood: "Samuel" living in the church
In 1893, the American Methodist missionaries came to Danyang to preach the gospel. Missionaries established Danyang Gospel Church in Xinmin West Road. Born in 1892, Sun Guowen and his wife, Jiang Aidao, joined the Gospel Church in 1943 and served as volunteers. Sun was responsible for taking care of the plants of the church, while his wife assisted a full-time female pastor Zhang Mude (Chinese name) by doing her needlework.
Little Sun went to church with his foster parents, the Sun couple, at an early age, and was baptized at the age of eight. He recalled his experience in Sunday school with a smile, “Someone asked me if I believed in Jesus. I replied yes! There were sweets, milk, biscuits, and clothes. I used to sit on a small bench, clap hands and sing. I never had hunger.”
When Sun was in primary school, he lived in the church. At that time, there was a pastor’s building behind the church that also included an annex building where he lived. Because he was adopted, he was dedicated to the church to serve the church, which was similar to Samuel’s experience in the Bible. So, Pastor Zhang named him "Samuel".
Little "Samuel" was responsible for closing the windows and doors every night in the church and opening the doors after getting up in the morning. After each evening prayer meeting, he would turn the lights off and close the doors.
From the lives of missionaries and believers, he accepted the truth that “more blessed is giving than receiving”, and he took deep roots in his faith.
At that time, the scene of Christians loving each other made it unforgettable to him. Elder Sun was born in 1942. Before 1949, when there was a shortage of supplies, people often had little to eat. At that time, when food was scarce, his foster parents often gave vegetables and food from their home to the church. Everyone made an effort to reach out a helping hand to any believers with family difficulties.
“At that time, a cauldron was built at the gate of the church, where gruel was made, and the believers in rural areas brought side dishes in. Anyone in need could come and eat. My father was responsible for cooking porridge, and I helped to add firewood.” Sun said, “At that time, there was special love in the church and I was greatly influenced.”
In addition to the apparent love, Elder Sun also saw the sacrifices made by pastors to preach the gospel. A local pastor couple (Pastor Si Wuming and his wife, Liu Lude, a teacher) preached there and at the same time, the wife did sewing work to make a living. Even so, whenever Samuel visited them, they treated him with warm hospitality.
When studying in junior high school, Sun left Danyang Gospel Church where he had lived for several years, but he went back to the church every Saturday to open the doors of the church on Sunday morning. He also attended Sunday worship in the church. In addition, because the pastoral staff couldn’t understand the Danyang dialect, he would accompany them to visit believers' homes that were in the more rural areas.
Be conscientious in the workplace and acknowledged by leaders and colleagues
After graduating from junior high school, he entered another stage of his life, the workplace. Through hard work, he made his beliefs clearly visible to his colleagues and leaders.
In the machinery industry he worked for, he was a leader in many respects. In 1993, under the policy of town planning through science and technology, he served as the vice president of a township enterprise, and after that, he worked as a teacher in a technical school for more than ten years.
Elder Sun’s Danyang state-owned workplace had nearly 2,000 employees, and the workshop he was responsible for specialised in complex types of work such as metalworking and electronics. During that period, he worked all year round. If the equipment broke down, he had to repair it in the middle of the night, and he also had to carry out major equipment maintenance on holidays.
When talking about that experience, his wife gave great opinion, “He didn’t care about anything at home, and he didn’t care about the children’s studies. I had to take care of the housework when I was pregnant.” In this regard, Sun felt indebted to his wife in his later years and spent as much time with his family as possible to make up for it.
Sun’s son was in the same department as him, and he was very strict with his son. When his son was late for work, he would deduct his son’s salary, and his son would complain to his mother when he got back home. When his son was rated as an advanced worker, he worried that this was related to his position as the workshop director, so he removed his son's quota and gave it to other workers.
Sun said that among the 2,000 people in the whole factory, only he was a Christian. Every Sunday, even if it was necessary to work overtime, the factory director would take the initiative to say to him, “Go to church to say Amen.”
When a grass-roots church staff member went to the factory to look for him to build a church, he had to register the time that he entered the factory, and he also needed to register when he left. However, when the doorman heard that he was looking for Elder Sun, the doorman said, “an ‘Amen-person’ is here” and just let him in.
His work occupied most of his time. However, his experience played a great role in promoting the construction of churches in Danyang city and grassroots churches.
For 20 years, he promoted the construction of 17 churches.
After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, churches all over the country resumed their services one after another. By then, Danyang Gospel Church was occupied by Minsheng Printing Factory. Several believers and Sun had to hold a family service at a sister’s house in Qiaojia Lane, Danyang. Slowly, the number of church members increased to more than 30. The room was too small for normal activities.
In 1984, they hoped to resume gatherings in the church but this expectation fell through. In the end, the church received compensation of 9,000 Yuan from Minsheng Printing Factory, and the government purchased an old factory of optical instruments and transformed it into an evangelical church.
