We had long heard of Sun Yaowu, a faithful servant who has devoted his whole life to God living in Shanxi Province.
Devoting to ministry
Born in a farmer’s family in Village Xingpo, Guanghua Town, Xiangning County, Linfen, Sun came to Christ at the age of 22.
He encountered the Lord Jesus when occasionally passing by Gucheng Church located in Xiangfen County. He was baptized in that church in 1961 and then preached the gospel to his fellow villagers. At that time, there were no bibles for the local believers. He wrote to CCC&TSPM and later received more than ten copies of the Bible. Afterward, the number of the congregation grew to more than 100. That spring, the local authorities suppressed the church until all religious activities were suspended in 1967. The number of the congregation decreased to over ten.
After 1980 when the policy of religious freedom started to be complemented in China, he read the reopening news of churches in other places on Heavenly Wind, the flagship magazine of the TSPM church. The church was reopened after he talked with Shanxi CC&TSPM. The number of members increased from 270 in June 1983 to 360 at the end of that year. The leadership of the registered church in Xiangning County was established in 1986 and he was elected as the chairman of the county TSPM. He went on to preach the gospel in more than ten surrounding counties and cities such as Xinjiang and Wanrong.
His ministry took unexpected turns. A five-day large gathering of more than 500 Christians from surrounding counties was temporarily held at a primary school classroom due to no proper venue. It was reported to the regional bureau of religious affairs. What’s more, the slogan of the meeting was pasted on a telephone pole on the street rather than side a “place of worship”, causing him to be warned by the police.
There were also twists and turns in getting the church property back. Zhang Shouyi, the founder of Xiangning Church during the last Qing Dynasty, lived in the church for years and entrusted the church to Gao Deliang who graduated from Hongdong Bible School after his death. The baton was then passed on to Yan Chunfu and his foster daughter Yan Shuzhen succeeded him. In 1951, the foreyard, backyard, and a small building were occupied by a primary school. In 1987, Yan Shuzhen cried that she was helpless to get the property back at 85. Sun Yaowu and the representative of the congregation requested that the police, the united front work department, and the secretary of the county committee would return the property to the church. The request was denied until relevant material was found in the archives. At last, more than 20,000 local Christians had their place of worship in 1996.
God opened a way for the craving of the seal of the county CC&TSPM after the authorities mutually made excuses. Affected by the rife inside the church, most believers left. The church built its building two times and there were many stories.
Sun was ordained as elder in 1996. Growing old, he worked in surrounding churches to preach sermons, exhort members, and serve them. Due to the pandemic and rural migration to cities in the last two years, the membership has declined from more than 300 to over 100.
He has led the construction of five churches in Shaping Village, Taitou County and also built Xingfuhe Church. He writes couplets every Easter and Christmas. Even though it is inconvenient for him to work due to leg pain, he often prays for other believers and exhorts others with the Bible. He has created a WeChat group for the congregation and often forwards devotional articles to them.
Tasting God’s grace
On the day in the second year of his walk with Christ, his wife could not speak. His father-in-law suggested asking a witch to perform a Buddhist ritual, but he resolutely refused. An experienced doctor of traditional Chinese medicine said she was unable to reach a diagnosis, urging them to return home. He heard that a leopard beat several sheep to death, so he had to sing hymns with prayer along the way back home. He saw two lights shining everything around him and there was a thundering voice: “Go back soon!” When he was back, his wife recovered and told him not to step in the vomit.
Once while he was passing by a village, a Chinese scholar tree covered with corn broke its thick branch, but he escaped without injury. He would have been dead if he had walked half a step further. There was a day when he was walking to the church, a mountain man fired a gun and there was a person calling people to hide. Walking too fast to hear the call, he remained safe after the shooting flew with the wind.
