As the COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for more than two years and religious policies have tightly restricted online services, in what direction should the Chinese church develop?
The past 20 years have seen great changes in the Chinese church in terms of the form of gatherings and the number of attendees. Many family church pastors have stepped out of the community and adapted their pastoral strategies. They began to advocate purchasing large buildings as meeting places, emphasizing more on the number of attendance and the amount of donations, but at the same time slowly diluting the universal missionary enthusiasm and the ambition of suffering for the Lord. Twenty years have passed, how is the development of the Chinese church now?
Under the impact of the pandemic in the past two years, on-site church meetings have been suddenly shifted to online. Believers listen to the sermon of the church at home, which makes it more convenient for them to participate in online gatherings. On the other hand, the loss of the number of worshipers in the field and group learning is on the rise.
At one time, large church buildings and attendance number that those church leaders were obsessed with seemed to have lost its former glory. Whether it is the pandemic or the tightening of the general environment, this is a process of refining the growth of Chinese churches in the past 20 years. Pastors in Chinese churches need to understand God’s good intentions, so as to turn to the path that suits God’s heart and serve the church.
When church leaders emphasize the size and number of the church, do they still stick to the believing tradition of the early church in the bible, abiding by the words of God and a heart determined to suffer for the Lord?
I once heard such a testimony: "There was a sister who once studied with her half-sister in the Catholic Church. Later, the older sister had a good social status. The older one told the younger that as long as the younger didn’t become a pastor, she would find her a good job. If the younger continued to be a pastor, they would never see each other again. During the Great Cultural Revolution, the older sister distanced herself from her. Later, the younger sister and her husband were imprisoned for more than 20 years from when they were still young. After being released from prison, the couple were alone and went to a place to minister the elderly group. Later, when the sister was paralyzed in bed, she often said three things to visitors: 'What do you do? Do you have a call from God? Being a pastor is a blessed road on which you should walk well.'"
This testimony shows an elderly female Christian who has given up her great future in order to be loyal to the Lord Christ. Her beautiful youth was spent in prison and she is paralyzed in bed in older years, while others take care of her. In such an encounter, she can peacefully say that being a pastor is a blessed road on which to walk well. That makes the people present encouraged and in tears.
The vitality conveyed by her ordinary words is very penetrating because her life has had this experience. Her words and deeds and her charisma in Christ have influenced many young church leaders.
What the church in China lacks today is not a magnificent building or a gushing pastor. What it lacks today is the pastors and believers who use their lives to influence others’ lives. Similarly, speaking out from the mouths of those who have not experienced faith is completely different from speaking out from the mouth of this old sister. A pastor who has experienced the cross and resurrection can pass on the life of Christ, and the Chinese church needs to cultivate more such energetic pastors and believers, which is the future and hope of the Chinese church.
In the church environment where the material level begins to be richer and more comfortable, many pastors have church industries. At the same time, some pastors have lost their enthusiasm for missionary work and motivation for disciple training, which is an urgent problem for Chinese churches. However, it is hard to wake the sleeping pastor by man. The emergence of today’s environment must have been permitted by God, and I believe God has a reason for it. When more and more pastor leaders and believers face hardships, their beliefs can be experienced more pious, and they simply love the Lord and the Lord as one. If there are only two choices for a church leader, one is a high salary and the other is jail, what would you choose at this time? Paul said, “The humiliation suffered by Christ is more precious than gold and silver.”
When a pastor goes everywhere, he thinks about enjoyment first. This is the spiritual sleep of the church. Such a pastor should come to God to repent. What the present church lacks is the piety and observance of God’s words to the first generation church, and the people who have been trained will have the same problem, that is, the lack of good faith tradition.
In the early days, pastors and believers of Chinese family churches were very awed by God’s words and they were determined to keep it. This is the root-like core that is missing in the pastoral and inheritance of Chinese churches today. A man once said, “When Christ calls a man, he commands him to die.” This man was a famous theologian, priest and martyr in World War II. When he was 39 years old, he was martyred for sticking to the values of Christ. His faith testimonials and theological works influenced a generation of Christians, also known as the conscience of the German church.
Today, God will refine His church. Whether as pastor leaders or ordinary believers, we all need to ask ourselves: “Am I the project of gold, silver and precious stones, or the project of grass and straw? Am I ready to be persecuted for Christ’s sake?” When Chinese church pastors and believers return to the state of faith in the Lord Christ of the early church again, the revival of Chinese churches is just around the corner, and its influence on the world gospel mission will reach a new height.