Ten years later, the church had between 200 and 300 believers, and the old church couldn’t fulfill the meeting requirements. Moreover, the old church had become a dangerous building and urgently needed to be demolished in order to be able to build a new church.
In June 2006, the Gospel Church acquired 5 mu (0.82 acres) of land to rebuild the new building. The new church was under construction in August 2007, was completed in August 2008, and opened for use in November of that year. With a constructed area of 1,842 square meters (2.76 acres) and a height of 32.8 meters, the church can accommodate more than 1,000 people.
Today’s Gospel Church is the first church that was promoted by the Elder Sun. He still remembers the original construction scene, “What a pain!”
Danyang Gospel Church was adjacent to a mosque, and both of them obtained land for religious sites at the same time. After getting the land grant, Elder Sun put up stakes on the dividing line between them overnight to prevent disputes over the land later.
There was a swine farm behind the church, and 200 plague-affected pigs were thrown into the land where the mosque was planned to be built. After Sun discovered it, he was worried that the Muslims would not want this land anymore, meaning that the land for the church may not be guaranteed either. So, they asked excavators to take the dead pigs away and bury them early in the morning.
Next to the church was a vegetable field. Because of where the church building was situated, rainwater poured into the vegetable field. Farmers pushed down the wall of the church twice. Elder Sun quickly dug the diversion canal to solve this problem.
The location of the church is low-lying, and Sun still clearly remembers that at that time, more than 900 trucks of earth were removed, and 3,000 pillars were driven and irrigated.
In order to ensure the quality of the project, sometimes he held a flashlight at night to check the steel specifications for construction.
When the construction quality was being checked, he used to hold out in the open air at the construction site until dawn.
There was heavy rain when putting up a cross on the top of the church. Elder Sun asked believers to pray on the ground. He climbed to the top with a red stainless-steel cross on his back to put it in place.
The church was built almost from scratch, funded by the constructor, and it cost more than two million Yuan. It took two or three years to pay off the debt after the church was built.
In addition to the tithes and offerings of believers in this church, the funds for building the building also came from the contributions of various grass-roots churches in Danyang. Elder Sun rode a motorcycle to preach in the grassroots churches and raised funds for the gospel church. Some churches donated 20,000 Yuan, others donated 30,000 Yuan, all in cash. He rode a motorcycle back to the church.
In the process of building the church, Elder Sun sometimes became ill. When he saw so many high-rise buildings in the streets, he would think, since God is the Almighty who created everything in the world, why is it so difficult to grant land and raise funds for building churches? Later, during a service, he realized that prayer was useful, and building a church was different from building ordinary buildings in the streets and had eternal significance.
He also made design drawings of many churches in Danyang and went through the relevant formalities.
When it came to the design of churches, Elder Sun couldn’t help but get excited, saying that every church he designed had its own characteristics and was different. It was a difficult job for most people, but as a mechanical engineer, he thought it was simple. “Architectural drawings are much simpler than mechanical drawings”. Some church drawings took a day or two to complete, while others could take up to a week. Elder Sun enjoyed it. “I could stay up all night drawing.”
Elder Sun talked about the design of the Gospel Church: it was originally planned to be Gothic, so the cost was too high, and it required 5 million Yuan – thus, some changes were made. The pillars on the wall behind the inner sanctuary of the church and under the cross at the top of the church were designed to be like the walls of Jerusalem. A pair of doves of peace with olive branches were arranged on the facade wall of the church. A screen was set up at the entrance of the church, on which the picture of the last supper is now displayed. The main church seating tiers are set to an incline of 40 degrees so that the believers behind can see the podium clearly.
After the completion of the new church, churches in various villages and towns began to reconstruct one after another, and Elder Sun continued to run for this purpose. In the process of building the church, the quality of the building was assured by his expertise. During the construction of Danyang Yacheng Evangelical Church, he found that the builder cut corners and immediately pointed out the problems of the builder. The person responsible for the builder found Elder Sun and bribed him 60,000 Yuan to cover up the defect. Elder Sun strongly disagreed, saying that it was to build a temple for God, so he dared not accept it. In the end, the builder had to tear down that part and rebuild it according to the drawings. In this way, the solicited constructor lost more than 100,000 Yuan.
When asked what the most difficult part in the process was of building the churches, the Elder’s answer surprised me - “getting along with sisters”. He said that as a 40-50-year-old brother, he always had to deal with some female believers and took them to work. That made him embarrassed and worried as others might gossip. To this end, he paid special attention when working with females. If he wanted to go to a place together, he would not take female believers with him by motorcycle but let them take the bus by themselves. In this way, he served in every way possible without any possible blames for his lifestyle.
In this way, the elder spent twenty years helping construct 17 churches in Danyang.
Not giving up pastoral care even at an old age
Sun was assigned as an elder on September 22, 1996. He said that he was the first clergyman assigned by Zhenjiang Church after the reform and opening up in China, and his pastor register number was “Su LF0001”. Because of the lack of clergy at that time, his service burden was heavy.