During the Cultural Revolution, his property was confiscated. A policeman was secretly sent to monitor him for more than forty days. A relative attempted to persuade him to forsake his faith, but he replied that he could not lie to God or men. He hid a big box of Christian books under a cliff for years. In the 1980s, Nanjing Union Theological Seminary was collecting spiritual books for correspondence and he sent some of the cherished books to the seminary. They were returned later.
Though he only attended literacy classes, he went over five dictionaries time after time and kept reading the Bible, praying, copying the Scripture, and devotional notes. He has written more than ten volumes of book reports and many exegeses and expository sermons.
Imitating God’s faithful servants
Sun also shared testimonies of two brave Christians who deeply influenced him. Chen Kunshan from Jiang County studied in a church school and worked as a Chinese doctor after graduation. Working in Taiyuan Hospital, he was cast into a wolf-dog house by the Japanese army. Kneeling down in prayer with gratitude, none of the seven or eight dogs bit him, like how God shut the mouths of lions for Daniel. Seeing him alive, the Japanese soldiers praised him as a“good citizen”, permitting him to return home.
During the Cultural Revolution, he was criticized for being “a lover of prayer”. Then he was commanded to pray on a high chair for hours in the hot sun. Once more, feeling restless at home, he prayed to God and he was told to preach the gospel. Without a penny, he walked to the bus station and the railway station. It turned out that there was always a person willing to buy a ticket for him.
Zhang Guixiu, a sister from Xi County, was baptized when she was running a business in Gucheng County, Linfen. Back to her hometown at an old age, she founded a church and 100 people came to Christ. During the Cultural Revolution, she was hung with a steel plate that weighed more than 30 kilos on a parade through the streets. The wire was inserted into her neck. Wearing a paper hat that was meant to denounce her, she felt proud of the Lord rather than humiliated. A Red Guard heard her story that a tough Christian would not denounce her faith even after a struggle session. When the church was reopened, he followed Christ. On a visit to her, he burst into tears on the bed immediately after entering the door. Eventually knowing what happened to her during that period, her husband who persecuted her for many years began to believe. When she was dying, she wrote to see the congregation for the last time. Sun, on behalf of the church, rode a bicycle for the whole day over the hills. He had close communication with her.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Karen Luo
