Born in the countryside beside a developed coastal city, Brother L in East China hopes to help his hometown rural church to transform into a small group pastoral congregation within seven years. "While Jesus spent three and a half years cultivating disciples, I want to spend twice as much time cultivating the Lord's disciples," the Gen Z preacher said.
Since childhood, Brother L often went to attend church meetings held at his grandparents' house. Since he started to learn to read, he has participated in some simple ministries in the church.
A year ago, Brother L resolutely chose to return to a rural church in his hometown to serve and care for elderly people all day. In today's rapid urbanization process in China, this is an unusual scenario.
A Chinese online Christian media outlet, the Christian Times, interviewed Brother L about why he chose to serve in a rural church rather than woke full-time in a city church.
Brother L gave three reasons for choosing the home church. He thinks that the church in his hometown has always treated him well, and has always supported him. Additionally, he said, "I'm scared that if I serve outside, one day my grandparents will return to their heavenly home and I won't be able to get back in time. "As for the third reason, the young church worker noted that he was considering marriage. Her girlfriend worked full-time in his hometown at the time.
Brother L recalled taking a minivan every week for a six-hour round trip to another place for ministry while studying theology at the first seminary, most of those six hours spent on rural roads.
Later, he went to another seminary in another place, and often went to the rural church to participate in the ministry. To reach there, he had to take a bus, train and walk.
Due to the vast differences between the countryside and the city, he said, “I never imagined myself as a famous pastor, but just wished to serve solidly.”
At the same time, Brother L shared, "I used to be able to communicate well with young people but not with old people, but later I found that I am now able to communicate well with old people. During my theology studies, I pastored elderly people in two cities. This should also be an early preparation from God for me.
He added that it is not difficult to pastor the elderly. "There is a saying that the elderly behave almost like children because what the elderly want is very simple, just chat with them and have heart-to-heart communication and they don't expect much. I think it is very important to serve with love. I want to treat them as my grandparents, then all is not a problem.”
However, there are still many problems in pastoral ministry. For example, because the background of each believer is different, many elderly people are illiterate and cannot understand Bible passages. Therefore, during the pastoral ministry, Brother L had to guide them hand in hand and teach them to read and so on. Then during the Bible study, such as an hour of Bible study, he would spend about 40 minutes studying the Bible, and then the remaining 20 minutes would be used for communication. He would instruct them on how to practice it—for example, how to study a Bible passage, what it said to the people of the old generation, what it means to us today, and how we should understand and how to practice it.
Now that a year has passed, he has seen many changes and growth in the church. However, since the problem of the preacher's salary and support has not been resolved, he has to find a way to run a business to support himself.
- Translated by Richard Zou
说起自己的负担，华东L弟兄他希望扎根这里七年，用七年的时间帮助这个乡村教会转型成小组牧养的教会。“耶稣当年用了3年半培养门徒，我没有耶稣的水平，所以我想用2倍的时间来在这里做小组培养主的门徒。“
L弟兄的老家在一较发达沿海城市下面的乡村，从小时候起，常常在爷爷奶奶的家聚会。因为已经开始上学识字了，L弟兄就在教会里面参与一些简单的服事。
去年，神学毕业以后，L弟兄毅然决然地选择回到老家的一所乡村教会服事，成天跟一群老年人打交道。这在中国城市化进程迅速推进的今天，是一个并不常见的情形。(==当summary)
L弟兄为什么没有选择城市教会，而是毅然决定到乡村教会全职服事呢？
一个中国线上基督教媒体 基督时报采访了L弟兄。
L弟兄回答了选择老家教会的三个方面的理由。第一个理由就是他认为老家教会对他一向很好，“一直很支持他；第二个理由就是现在爷爷奶奶的年纪都上来了，L弟兄说“我怕我在外面服事的话，万一哪天爷爷奶奶回天家了，我都没办法即时赶回来。”至于第三个理由，L弟兄说是当时是因为考虑婚姻问题，曾经L弟兄的女朋友也在L弟兄的老家这边全职服事。
L弟兄说以前在第一所神学院读神学的时候，有一段时间每周都会乘坐小面包车往返6个小时到另外一个地方服事，这6个小时，其中大部分时间都是在城市外面乡村的道路上。后来L弟兄去往另一个地方的另外一所神学院读书，但是也经常去乡村教会参与服事。通过公交、火车、公交、走路，才到达了那所乡村教会。面对乡村与城市的巨大落差，他说“我从来没有想着要做什么名牧，只想着踏踏实实的服事”。同时，L弟兄分享说，“我以前的时候跟年轻人会很聊得来，跟老年人交流不了，但是后来我发现我现在跟老年人反而会很聊得来。在读神学期间，在两个城市牧养的都是老年人群体。这应该也是上帝对我的一个提前预备吧。”