In addition to preaching in Gospel Church, the Elder often rode a motorcycle to preach in various township churches. He said that some township churches were 10-20 kilometers away from Danyang city, and the farthest church he went to was Huangtang Town Church, which was about 40 kilometers away from the city, and they all rode motorcycles.
One winter, the elder rode to preach in Xinqiao Church, 256 kilometers away from the city and fell down at a slippery intersection of a hotel. Fortunately, he was protected, so he got up quickly. Before the motorcycle turned off, he continued on his way and caught up with the service on time.
“No matter if it’s windy, rainy or snowy weather, as long as you promise, you will definitely go because there is a congregation waiting there.”
When talking about the key to the development of the church, he talked about three elements: praying with one’s heart and mind, visiting and testifying, summarizing his own faith and service experiences.
Elder Sun stressed many times that “sincere prayer was useful”. The prayer that Sun talked about included behavior. He believed that people couldn’t just pray in church every day to ask God to increase the number of believers but should act after prayer. He gave an example. If you wanted a good harvest, you needed to sow seeds and fertilize them.
Regarding visiting fellow believers, Elder Sun pointed out that its essence was love. After the visit, the church could be revived. When a believer didn’t attend a Sunday service, a church worker would visit his house the following week.
While doing a good job of visiting, Elder Sun and his wife were particularly willing to receive visitors. When students of Jinling Theological Seminary went to the church for an internship every Sunday, they arranged for them to eat and live in their own home. Elder Sun said that when he went to some cities in Jiangsu for meetings and visits, pastors often asked him to say hello to his wife because they still remembered the delicious dishes cooked by his wife earlier that year.
When the church welcomed newly graduated pastors from theological seminaries, Mr. and Mrs. Sun would try their best to help them settle down. When pastor Hang of Danyang Church first arrived at Danyang Evangelical Church, Elder Sun’s family put her up for a month and also prepared daily necessities for her. Cui Hu, the young pastor of Danyang Evangelical Church, was picked up by Mr. and Mrs. Sun. The couple drove their van to Jinling Theological Seminary.
“A church without testimony is dead.” Sun said, “One is to testify what one experienced personally. No false testimonies should be given.”
Even though he is 80 years old now, the elder still sticks to preaching to the grassroots church two or three times a month. He rides an electric bike to churches near him and takes a bus or has his family take him to the distant ones.