- Translated by Charlie Li
从持续两年多的疫情，再到互联网宗教政策的收紧，在大环境不断压缩的今天，中国的教会的发展该何去何从？
在过去的20年里，中国的教会从聚会的形式到聚会的人数都发生了很大的变化。很多家庭教会的牧者们从社区中走出来，开始改变他们的牧会策略。他们开始崇尚购买大型的建筑物做聚会堂点，更加注重聚会的人数和奉献金额的规模，却慢慢淡化了普世宣教热情和为主受苦的心志。20年过去了，如今中国教会发展的如何呢？
在这两年的疫情的冲击下，教会的聚会形式一下子从实地的聚会来到了网络上。信徒们在家收听教会的讲道，可以更加方便参加网络聚会。而对于实地敬拜和小组学习人数的流失情况，却是呈上升的趋势。
曾经，那些教会领袖们所执着于教会的建筑和人数的复兴似乎已经失去了往日的辉煌。无论是疫情，还是大环境的收紧，这是对中国教会过去20年成长的一次炼净的过程。中国教会的牧者们需要明白神的良苦用心，从而回转到合神心意的道路中来事奉他的教会。
在教会牧者领袖强调教会规模的复兴、人数的复兴的时候，教会领袖们是否依然坚守着圣经中初代教会的信仰传统——敬虔、谨守遵行神的话语和一颗立志为主受苦的心呢？
笔者曾经听过这样一个见证：“有一个老姊妹，曾经和同父异母的姐姐一起在天主教会一起读书。后期，姐姐有很好的社会地位，有一次和她姐姐见面时，姐姐对她说，只要你不做传道人，我给你找个很好的工作。如果你继续坚持做传道人，我们就老死不相往来了。文革的时候，她姐姐与她划清界限。后来这个老姊妹和丈夫在年轻的时候坐牢20多年，出狱后，夫妻两个人孤苦伶仃，到一个地方做老年群体的牧养。老姊妹后来瘫痪在床，常常对访客说三句话：“你是做什么的？你有上帝的呼召吗？做传道人这是一条蒙福的道路，你要好好走。”
这个见证所呈现的是一个信主的老姊妹，她为了忠贞于主基督，年轻的时候放弃了大好的前程，把美好的青春年华摆在了监狱里，年老了瘫痪在床，别人来照顾她。在这样的遭遇里，她却可以平安的说道，做传道人是一条蒙福的路，好好走。让在场的人，备受鼓舞，潸然泪下。
她讲这平凡的几句话，所传递的生命力是非常有穿透力的，因为她的生命经历过这个历练。她的言传身教，她在基督里面的感召力，影响了很多年轻一代的教会领袖。
今天的中国教会，缺少的不是有规模华丽的教堂，也不是滔滔不绝的讲道人，今天教会缺乏的是，用生命影响生命的牧者和信徒，同样的话，在没有经历过信仰历练的人口里讲出来和在这个老姊妹的口里讲出来，是完全不一样的影响力。一个经历过十字架和复活的牧者，这样的人可以传递基督的生命，中国教会需要培养更多这样有生命力的牧者和信徒，这才是中国教会的未来与希望。
对于在物质层面开始富足安逸的教会大环境里，很多的牧者都有了教会产业，与此同时，大部分的牧者都去了宣教的热情和门徒培训的动力,这是中国教会亟待解决的问题。但是通过人来叫醒，已经睡着的牧者是很难的。今天的大环境的出现，一定是神允许的，相信是有神的理由的。当越来越多的牧者领袖和信徒们面对苦难的时候，他们的信仰才能够被历练的更加敬虔，单纯爱主与主合二为一。 如果面对一个教会领袖的只有两条路可以选择，一边是高官俸禄，一边是牢狱之灾，这个时候你会怎么选择呢？保罗说：“看为基督所受的凌辱，比金银更宝贵。”
当一个牧者到哪里，都先想着享受，这是教会灵性沉睡的问题，这样的牧者要来到神的面前悔改。现在的教会缺少的是初期教会的那种对神的话语的敬虔和遵守，那所培养出来的人也会有同样的问题，就是美好信仰传统的缺失。
早期，中国家庭教会的牧者和信徒对神的话语是非常敬畏的，是有着谨守遵行的决心，这就是今天中国教会在牧养与传承的时候缺失的根一样的核心。有一个人曾说过这样一句话 “当基督呼召一个人时，祂是吩咐他来死。”这个人就是二战时期著名的神学家、牧师、殉道者朋霍费尔，他39岁的时候，为坚守基督的价值观而殉道，他的信仰见证和所留下的神学著作影响了一代基督徒，也被称为德国教会的良心。
今天，神要炼净他的教会。无论是作为牧者领袖，还是普通的信徒，我们都需要问自己：“我是金银宝石的工程，还是草木禾秸的工程。为基督受死的心志，我是否已经准备好为基督的缘故受逼迫呢？” 当中国的教会牧者和信徒再次回归到初代教会对主基督敬虔的信仰状态时，中国教会的复兴就指日可待了，对世界福音宣教的影响力也会来到一个全新的高度。
反思| 今日教会当承继初代教会对基督话语的敬虔与谨守的精神
As the COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for more than two years and religious policies have tightly restricted online services, in what direction should the Chinese church develop?