早就听说在吕梁山西南的乡宁县光华镇，有一位一生爱主侍奉神的忠心仆人孙耀武。
他出生在光华镇杏坡村一农家，信主时年方二十二岁。
孙耀武第一次听到耶稣，就被主的大爱所吸引，不久他就被神拣选。一次他偶然经过襄汾县的古城教会，听道认识了主稣稣，后于1961年在几十里外的襄汾县古城教会受洗，回到家乡开始传扬福音，当时这里没有人信主，他就开始开荒布道传扬福音。当时信徒没有《圣经》，他写信给全国基督教两会后收到了十余本《圣经》，不久信徒就发展到百余人。当年春天，县里一些部门进行干预阻止，信徒人数下降到十余人，直到1967年彻底停止活动。
1980年后，随着宗教政策的不断落实，他在《天风》杂志看到外地教会陆续恢复的消息，专程去省两会联系，教会活动得以恢复。1983年6月信徒就有270人，到年底就增至360人，各乡镇信主人数都不断增长。1986年教会成立了两会领导班子，他当选为县三自主席。他更加委身奉献，竭力为主传福音，脚踪遍及周边的襄汾、新绛、万荣、大宁、隰县、吉县、侯马市等近十多个县市。
期间也多有波折，次年在七郎庙聚会五天，有周边的曲沃、襄汾、大宁、吉县、乡宁五百余人的大聚会，因无场所临时借用小学教室，被人举报到地区宗教局；在幸福河聚会时，标语贴在街上的电杆上，因不是活动场所，被叫去谈话警告。他坦言虽有拦阻，但更多经历神的恩典。
落实教会房产费尽周折。乡宁教会清末时创始人是张寿义，多年住教会，去世时托付高德亮（洪洞道学院毕业），高去世时又托付闫春福之教会，此后闫春福又培养养女闫淑贞管理教会。前后经历了四代人，1951年前后院和小楼被小学占用。1987年闫淑珍年已85岁，一面哭一面说，想在有生之年看见教会房产落实，而自己又无能为力。看见信徒愿望如此迫切，几年间他和信徒代表多次去见公安、统战甚至时任县委书记，拿着地区行署批文，但是办事人员就是不予落实，直到后来他们又去档案馆找到相关资料，到1996年房产总算是顺利落实，全县两万多信徒，总算有了礼拜的场所。
为刻两会公章，连着几天数次往返临汾乡宁，地区说已经沟通好了，到了县里又说不知道，多次被“推皮球”，最后神开了道路，终于都办成了。后来受到教会纷争影响，大部分信徒被拉走，县教会经历了两次建堂，中间波折经历了很多。
1996年他被按立为长老。他因年老就在周边教会服侍，经常去讲道、劝勉、服侍。原来有300多人，近两年来由于信徒外出打工和疫情影响，现在不足100多人。
他着手筹建台头沙坪教堂5间，又建起幸福河教堂，每年圣诞节复活节亲手书写对联。即使年长腿疼行动不便，他也经常为弟兄姊妹祷告，电话劝勉谈论《圣经》话语。他创办了微信群，方便交流牧养，经常向信徒转发一些灵修文章。
二、亲身经历神，蒙恩无尽
刚信主两年，一天妻子突然不会说话，全家人都很着急，岳父主张去邻村请巫婆做“法事”，他坚决不同意。他去找一位老中医给妻子看病，结果人家说看不了，催他赶快回家。但他听说前日晚间有豹子咬死几只羊，他心里胆怯，但又没办法，只好在恐惧中一路赞美歌唱祷告。半夜十二点忽然看见显现两个大光，照亮了周围一切，有大声音如雷说：“快回去吧！”回去后妻子已经好了，还说不要踩了地上她吐的污物，就这样经历了神，妻子痊愈了。当时他也不知到谢恩，后来到古城教会将这见证讲给牧者听，牧者说：“你见了神的大光，经历神的医治，赶快感谢神恩吧。”
有一次经过一个村子，路边一棵槐树挂满玉米，他正经过时，一根很粗的树枝突然断了，他毫发未损，幸蒙神保护，若再往前半步，必定会性命难保。还有一次带领礼拜时，经过一村，山上放炮，有人喊着：“赶快躲避！”他因走的急却没听见，只有十来米远，炮就响了，飞沙走石，放炮人看见以为必死无疑，谁知碎石崩裂，他一点没有受伤，也没误了礼拜。经历奇妙见证，激发了他更加爱主，甘愿为主献上自己。
文革时因为信主曾被抄家，县公安局派专人在村里监督四十多天，明察暗访，有亲戚说：“你只要说不信就行了，何必这样死心眼呢？”他说不能这样欺哄神，欺哄人。他把一大箱子书藏在一个石头崖下，数年之久。至今珍藏有基督教信仰书籍十余册，其中有《丁立美牧师纪念册》、一九二九年出版的《复兴》杂志、《圣经问答》、《要道问答》、《圣经的真理》、《有神》、《十二篮子》（第一卷）等等珍品。改革开放后，金陵协和神学院函授教材征集属灵书籍时，曾把他珍藏的几册寄往南京，后来又悉数奉还。
他只上过扫盲班，却把五册字典反复翻阅，不断读经、祷告、抄写经文和灵修笔记，写了十多册读书笔记，抄录有许多研经释道文章，至今每天在手机上阅读灵修文章，有好的还抄写下来，与弟兄姊妹分享。
三、效法主忠仆，矢志委身
他特别分享了对他深有影响的绛县陈昆山弟兄的见证：自幼在教会学校读书，学中医后，又在天津从医，每月十二银元，但回家时没有盘缠，要向别人借，原来他的薪水都奉献了。后在太原医院工作，因信耶稣被日本人抓住，投入狼狗窝，他跪在一旁祷告，感谢神，正像《但以理书》所记载神封住狮子口一样，一夜间七八条狗竟都没有咬他。第二天日寇收尸骨时见他还活着，就夸他“是大大的良民”，还开通行证让他顺利返家。
文革时，被批斗，说他爱祷告，就让他站在高凳子上祷告，在大太阳地里一连几个小时，人家吃了饭，见他还在祷告，就让他下来，他说：“我的神没让我下来，我不下来”。还有一次在家坐卧不宁，祷告神，神要他外出传福音。但身无分文，就走到汽车站、火车站，结果神就安排处处有人给他买票，去传讲福音，到处都有神的奇妙预备。
隰县午城有位姊妹张桂秀，原来在古城做生意时信主受洗，年老时回到家乡，建立教会，有100人信了耶稣。文革时被戴上六十多斤的钢牌子游街，八号铁丝陷入了脖子肉内，疼痛难忍，头顶纸帽子，不以为耻，反觉为主光荣。后来在县城有人闲聊时就说，午城有个基督徒真硬，批斗也不放弃信仰。有个当时在场的红卫兵听说了。教会开放后，这个人信了主，专程看望，一进门就趴在床上大哭。张姊妹的丈夫这才知道妻子文革时的遭遇，逼迫了（妻子）一辈子最后也信了。她临终时，捎信想与教会信徒最后见一面，孙长老受委托代表教会曾去看望。骑着车子走了一整天，翻山越岭，与老人一起亲密交通。
注：本文作者为福音时报特约撰稿人。
https://gospeltimes.cn/article/index/id/64614
深山福音播火人——专访山西省乡宁县86岁的孙耀武长老