For being able to hold the Christian faith all his life and always serve as a volunteer, Elder Sun owed it to two aspects: the influence of childhood belief environment - the altruistic love of missionaries, the piety of Christian foster parents and their love for him, and the mutual love between brothers and sisters in the church; on the other hand, what was more important was God’s grace and awe. “What we give is not commensurate with God’s love for us because God’s love for us is better than what we give. Jesus said that he would come again in the future to judge the living and the dead. Can I meet the requirement then?” he added.
The highest hope of Elder Sun at present was that the young people in the church and the descendants in his family can inherit the Christian faith. “I am old. The historical mission has been completed, and now I have to give the baton to the young people,” he concluded.
-Translated by Charlie Li
“有人信了一半就不信了，也有人信仰不坚定。在基督信仰上，我是坚定要信到底的。”在回忆自己走过的70多年的信仰道路时，孙兆成长老如此说道。
这几句简短的告白，包含了他儿时被奉献到教堂里的“撒母耳”的生活，在职场中拼命工作得到世人认可的生活，为了市区以及基层教会建堂的奔波生活，还有为了牧养信徒的“牧人”生活。
从1988年至2017年，孙兆成长老担任丹阳基督教三自爱国会主席三十年，其中还多年担任镇江基督教两会副主席、副会长，丹阳市代表宗教届政协委员和政协常委。
儿时，是住在教堂里的“撒母耳”
1893年，美国卫理公会传教士来到丹阳传福音。传教士在新民西路建立了丹阳市福音堂。生于1892年的孙国文和妻子蒋爱道1943年信主后在福音堂聚会，并且作为义工参与服侍。孙国文负责打理教堂内的花草，蒋爱道服侍一位全职的女传道张慕德，帮她做些针线活。
孙兆成从小就跟着养父母孙夫妇去教堂，并于8岁受洗归主。他笑着回忆在主日学的经历：“有人问我信耶稣好不好？我说好！有糖吃，有牛奶吃，有饼干吃，还给衣服穿。坐在小板凳上，拍着手一起唱歌，肚子饱饱的。”
孙兆成读小学时，住进了教堂。当时，教堂后面有座牧师楼，教堂还有一个附属楼，他当时住在附属楼里。因他是养父领养的，后将他奉献给教会服侍教会，跟圣经中的撒母耳的经历类似，所以张慕德给他起名“撒母耳”。
小“撒母耳”在教会每天晚上负责关窗、关门，早晨起来再开门，当教会晚上有祷告会时，待聚会结束他负责关灯、关门。
从传教士以及弟兄姐妹们的生活中，他领受了“施比受更有福”的真理，而且在信仰上深深地扎下了根。
那时弟兄姐妹之间彼此相爱的场景令孙难以忘怀。孙兆成出生于1942年，在解放前那个物质匮乏的年代，人们时常食不果腹。当时粮食紧张，孙兆成的父母常常把家里的蔬菜、粮食送到教会。有家境困难的信徒，大家会一起来帮助。
“当时，在教堂大门口建起了一口大锅，在那里做稀粥，农村的信徒拿来小菜，凡是有需要的人都可以过来吃。我父亲负责烧粥，我帮忙添柴火。”孙说道，“那时教会里特别有爱，我受到的影响很大。”
除了表面看得见的爱心，孙兆成还看到了牧者为了传福音所做的牺牲。当地一对自立传教的牧者夫妇（斯吾铭牧师和妻子刘路得老师），在一边传福音的同时，妻子还要靠做缝纫工作维持生计。即便如此，每当孙兆成过去时，他们还是热情地接待他。
就读初中时，孙兆成离开了居住几年的丹阳福音堂。不过每周六他就回到教堂，周日早晨由他来开教堂的大门，并且他也在教堂参加主日崇拜。另外，因为教牧人员听不懂丹阳话，他会陪伴着到农村信徒家探访。
在职场尽职尽责，得到领导及同事的认可
初中毕业后，他进入了人生另一个阶段——职场。他通过努力工作，使自己的信仰得到同事以及领导的认可。
在自己所从事地机械行业中，他在多方面都是佼佼者。1993年，在科技兴镇的政策下，他担任过一个乡镇企业的副总，结束后在技校做了十多年的老师。
孙兆成所在的丹阳国营单位有员工近两千人，他所负责的车间属金加工、电工等复杂工种。在工作期间，他常年无休，如果设备出现故障，大半夜他也要去维修，节假日还要进行设备大维修。
提到这段经历，他的老伴很有意见：“家里的什么事情他都不管，孩子的读书他也不管，我大着肚子还要料理家务。”对此，孙晚年时感到亏欠，尽量多陪家人作为弥补。
孙的儿子跟他是一个部门，他对儿子格外严格。儿子上班迟到时，他就扣儿子工资，儿子回家就向妈妈诉苦；儿子被评上先进工作者时，他担心这个跟自己车间主任的职位有关，就把儿子的名额撤掉，让给其他同志。
孙说，在全厂两千人中，只有他一人是基督徒。每当到了星期天，即便需要加班，厂长都会主动跟他说“你去教堂阿们吧”。
当有基层教会同工为了建教堂到工厂找他时，进场原本要登记，出厂也需要登记，但门卫听说是找孙长老的，就说“阿们的”来了，直接就让进去了。
职场的工作占据了孙兆成绝大多数的时间，然而，他的这一经历在推动丹阳市区以及基层教会建堂上起到了很大的作用。
为建堂奔波20年，推动17座教堂建设
十一届三中全会后，国内各地教会陆续恢复聚会。此时，丹阳福音堂被民生印刷厂占用。孙同几位弟兄姐妹只好在丹阳乔家巷的一个姊妹家办起家庭聚会。慢慢地，聚会人数多了起来，有三十多人，屋子狭小，无法正常开展活动。
1984年，他们希望可以恢复在丹阳福音堂聚会。这个愿望未能实现。最终，教会获得了民生印刷厂一笔9000元的补偿款，由政府购置一光学仪器厂旧厂房，改造成福音堂。
