There is an old, retired preacher in Liaoning Province who has been in charge of churches in different places. He is a faithful servant with clean hands and a clean heart and does not give for money.
In the 1980s, Pastor Zhong Pu (pseudonym) graduated from the seminary after studying there for four years and returned to the town church of his hometown as the first seminary student in this small village in the mountains. An old preacher led him to visit the relevant departments and get familiar with the work. Since then, he has begun to minister and serve in the local church.
The K Church in another city had just been restored and was in urgent need of pastoral talent. At a provincial Christian conference, the head of the K Church selected him to be the pastor of this church.
K Church is an old church with a history of more than 100 years. After the ten years of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), there was no more religious activity. This tile-roofed building with a "big roof" sank seriously, and the seats, doors, and windows in the church were old and damaged. More importantly, the lack of pastoral care for believers and the lack of pastoral care in the church were quite serious.
On Christmas Eve, Pastor Zhong Pu was sent to this church. When he arrived at K Church, the first thing he did was celebrate Christmas. Pastor Zhong went to the nearby shopping mall to buy some paper garland and colored paper to decorate the church, and he began to decorate the Christmas tree. Only six people attended on Christmas Day.
Then he began to do "a whole lot" of things: ministry, administration, coordinating church and state relations, solving the church's lack of funds, and beginning the renovation of the church.
Zhong Pu repeatedly went to the religious authorities and construction authorities to request a new church and finally got approval.
In order to raise funds for the construction of the church, on the one hand, he donated money himself and called believers to donate, and on the other hand, he sought help from churches his classmates were in and other churches. At last, he finally got the money he needed to build the church.
Pastor Zhong also designed the church himself, using a combination of Gothic style and modernism.
In addition, the design of the new church is a high building, while the old church was a low tiled house, which would cause the problem of blocking the neighbors light. Most of the neighbors are ethnic minorities with different faiths.
Pastor Zhong went to visit the venerable elder among them with a gift and invited him to dinner. Then they talked about their respective beliefs and the connection between Christianity and his faith. Finally, that elder agreed to build the church, and no one else objected.
Later, Pastor Zhong Pu found a construction team. They paid part of the construction money in advance, the church gave them another part, and they started work first. The foreman of the construction team was reluctant to invest more and wanted to cut corners. Pastor Zhong Pu also knows this "secret", and he was very strict in the quality supervision of the project. However, the contractor told the migrant workers that if the priest meddled, he would break his leg.
Pastor Zhong had no idea of the plots behind them. At the end of a Sunday meeting, he told the congregation that construction of the new church was going to start and that workers from thousands of miles away were living a hard life there. Anyone who had bedding, clothes, shoes, and hats could donate them. So many believers took out their clothes, bedding, military coats, etc., and filled a house, most of them quite new. These poor migrant workers were very grateful that they did not cheat and cut corners according to the orders of the boss. They ensured the quality of the church's work and also protected Pastor Zhong Pu from harm.
In the subsequent reelection of the church, Pastor Zhong served as the head of the church and as chairman of the city's CC&TSPM.
He also took a series of measures to solve the problems of the church. For example, he improved the financial management system of the church, sorted out the church's teaching products, and hired professional financial personnel. He took back church property that had been occupied without compensation and made regulations for church rental houses according to the market price.
Then, Pastor Zhong violated the illegal interests of others in his ministry and administration, affecting the benefits of individuals in the church. Someone organized a meeting to gather people to attack him the following day at the church. But when the lead organizer went to the church to fight Zhong Pu, he suddenly shook on the road and fainted on the ground. Other people saw this and dared not do anything to Zhong Pu.
Now Zhong Pu is retired, but he continues to study the Bible and oversee the development of the church.
(The writer is a staff writer at The Gospel Times.)
-Translated by Nicolas Cao
一位在本省内退休的老传道，他在不同的地方负责过教会。他是手洁心清的忠仆，不为钱财而奉献。
上个世纪八十年代，钟仆牧师（化名）在神学院学习了四年毕业后，回到家乡的乡镇教会，是这个小山村里面第一位神学生。老传道人带领他走访有关部门、衔接工作；他开始在教会牧养、服事。
外地一个市的K教会刚刚恢复不久，亟需教牧人才。在一个全省基督教的会议中，K教会负责人选中他到本堂做传道人。
这是一个具有百余年历史的老教会。在十年文化大革命(1966～1976年)后，已经没有进行信仰活动了。“大屋顶”瓦房建筑房屋严重下沉，堂内的座椅、门窗等陈旧、破损。更主要的是信徒缺乏牧养，教会教牧严重缺失。
一个圣诞节前夕，钟仆牧师奉差派来到这间教会。他到了K教会，做的第一件事就是迎接圣诞节。钟仆到附近的商场买了一些拉花和彩纸布置教堂，并且动手装扮了圣诞树。在圣诞节那天只有6个人参加。
接着，他着手做“一大堆”的事：牧会、管理，协调政教关系，解决教会的资金匮乏，开始教堂的翻建。
钟仆多次到宗教主管部门和建设主管部门请求新建教堂，最终得到了批文。
为了筹建建设教堂的资金，他一方面自己奉献、呼召信徒们捐款，另一方面到同学的教会和其他教会寻求帮助。终于把建堂所需前期资金筹集到手。
钟仆牧师还自己设计了教堂，采用了哥特式风格与现代派结合的方案。
另外新堂的设计是楼房，而当时老堂却是低矮的瓦房，会对邻居产生挡光的问题。这些邻居大多数是少数民族，有不同信仰。
该牧师带着礼物去拜访他们中有声望的长者，请他去吃饭。然后和长者聊起了各自的信仰，聊起了基督教和他信仰的联系。最后这位长者同意建这间教堂，其他人也没话说。