The past 20 years have seen great changes in the Chinese church in terms of the form of gatherings and the number of attendees. Many family church pastors have stepped out of the community and adapted their pastoral strategies. They began to advocate purchasing large buildings as meeting places, emphasizing more on the number of attendance and the amount of donations, but at the same time slowly diluting the universal missionary enthusiasm and the ambition of suffering for the Lord. Twenty years have passed, how is the development of the Chinese church now?
Under the impact of the pandemic in the past two years, on-site church meetings have been suddenly shifted to online. Believers listen to the sermon of the church at home, which makes it more convenient for them to participate in online gatherings. On the other hand, the loss of the number of worshipers in the field and group learning is on the rise.
At one time, large church buildings and attendance number that those church leaders were obsessed with seemed to have lost its former glory. Whether it is the pandemic or the tightening of the general environment, this is a process of refining the growth of Chinese churches in the past 20 years. Pastors in Chinese churches need to understand God’s good intentions, so as to turn to the path that suits God’s heart and serve the church.
When church leaders emphasize the size and number of the church, do they still stick to the believing tradition of the early church in the bible, abiding by the words of God and a heart determined to suffer for the Lord?
I once heard such a testimony: "There was a sister who once studied with her half-sister in the Catholic Church. Later, the older sister had a good social status. The older one told the younger that as long as the younger didn’t become a pastor, she would find her a good job. If the younger continued to be a pastor, they would never see each other again. During the Great Cultural Revolution, the older sister distanced herself from her. Later, the younger sister and her husband were imprisoned for more than 20 years from when they were still young. After being released from prison, the couple were alone and went to a place to minister the elderly group. Later, when the sister was paralyzed in bed, she often said three things to visitors: 'What do you do? Do you have a call from God? Being a pastor is a blessed road on which you should walk well.'"
This testimony shows an elderly female Christian who has given up her great future in order to be loyal to the Lord Christ. Her beautiful youth was spent in prison and she is paralyzed in bed in older years, while others take care of her. In such an encounter, she can peacefully say that being a pastor is a blessed road on which to walk well. That makes the people present encouraged and in tears.
The vitality conveyed by her ordinary words is very penetrating because her life has had this experience. Her words and deeds and her charisma in Christ have influenced many young church leaders.
What the church in China lacks today is not a magnificent building or a gushing pastor. What it lacks today is the pastors and believers who use their lives to influence others’ lives. Similarly, speaking out from the mouths of those who have not experienced faith is completely different from speaking out from the mouth of this old sister. A pastor who has experienced the cross and resurrection can pass on the life of Christ, and the Chinese church needs to cultivate more such energetic pastors and believers, which is the future and hope of the Chinese church.
In the church environment where the material level begins to be richer and more comfortable, many pastors have church industries. At the same time, some pastors have lost their enthusiasm for missionary work and motivation for disciple training, which is an urgent problem for Chinese churches. However, it is hard to wake the sleeping pastor by man. The emergence of today’s environment must have been permitted by God, and I believe God has a reason for it. When more and more pastor leaders and believers face hardships, their beliefs can be experienced more pious, and they simply love the Lord and the Lord as one. If there are only two choices for a church leader, one is a high salary and the other is jail, what would you choose at this time? Paul said, “The humiliation suffered by Christ is more precious than gold and silver.”
When a pastor goes everywhere, he thinks about enjoyment first. This is the spiritual sleep of the church. Such a pastor should come to God to repent. What the present church lacks is the piety and observance of God’s words to the first generation church, and the people who have been trained will have the same problem, that is, the lack of good faith tradition.
In the early days, pastors and believers of Chinese family churches were very awed by God’s words and they were determined to keep it. This is the root-like core that is missing in the pastoral and inheritance of Chinese churches today. A man once said, “When Christ calls a man, he commands him to die.” This man was a famous theologian, priest and martyr in World War II. When he was 39 years old, he was martyred for sticking to the values of Christ. His faith testimonials and theological works influenced a generation of Christians, also known as the conscience of the German church.
Today, God will refine His church. Whether as pastor leaders or ordinary believers, we all need to ask ourselves: “Am I the project of gold, silver and precious stones, or the project of grass and straw? Am I ready to be persecuted for Christ’s sake?” When Chinese church pastors and believers return to the state of faith in the Lord Christ of the early church again, the revival of Chinese churches is just around the corner, and its influence on the world gospel mission will reach a new height.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Today’s Church Should Inherit the Spirit of Piety, Observe Christ’s Instructions as the Early Church Did