十多年后，福音堂已有信徒两三百人，老教堂不能满足聚会要求，而且老教堂已成为危房，建新堂迫在眉睫。
2006年6月，福音堂获得5亩土地重建新堂。新堂于2007年8月破土动工，2008年8月竣工，当年11月投入使用。教堂建筑面积1842平方米，高32.8米，可容纳1000多人聚会。
现今的丹阳福音堂是孙长老推动建设的首座教堂，对于当初的建设场景，他记忆犹新——“真的受罪啊！”
丹阳福音堂毗邻一座清真寺，二者同时获得了宗教场所用地。当得到批地后，孙长老连夜在二者的边线上打起了桩子，防止之后因土地起纠纷；
教堂后面有一个养猪场，将一头两百斤的瘟死猪扔到了计划建清真寺的土地上。孙长老发现后，担心伊斯兰教信徒发现后不要这块土地，教堂的土地因此不保，于是一大早请挖掘机把死猪拉走、掩埋；
教堂旁边是菜地，因为建教堂，导致雨水灌入菜地，农民两次推倒教堂的院墙，孙长老赶紧挖了引水渠解决了这一问题；
教堂所在地地势低，孙长老清楚地记得，当时拉了九百多车土，打了三千个桩、灌水；
为了保证工程质量，有时他晚上拿着手电查看建筑用的钢材规格；
当教堂校验时，他在工地露天坚持到天亮；
立教堂顶部十字架时遇到了大雨，孙长老请信徒们在下面祷告，他背着红色的不锈钢十字架爬到了教堂顶部，立起了十字架；
建教堂几乎是白手起家，由施工方垫资，共计花费两百多万，教堂建好后两三年才还清债务；
……
福音堂的建堂资金除了本堂信徒的奉献，还来自丹阳各基层教会的奉献。孙长老骑着摩托车到基层教会讲道，同时为了福音堂筹集建堂资金，有的堂点奉献两万，有的奉献三万，都是现金，他骑着摩托车带回教会。
在建堂过程中，孙长老有时也会软弱。当他看到社会上那么多高楼大厦时会想，既然神是创造天地万物的大能者，为何批土地、筹集建堂资金这么难？后来在侍奉中他明白了，祷告是有用的，建堂跟建社会上普通的建筑不同，是具有永恒意义的。
丹阳多座教堂的设计图是也由他绘制的，及办理有关手续。
提到教堂的设计，孙长老不由地兴奋起来，说他设计的每个教堂各有特色，都不一样。这件对大多人来说很艰难的工作，身为机械工程师的他却觉得很简单，“建筑图纸相比于机械图纸，简单多了”。有的教堂图纸需要画上一两天，多的则要画上一周。孙长老乐此不疲，“我可以熬夜画图的”。
孙长老讲起了福音堂的设计：本来计划画成哥特式，那样造价太高，需要500万元，就做了些改动；教堂内圣台后面的墙面上以及教堂顶部十字架下的台柱做成耶路撒冷城墙的设计；教堂门面墙壁上布置了一对衔着橄榄枝的和平鸽；教堂门口处设置一个屏风，上面绘制了最后晚餐图；教堂主堂设置成40°的坡度，如此后面的信徒也可以看清讲台……
丹阳福音堂建成后，各乡镇教会陆续开始建堂，孙长老持续为此奔波。在建堂过程中，因为他的专业知识，为建堂的质量提供了保障。在丹阳埤城福音堂的建设过程中，他发现施工方偷工减料，立即指出施工方的问题，施工方的领队找到孙长老，拿出六万元要给长老，说这事想要掩盖过去。孙长老坚决不同意，说这是为上帝建圣殿，他可不敢这么干。最终，施工方只好拆掉那部分，重新按照图纸要求建造。如此，施工方损失了十多万元。
当询问孙长老建堂过程中最艰难的地方是什么时，他的回答令笔者意想不到——“跟姐妹们相处”。他说，作为一位四五十岁的弟兄，总是跟一些姐妹打交道，带着姐妹做工作，这令他很为难，担心别人说闲话。为此，他在跟姐妹们一同服侍的时候特别注意，如果要一起去一个地方，他不会骑摩托带着姐妹，而是让姐妹自己坐公共汽车。如此，他一路服侍下来，没有在生活作风上遭人诟病。
就这样，孙长老用了二十年的时间，在丹阳各地帮助推动建立了十七个教堂。
到老也不能放弃的“牧人”生活
孙于1996年9月22日被按立为长老，他自豪地说，他是改革开放后镇江教会按立的第一位圣职人员，他的教牧编号是“苏LF0001”。因着当时缺少圣职人员，他服侍的担子就重了。
除了在福音堂讲道，孙长老常常骑着摩托车到各乡镇教会讲道。他说，有的乡镇教会距离丹阳市区一二十公里，他去的最远的是距离市区40公里左右的皇塘镇教会，都是骑着摩托车去。
有一年冬天，孙长老骑摩托车到离市区二十五六公里远的新桥教会讲道，在一个饭店湿滑的路口摔了一跤。好在他有防护，没啥大碍，他赶紧爬起来，摩托车还没有熄火，就继续赶路，准时赶上了聚会。
“无论是刮风下雨，还是下雪，只要答应了就肯定过去，因为那里有会众在等着。”
当谈到教会发展的要诀时，孙长老结合自己的信仰、服侍经历谈到了三要素：同心合意的祷告，探访，见证。
孙长老多次强调，“诚信祷告是有用的”。孙长老所谈的祷告包含行为，他认为，不能只是天天在教堂里祷告，求神加增信主的人数，而是祷告后要行动。他举了一个例子，如果想要庄稼收成好，那是需要撒种、施肥的。
关于探访，孙长老指出，其本质是爱。探访工作做好了，可以复兴教会。一个信徒没有来参加主日礼拜，第二周就有教会同工去他家探访。
在做好探访工作的同时，孙长老和妻子特别愿意接待。金陵神学院学生每周日到教堂实习时，他就安排到自己家里吃住。孙长老说，他到江苏一些城市开会、走访时，经常有牧者会让他给师母带信问好，因为他们还记得师母当年烧的美味菜肴。
当教会从神学院迎来了新的传道人时，孙长老夫妇会努力帮助安顿。丹阳教会的杭牧师，当初刚到丹阳福音堂时，孙长老家接待了一个月，还为她预备了生活用品。丹阳福音堂的青年牧师崔虎，是孙长老夫妇乘面包车去金陵神学院接过来的。
“没有见证的教会是死的。”孙长老说道，“要见证自己亲身经历的事情，不能做假见证。”
即便如今已经80岁了，孙长老还是坚持一个月到基层教会讲道两到三次，近处的教会他骑电动车前往，远处的就乘公交车或者让家人开车带着去。
对于自己能够一生持守住基督信仰并且始终是义工服侍，孙长老归功于两方面：
儿时信仰环境的影响——有宣教士利他的爱，有基督徒养父母对信仰的虔诚以及对他的爱，还有教会中弟兄姐妹之间的彼此相爱；
另外一方面更重要，就是神的恩典以及对神的敬畏：“我们付出的，与神对我们的爱不相称，因为神赐给我们的爱胜过我们的付出。耶稣说他将来还要再来，审判活人死人，那时我是否可以达到标准？”
孙长老目前最急切的盼望是，教会中的年轻人以及他家族中的后代可以传承基督信仰：“我老了，历史使命完成了，现在要把接力棒交给年轻人了。”
【特稿】江苏丹阳80岁孙兆成长老：这信仰我守住了
“Some people don't believe it firmly and some take it casually. In the Christian faith, I am determined to believe to the end,” said the 80-year-old Elder Sun Zhaocheng when recalling his more than 70 years' walks with the Lord.