后来他找了一个工程队，他们先给垫付部分工程款，教会再给他们一部分，就先开工。承包的工头不愿意投入更多，想要偷工减料。钟仆牧师也知道这里的“猫腻”，他在工程质量监督方面很严。然而包工头就告诉外地来的民工，如果牧师管闲事，就打折他的腿。
钟仆对这些背后的阴谋一点也不知道。在一次主日聚会要结束的时候，他就和信徒们说：新建的教堂要开工，工人从几千里外来到这儿来，都挺困难。谁家有被褥、衣服，鞋帽，可以捐给他们。于是许多信徒拿出家里的衣服、被褥、军大衣等等，满满的一屋子，而且大多是新的。这些贫穷的农民工非常感恩，没有按老板的弄虚作假，偷工减料。保证了教堂工程质量，也保护了牧师不受伤害。
在以后的教会改选中，钟仆牧师担任了教会的负责人；并且担任了市基督教两会的主席。
他也采取了一系列的措施解决教会的问题。比如完善教会的财务管理制度、梳理教会教产，聘用了专业的财务人员。收回被无偿占用的教会房产，对教会出租的房屋做出合乎市场价格的规定。
然后，钟仆牧师在服事和管理中触犯了别人的利益，影响了个别人在教会捞取好处。有人开会谋划组织人第二天到教会去袭击他。但是在领头的组织者去教堂要大打出手的时候，他在路上突然、身上颤抖，昏倒在地上。其他人一见，不敢再言“动武”。
现在钟仆已经退休了，但是他还在继续灵修，关注教会的发展。
（本文作者为福音时报特约撰稿人。）
一位老牧师服事的故事
There is an old, retired preacher in Liaoning Province who has been in charge of churches in different places. He is a faithful servant with clean hands and a clean heart and does not give for money.
In the 1980s, Pastor Zhong Pu (pseudonym) graduated from the seminary after studying there for four years and returned to the town church of his hometown as the first seminary student in this small village in the mountains. An old preacher led him to visit the relevant departments and get familiar with the work. Since then, he has begun to minister and serve in the local church.
The K Church in another city had just been restored and was in urgent need of pastoral talent. At a provincial Christian conference, the head of the K Church selected him to be the pastor of this church.
K Church is an old church with a history of more than 100 years. After the ten years of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), there was no more religious activity. This tile-roofed building with a "big roof" sank seriously, and the seats, doors, and windows in the church were old and damaged. More importantly, the lack of pastoral care for believers and the lack of pastoral care in the church were quite serious.
On Christmas Eve, Pastor Zhong Pu was sent to this church. When he arrived at K Church, the first thing he did was celebrate Christmas. Pastor Zhong went to the nearby shopping mall to buy some paper garland and colored paper to decorate the church, and he began to decorate the Christmas tree. Only six people attended on Christmas Day.
Then he began to do "a whole lot" of things: ministry, administration, coordinating church and state relations, solving the church's lack of funds, and beginning the renovation of the church.
Zhong Pu repeatedly went to the religious authorities and construction authorities to request a new church and finally got approval.
In order to raise funds for the construction of the church, on the one hand, he donated money himself and called believers to donate, and on the other hand, he sought help from churches his classmates were in and other churches. At last, he finally got the money he needed to build the church.
Pastor Zhong also designed the church himself, using a combination of Gothic style and modernism.
In addition, the design of the new church is a high building, while the old church was a low tiled house, which would cause the problem of blocking the neighbors light. Most of the neighbors are ethnic minorities with different faiths.
Pastor Zhong went to visit the venerable elder among them with a gift and invited him to dinner. Then they talked about their respective beliefs and the connection between Christianity and his faith. Finally, that elder agreed to build the church, and no one else objected.
Later, Pastor Zhong Pu found a construction team. They paid part of the construction money in advance, the church gave them another part, and they started work first. The foreman of the construction team was reluctant to invest more and wanted to cut corners. Pastor Zhong Pu also knows this "secret", and he was very strict in the quality supervision of the project. However, the contractor told the migrant workers that if the priest meddled, he would break his leg.
Pastor Zhong had no idea of the plots behind them. At the end of a Sunday meeting, he told the congregation that construction of the new church was going to start and that workers from thousands of miles away were living a hard life there. Anyone who had bedding, clothes, shoes, and hats could donate them. So many believers took out their clothes, bedding, military coats, etc., and filled a house, most of them quite new. These poor migrant workers were very grateful that they did not cheat and cut corners according to the orders of the boss. They ensured the quality of the church's work and also protected Pastor Zhong Pu from harm.
In the subsequent reelection of the church, Pastor Zhong served as the head of the church and as chairman of the city's CC&TSPM.
He also took a series of measures to solve the problems of the church. For example, he improved the financial management system of the church, sorted out the church's teaching products, and hired professional financial personnel. He took back church property that had been occupied without compensation and made regulations for church rental houses according to the market price.
Then, Pastor Zhong violated the illegal interests of others in his ministry and administration, affecting the benefits of individuals in the church. Someone organized a meeting to gather people to attack him the following day at the church. But when the lead organizer went to the church to fight Zhong Pu, he suddenly shook on the road and fainted on the ground. Other people saw this and dared not do anything to Zhong Pu.
Now Zhong Pu is retired, but he continues to study the Bible and oversee the development of the church.
(The writer is a staff writer at The Gospel Times.)
-Translated by Nicolas Cao
Story of an Old Faithful Pastor's Ministry