We had long heard of Sun Yaowu, a faithful servant who has devoted his whole life to God living in Shanxi Province.
Devoting to ministry
Born in a farmer’s family in Village Xingpo, Guanghua Town, Xiangning County, Linfen, Sun came to Christ at the age of 22.
He encountered the Lord Jesus when occasionally passing by Gucheng Church located in Xiangfen County. He was baptized in that church in 1961 and then preached the gospel to his fellow villagers. At that time, there were no bibles for the local believers. He wrote to CCC&TSPM and later received more than ten copies of the Bible. Afterward, the number of the congregation grew to more than 100. That spring, the local authorities suppressed the church until all religious activities were suspended in 1967. The number of the congregation decreased to over ten.
After 1980 when the policy of religious freedom started to be complemented in China, he read the reopening news of churches in other places on Heavenly Wind, the flagship magazine of the TSPM church. The church was reopened after he talked with Shanxi CC&TSPM. The number of members increased from 270 in June 1983 to 360 at the end of that year. The leadership of the registered church in Xiangning County was established in 1986 and he was elected as the chairman of the county TSPM. He went on to preach the gospel in more than ten surrounding counties and cities such as Xinjiang and Wanrong.
His ministry took unexpected turns. A five-day large gathering of more than 500 Christians from surrounding counties was temporarily held at a primary school classroom due to no proper venue. It was reported to the regional bureau of religious affairs. What’s more, the slogan of the meeting was pasted on a telephone pole on the street rather than side a “place of worship”, causing him to be warned by the police.
There were also twists and turns in getting the church property back. Zhang Shouyi, the founder of Xiangning Church during the last Qing Dynasty, lived in the church for years and entrusted the church to Gao Deliang who graduated from Hongdong Bible School after his death. The baton was then passed on to Yan Chunfu and his foster daughter Yan Shuzhen succeeded him. In 1951, the foreyard, backyard, and a small building were occupied by a primary school. In 1987, Yan Shuzhen cried that she was helpless to get the property back at 85. Sun Yaowu and the representative of the congregation requested that the police, the united front work department, and the secretary of the county committee would return the property to the church. The request was denied until relevant material was found in the archives. At last, more than 20,000 local Christians had their place of worship in 1996.