These brief confessions summed up how he was dedicated to the church as a child similar to the story of Samuel; his hard work acknowledged by his community; the running of building churches in urban areas and grass-roots churches; and the “shepherd” life for believers.
From 1988 to 2017, Elder Sun served as the chairman of the Danyang Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement for 30 years, during which he also served as the vice-chairman and vice president of the Zhenjiang Christian Council for many years. He was a member of the CPPCC National Committee and a member of the Standing Committee of Danyang Municipal Committee on behalf of religion.
Childhood: "Samuel" living in the church
In 1893, the American Methodist missionaries came to Danyang to preach the gospel. Missionaries established Danyang Gospel Church in Xinmin West Road. Born in 1892, Sun Guowen and his wife, Jiang Aidao, joined the Gospel Church in 1943 and served as volunteers. Sun was responsible for taking care of the plants of the church, while his wife assisted a full-time female pastor Zhang Mude (Chinese name) by doing her needlework.
Little Sun went to church with his foster parents, the Sun couple, at an early age, and was baptized at the age of eight. He recalled his experience in Sunday school with a smile, “Someone asked me if I believed in Jesus. I replied yes! There were sweets, milk, biscuits, and clothes. I used to sit on a small bench, clap hands and sing. I never had hunger.”
When Sun was in primary school, he lived in the church. At that time, there was a pastor’s building behind the church that also included an annex building where he lived. Because he was adopted, he was dedicated to the church to serve the church, which was similar to Samuel’s experience in the Bible. So, Pastor Zhang named him "Samuel".
Little "Samuel" was responsible for closing the windows and doors every night in the church and opening the doors after getting up in the morning. After each evening prayer meeting, he would turn the lights off and close the doors.
From the lives of missionaries and believers, he accepted the truth that “more blessed is giving than receiving”, and he took deep roots in his faith.
At that time, the scene of Christians loving each other made it unforgettable to him. Elder Sun was born in 1942. Before 1949, when there was a shortage of supplies, people often had little to eat. At that time, when food was scarce, his foster parents often gave vegetables and food from their home to the church. Everyone made an effort to reach out a helping hand to any believers with family difficulties.
“At that time, a cauldron was built at the gate of the church, where gruel was made, and the believers in rural areas brought side dishes in. Anyone in need could come and eat. My father was responsible for cooking porridge, and I helped to add firewood.” Sun said, “At that time, there was special love in the church and I was greatly influenced.”
In addition to the apparent love, Elder Sun also saw the sacrifices made by pastors to preach the gospel. A local pastor couple (Pastor Si Wuming and his wife, Liu Lude, a teacher) preached there and at the same time, the wife did sewing work to make a living. Even so, whenever Samuel visited them, they treated him with warm hospitality.
When studying in junior high school, Sun left Danyang Gospel Church where he had lived for several years, but he went back to the church every Saturday to open the doors of the church on Sunday morning. He also attended Sunday worship in the church. In addition, because the pastoral staff couldn’t understand the Danyang dialect, he would accompany them to visit believers' homes that were in the more rural areas.
Be conscientious in the workplace and acknowledged by leaders and colleagues
After graduating from junior high school, he entered another stage of his life, the workplace. Through hard work, he made his beliefs clearly visible to his colleagues and leaders.
In the machinery industry he worked for, he was a leader in many respects. In 1993, under the policy of town planning through science and technology, he served as the vice president of a township enterprise, and after that, he worked as a teacher in a technical school for more than ten years.
Elder Sun’s Danyang state-owned workplace had nearly 2,000 employees, and the workshop he was responsible for specialised in complex types of work such as metalworking and electronics. During that period, he worked all year round. If the equipment broke down, he had to repair it in the middle of the night, and he also had to carry out major equipment maintenance on holidays.