牧养老年人有什么难处吗？L弟兄的答案是其实不算难。“有一句话说老年人其实很像孩子，因为老年人他们要的很简单，就是跟他们说话一起谈谈心、聊聊天就可以，他们要的也不多。我觉得带着爱的服事很重要，我要把他们当做我的爷爷奶奶，那么一切都不是问题。“
但实际的牧养过程中还是出现了许多的问题。比如，由于过去的历史背景原因，很多上了岁数的老年人都不识字，理解能力也有所欠缺。因此L弟兄在牧养过程当中，不得不经常手把手的引导他们，教他们认字等。然后查经的时候，比如一个小时查经的时间，L弟兄会用大概40分钟时间进行查经，然后剩下的20分钟用来交流。指导他们如何应用——比如一段经文，对当时的人说的是什么意思，对今天的我们来说又是什么意思，然后我们又应当如何理解和应用这段经文。
如今，一年过去，他看到教会很多改变和成长，但因传道人薪资和供养问题没有解决，因此他也不得不自己想办法营商来供养自己。
https://christiantimes.cn/news/37318
特写| 回到乡村：一名95后年轻传道人的服事选择之路
Born in the countryside beside a developed coastal city, Brother L in East China hopes to help his hometown rural church to transform into a small group pastoral congregation within seven years. "While Jesus spent three and a half years cultivating disciples, I want to spend twice as much time cultivating the Lord's disciples," the Gen Z preacher said.
Since childhood, Brother L often went to attend church meetings held at his grandparents' house. Since he started to learn to read, he has participated in some simple ministries in the church.
A year ago, Brother L resolutely chose to return to a rural church in his hometown to serve and care for elderly people all day. In today's rapid urbanization process in China, this is an unusual scenario.
A Chinese online Christian media outlet, the Christian Times, interviewed Brother L about why he chose to serve in a rural church rather than woke full-time in a city church.
Brother L gave three reasons for choosing the home church. He thinks that the church in his hometown has always treated him well, and has always supported him. Additionally, he said, "I'm scared that if I serve outside, one day my grandparents will return to their heavenly home and I won't be able to get back in time. "As for the third reason, the young church worker noted that he was considering marriage. Her girlfriend worked full-time in his hometown at the time.
Brother L recalled taking a minivan every week for a six-hour round trip to another place for ministry while studying theology at the first seminary, most of those six hours spent on rural roads.
Later, he went to another seminary in another place, and often went to the rural church to participate in the ministry. To reach there, he had to take a bus, train and walk.
Due to the vast differences between the countryside and the city, he said, “I never imagined myself as a famous pastor, but just wished to serve solidly.”
At the same time, Brother L shared, "I used to be able to communicate well with young people but not with old people, but later I found that I am now able to communicate well with old people. During my theology studies, I pastored elderly people in two cities. This should also be an early preparation from God for me.
He added that it is not difficult to pastor the elderly. "There is a saying that the elderly behave almost like children because what the elderly want is very simple, just chat with them and have heart-to-heart communication and they don't expect much. I think it is very important to serve with love. I want to treat them as my grandparents, then all is not a problem.”
However, there are still many problems in pastoral ministry. For example, because the background of each believer is different, many elderly people are illiterate and cannot understand Bible passages. Therefore, during the pastoral ministry, Brother L had to guide them hand in hand and teach them to read and so on. Then during the Bible study, such as an hour of Bible study, he would spend about 40 minutes studying the Bible, and then the remaining 20 minutes would be used for communication. He would instruct them on how to practice it—for example, how to study a Bible passage, what it said to the people of the old generation, what it means to us today, and how we should understand and how to practice it.
Now that a year has passed, he has seen many changes and growth in the church. However, since the problem of the preacher's salary and support has not been resolved, he has to find a way to run a business to support himself.
- Translated by Richard Zou
Feature: Gen Z Preacher Chooses to Go Back to the Countryside