God opened a way for the craving of the seal of the county CC&TSPM after the authorities mutually made excuses. Affected by the rife inside the church, most believers left. The church built its building two times and there were many stories.
Sun was ordained as elder in 1996. Growing old, he worked in surrounding churches to preach sermons, exhort members, and serve them. Due to the pandemic and rural migration to cities in the last two years, the membership has declined from more than 300 to over 100.
He has led the construction of five churches in Shaping Village, Taitou County and also built Xingfuhe Church. He writes couplets every Easter and Christmas. Even though it is inconvenient for him to work due to leg pain, he often prays for other believers and exhorts others with the Bible. He has created a WeChat group for the congregation and often forwards devotional articles to them.
Tasting God’s grace
On the day in the second year of his walk with Christ, his wife could not speak. His father-in-law suggested asking a witch to perform a Buddhist ritual, but he resolutely refused. An experienced doctor of traditional Chinese medicine said she was unable to reach a diagnosis, urging them to return home. He heard that a leopard beat several sheep to death, so he had to sing hymns with prayer along the way back home. He saw two lights shining everything around him and there was a thundering voice: “Go back soon!” When he was back, his wife recovered and told him not to step in the vomit.
Once while he was passing by a village, a Chinese scholar tree covered with corn broke its thick branch, but he escaped without injury. He would have been dead if he had walked half a step further. There was a day when he was walking to the church, a mountain man fired a gun and there was a person calling people to hide. Walking too fast to hear the call, he remained safe after the shooting flew with the wind.
During the Cultural Revolution, his property was confiscated. A policeman was secretly sent to monitor him for more than forty days. A relative attempted to persuade him to forsake his faith, but he replied that he could not lie to God or men. He hid a big box of Christian books under a cliff for years. In the 1980s, Nanjing Union Theological Seminary was collecting spiritual books for correspondence and he sent some of the cherished books to the seminary. They were returned later.
Though he only attended literacy classes, he went over five dictionaries time after time and kept reading the Bible, praying, copying the Scripture, and devotional notes. He has written more than ten volumes of book reports and many exegeses and expository sermons.
Imitating God’s faithful servants
Sun also shared testimonies of two brave Christians who deeply influenced him. Chen Kunshan from Jiang County studied in a church school and worked as a Chinese doctor after graduation. Working in Taiyuan Hospital, he was cast into a wolf-dog house by the Japanese army. Kneeling down in prayer with gratitude, none of the seven or eight dogs bit him, like how God shut the mouths of lions for Daniel. Seeing him alive, the Japanese soldiers praised him as a“good citizen”, permitting him to return home.
During the Cultural Revolution, he was criticized for being “a lover of prayer”. Then he was commanded to pray on a high chair for hours in the hot sun. Once more, feeling restless at home, he prayed to God and he was told to preach the gospel. Without a penny, he walked to the bus station and the railway station. It turned out that there was always a person willing to buy a ticket for him.
Zhang Guixiu, a sister from Xi County, was baptized when she was running a business in Gucheng County, Linfen. Back to her hometown at an old age, she founded a church and 100 people came to Christ. During the Cultural Revolution, she was hung with a steel plate that weighed more than 30 kilos on a parade through the streets. The wire was inserted into her neck. Wearing a paper hat that was meant to denounce her, she felt proud of the Lord rather than humiliated. A Red Guard heard her story that a tough Christian would not denounce her faith even after a struggle session. When the church was reopened, he followed Christ. On a visit to her, he burst into tears on the bed immediately after entering the door. Eventually knowing what happened to her during that period, her husband who persecuted her for many years began to believe. When she was dying, she wrote to see the congregation for the last time. Sun, on behalf of the church, rode a bicycle for the whole day over the hills. He had close communication with her.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Karen Luo
Feature: 86-Y-O Elder’s Faithful Ministry