When talking about that experience, his wife gave great opinion, “He didn’t care about anything at home, and he didn’t care about the children’s studies. I had to take care of the housework when I was pregnant.” In this regard, Sun felt indebted to his wife in his later years and spent as much time with his family as possible to make up for it.
Sun’s son was in the same department as him, and he was very strict with his son. When his son was late for work, he would deduct his son’s salary, and his son would complain to his mother when he got back home. When his son was rated as an advanced worker, he worried that this was related to his position as the workshop director, so he removed his son's quota and gave it to other workers.
Sun said that among the 2,000 people in the whole factory, only he was a Christian. Every Sunday, even if it was necessary to work overtime, the factory director would take the initiative to say to him, “Go to church to say Amen.”
When a grass-roots church staff member went to the factory to look for him to build a church, he had to register the time that he entered the factory, and he also needed to register when he left. However, when the doorman heard that he was looking for Elder Sun, the doorman said, “an ‘Amen-person’ is here” and just let him in.
His work occupied most of his time. However, his experience played a great role in promoting the construction of churches in Danyang city and grassroots churches.
For 20 years, he promoted the construction of 17 churches.
After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, churches all over the country resumed their services one after another. By then, Danyang Gospel Church was occupied by Minsheng Printing Factory. Several believers and Sun had to hold a family service at a sister’s house in Qiaojia Lane, Danyang. Slowly, the number of church members increased to more than 30. The room was too small for normal activities.
In 1984, they hoped to resume gatherings in the church but this expectation fell through. In the end, the church received compensation of 9,000 Yuan from Minsheng Printing Factory, and the government purchased an old factory of optical instruments and transformed it into an evangelical church.
Ten years later, the church had between 200 and 300 believers, and the old church couldn’t fulfill the meeting requirements. Moreover, the old church had become a dangerous building and urgently needed to be demolished in order to be able to build a new church.
In June 2006, the Gospel Church acquired 5 mu (0.82 acres) of land to rebuild the new building. The new church was under construction in August 2007, was completed in August 2008, and opened for use in November of that year. With a constructed area of 1,842 square meters (2.76 acres) and a height of 32.8 meters, the church can accommodate more than 1,000 people.
Today’s Gospel Church is the first church that was promoted by the Elder Sun. He still remembers the original construction scene, “What a pain!”
Danyang Gospel Church was adjacent to a mosque, and both of them obtained land for religious sites at the same time. After getting the land grant, Elder Sun put up stakes on the dividing line between them overnight to prevent disputes over the land later.
There was a swine farm behind the church, and 200 plague-affected pigs were thrown into the land where the mosque was planned to be built. After Sun discovered it, he was worried that the Muslims would not want this land anymore, meaning that the land for the church may not be guaranteed either. So, they asked excavators to take the dead pigs away and bury them early in the morning.
Next to the church was a vegetable field. Because of where the church building was situated, rainwater poured into the vegetable field. Farmers pushed down the wall of the church twice. Elder Sun quickly dug the diversion canal to solve this problem.
The location of the church is low-lying, and Sun still clearly remembers that at that time, more than 900 trucks of earth were removed, and 3,000 pillars were driven and irrigated.
In order to ensure the quality of the project, sometimes he held a flashlight at night to check the steel specifications for construction.
When the construction quality was being checked, he used to hold out in the open air at the construction site until dawn.
There was heavy rain when putting up a cross on the top of the church. Elder Sun asked believers to pray on the ground. He climbed to the top with a red stainless-steel cross on his back to put it in place.
The church was built almost from scratch, funded by the constructor, and it cost more than two million Yuan. It took two or three years to pay off the debt after the church was built.
In addition to the tithes and offerings of believers in this church, the funds for building the building also came from the contributions of various grass-roots churches in Danyang. Elder Sun rode a motorcycle to preach in the grassroots churches and raised funds for the gospel church. Some churches donated 20,000 Yuan, others donated 30,000 Yuan, all in cash. He rode a motorcycle back to the church.
In the process of building the church, Elder Sun sometimes became ill. When he saw so many high-rise buildings in the streets, he would think, since God is the Almighty who created everything in the world, why is it so difficult to grant land and raise funds for building churches? Later, during a service, he realized that prayer was useful, and building a church was different from building ordinary buildings in the streets and had eternal significance.
He also made design drawings of many churches in Danyang and went through the relevant formalities.
When it came to the design of churches, Elder Sun couldn’t help but get excited, saying that every church he designed had its own characteristics and was different. It was a difficult job for most people, but as a mechanical engineer, he thought it was simple. “Architectural drawings are much simpler than mechanical drawings”. Some church drawings took a day or two to complete, while others could take up to a week. Elder Sun enjoyed it. “I could stay up all night drawing.”
Elder Sun talked about the design of the Gospel Church: it was originally planned to be Gothic, so the cost was too high, and it required 5 million Yuan – thus, some changes were made. The pillars on the wall behind the inner sanctuary of the church and under the cross at the top of the church were designed to be like the walls of Jerusalem. A pair of doves of peace with olive branches were arranged on the facade wall of the church. A screen was set up at the entrance of the church, on which the picture of the last supper is now displayed. The main church seating tiers are set to an incline of 40 degrees so that the believers behind can see the podium clearly.
After the completion of the new church, churches in various villages and towns began to reconstruct one after another, and Elder Sun continued to run for this purpose. In the process of building the church, the quality of the building was assured by his expertise. During the construction of Danyang Yacheng Evangelical Church, he found that the builder cut corners and immediately pointed out the problems of the builder. The person responsible for the builder found Elder Sun and bribed him 60,000 Yuan to cover up the defect. Elder Sun strongly disagreed, saying that it was to build a temple for God, so he dared not accept it. In the end, the builder had to tear down that part and rebuild it according to the drawings. In this way, the solicited constructor lost more than 100,000 Yuan.
When asked what the most difficult part in the process was of building the churches, the Elder’s answer surprised me - “getting along with sisters”. He said that as a 40-50-year-old brother, he always had to deal with some female believers and took them to work. That made him embarrassed and worried as others might gossip. To this end, he paid special attention when working with females. If he wanted to go to a place together, he would not take female believers with him by motorcycle but let them take the bus by themselves. In this way, he served in every way possible without any possible blames for his lifestyle.
In this way, the elder spent twenty years helping construct 17 churches in Danyang.
Not giving up pastoral care even at an old age
Sun was assigned as an elder on September 22, 1996. He said that he was the first clergyman assigned by Zhenjiang Church after the reform and opening up in China, and his pastor register number was “Su LF0001”. Because of the lack of clergy at that time, his service burden was heavy.
In addition to preaching in Gospel Church, the Elder often rode a motorcycle to preach in various township churches. He said that some township churches were 10-20 kilometers away from Danyang city, and the farthest church he went to was Huangtang Town Church, which was about 40 kilometers away from the city, and they all rode motorcycles.
One winter, the elder rode to preach in Xinqiao Church, 256 kilometers away from the city and fell down at a slippery intersection of a hotel. Fortunately, he was protected, so he got up quickly. Before the motorcycle turned off, he continued on his way and caught up with the service on time.
“No matter if it’s windy, rainy or snowy weather, as long as you promise, you will definitely go because there is a congregation waiting there.”
When talking about the key to the development of the church, he talked about three elements: praying with one’s heart and mind, visiting and testifying, summarizing his own faith and service experiences.
Elder Sun stressed many times that “sincere prayer was useful”. The prayer that Sun talked about included behavior. He believed that people couldn’t just pray in church every day to ask God to increase the number of believers but should act after prayer. He gave an example. If you wanted a good harvest, you needed to sow seeds and fertilize them.
Regarding visiting fellow believers, Elder Sun pointed out that its essence was love. After the visit, the church could be revived. When a believer didn’t attend a Sunday service, a church worker would visit his house the following week.
While doing a good job of visiting, Elder Sun and his wife were particularly willing to receive visitors. When students of Jinling Theological Seminary went to the church for an internship every Sunday, they arranged for them to eat and live in their own home. Elder Sun said that when he went to some cities in Jiangsu for meetings and visits, pastors often asked him to say hello to his wife because they still remembered the delicious dishes cooked by his wife earlier that year.
When the church welcomed newly graduated pastors from theological seminaries, Mr. and Mrs. Sun would try their best to help them settle down. When pastor Hang of Danyang Church first arrived at Danyang Evangelical Church, Elder Sun’s family put her up for a month and also prepared daily necessities for her. Cui Hu, the young pastor of Danyang Evangelical Church, was picked up by Mr. and Mrs. Sun. The couple drove their van to Jinling Theological Seminary.
“A church without testimony is dead.” Sun said, “One is to testify what one experienced personally. No false testimonies should be given.”
Even though he is 80 years old now, the elder still sticks to preaching to the grassroots church two or three times a month. He rides an electric bike to churches near him and takes a bus or has his family take him to the distant ones.
For being able to hold the Christian faith all his life and always serve as a volunteer, Elder Sun owed it to two aspects: the influence of childhood belief environment - the altruistic love of missionaries, the piety of Christian foster parents and their love for him, and the mutual love between brothers and sisters in the church; on the other hand, what was more important was God’s grace and awe. “What we give is not commensurate with God’s love for us because God’s love for us is better than what we give. Jesus said that he would come again in the future to judge the living and the dead. Can I meet the requirement then?” he added.
The highest hope of Elder Sun at present was that the young people in the church and the descendants in his family can inherit the Christian faith. “I am old. The historical mission has been completed, and now I have to give the baton to the young people,” he concluded.
-Translated by Charlie Li
[Feature] Elder Sun Zhaocheng Who Serves in Danyang for Decades: 'I’ve Kept the Faith'
