Though he is only more than 40 years old, Rev. Zhou Guang (pseudonym) has served in the church for nearly 30 years. His faith in God started with his mother’s illness. Since then, he has begun his service, which has extended from rural to urban.
Zhou was born in a remote village in North China. In response to her sister's advice, his mother, who had been the target of evil spirits, accepted Christ. After the conversion, some female believers came over to her home with hymns of praise and prayers, driving out demons for Zhou’s mother. Gradually, she got better, and the demons were gone.
Therefore, under the persuasion of several Christian aunts, the teenager Zhou went to church with his mother and even accepted Jesus by faith. At that time, without finishing his junior high school, Zhou also started to learn crafts from a skilled man of architecture.
During a gathering, with a hand raised, Zhou Guang responded to the pastor upon hearing of his calling, saying he wanted to devote himself to the Lord. Hereafter, he confirmed his call to serve. Though he was just a youngster, Zhou decided to serve the church in his hometown with the determination to give up the practice of architecture. Despite the architectural teacher’s three-year persuasion to leave for earnings, Zhou refused, only for church gatherings.
After joining the church, Zhou gradually grew from a “little assistant” to a core member of the church staff and got married to a female staff worker in the church. The previous pastor, who relocated to serve somewhere else, even entrusted the couple with the church.
Pastor Zhou was just in his early 30s when he took over the church. The previous pastor and his wife established many churches in the surrounding villages and towns. So, the number of believers that Zhou needed to pastor, monitor, and connect among diverse cross-regional churches was thousands.
To be a good leader of these churches, Zhou kept consulting with the experienced pastors and church staff respectfully, staying in contact with the former church leader, and being willing to cooperate with neighboring churches as well. Even facing exterior challenges and self-incompetence, the young Pastor Zhou still stuck to his position because of his faithfulness to the Lord and the mercy and guidance of God.
Not just being the guard for the rural churches, Pastor Zhou also followed the lead of the Spirit to plant churches in urban areas for the rural believers who came to the city for work, accompanying their children's education, caring for their grandchildren, or retiring.
Actually, Zhou never thought about creating churches in urban areas. Later, some believers said that they couldn’t accommodate the worship pattern and pastoral method of the city churches, asking about the possibility of planting churches in city areas. With such feedback, Zhou began to rethink and lead believers to pioneer in the cities. Currently, Zhou and his staff workers have set up churches in different cities, with a majority of believers who moved to cities serving in the church.
Before this, they also encountered a bottleneck in the development of rural churches. As believers tended to share testimony of the gospel and their faith, nearly every villager in nearby areas believed in God. When it came to planting churches in cities, more people had the opportunity to hear about Jesus.
Honestly, when talking about preaching in the city areas, the first thought in their minds was, “No acquaintance! The trust among people differed from how it was back in rural areas. How can we share the gospel with those in the workplace without connections and common topics?” They began to pray together, seeking God to open the door for them. It turned out to be a piece of cake when they actually put it into practice. In this process, they witnessed God’s faithfulness and realized that human thoughts couldn’t restrict the power of God.
Pastor Zhou appreciated that his church has focused on prayer and evangelism, just like the early church. Besides, they follow one spiritual principle: they only do the things God allows them to do, and vice versa. No matter how much work they need to do or how many experiences they have, they seek God's will and follow the lead of the spirit instead of relying on men’s methods.
Zhou admitted that he was very tired in the first few years of taking over the church. It wasn't until the last year or two, when he had experienced the challenges and the continued guidance from God, that he truly learned to rely on the Holy Spirit.
He mentioned that his church staff would pray first and forget their previous experiences or methods before starting any ministry. He said, “Men can have a variety of methods, but what matters is which one God uses.” They also declared through prayers that God would change the city, the spiritual world, and people’s hearts. After the ministry began, a prayer team would pray behind the scenes for those who served.
Zhou Guang also studied courses on pastoring and leadership growth from experienced organizations at home and abroad. Instead of practicing in his church directly after learning a course, as in the past, he spends more time leading staff workers to seek guidance from the Lord and find a suitable method for his church in practice.
- Translated by Poppy Chan
周光牧师（化名）今年虽然只有40多岁，却已经在教会服事了近30年。周光牧师因为妈妈病得医治而相信上帝。由此，开始了他的服事道路，并且他的服事从农村走向了城市。
周出生在北方一个偏远的农村，母亲被邪灵捆绑，在姨妈的建议下信了耶稣。之后就有几位女信徒天天到家里唱诗祷告，并为母亲赶鬼。慢慢地，她的病好了，没有再犯过。
因此，在几位信主阿姨的劝说下，十几岁的周很就跟着母亲一起去教会，信了耶稣。同时，没有读完初中的周光开始跟着建筑师父学手艺。
在一次聚会中，在听到讲道人的呼召后，他举手回应说要把自己奉献给主。之后，他确认了自己服事的呼召，才十几岁，他就倔强地放下了自己的手艺，想要留在老家服事教会。带他的师父连续叫了他三年，劝他跟自己走出去干活赚钱，都被他拒绝了，只想聚会。（注：黄底黑字是译者根据原文添加的。）
周进入教会后，他从一个“小跟班”，慢慢成长为教会的核心同工，并在教会中与另一位服事的女基督徒组建了家庭。上一任教会牧者到外地事奉之后，就把家乡的教会托付给他们夫妻。
接手教会的时候，周光牧师刚刚30出头。周围村庄、乡镇的很多间教会都是上一任牧师和师母开拓的。他要牧养的，或者说要监管和连接的是跨区域的多个教会群，有几千名的信徒。
为了带领好这些教会，他总是虚心地请教前面的牧者和同工们，保持跟前辈牧者联系，也愿意跟兄弟教会联合。尽管有许多外部挑战、自身软弱不足，因为对主的忠心，也因为主的怜悯和带领，年轻的周光牧师并没有离开这个岗位。
周光牧师不仅仅是为农村和乡镇的教会守望。他也听从圣灵的引导，随着那些到城市中打工、陪读、哄孙子、养老……的信徒到城市中拓展教会。
开始，他并没有这样的想法。后来，有些信徒不太适应其他教会的敬拜模式，牧养方式，问能不能派人过来城市建立教会。有了这些反馈，周光牧师也改变了自己的想法，他开始带领信徒进行城市开拓。目前，周和同工们已经在多个城市建立了多间教会，那些进入城市生活的信徒也有很多成为了教会的服事人员。
在此之前，他们也遇到了教会的瓶颈期。他们的教会信徒都喜欢见证福音和自己的信仰，附近的村庄的人能信的都信了。当他们往城市里发展的时候，发现空间变大了, 影响却变小了。
其实，当提到城市的时候，他们第一个想法是：“谁都不认识！城市里，人与人之间的信任感不像农村，也没有机会接触，与那些职场人士也没有共同话题……怎么传呢？” 大家一起祷告，求上帝为他们开门。结果，当他们去做的时候，发现非常轻松，并见证神的信实，人的想法不能限制上帝的权能。
周说他所在的教会一直也是像初代教会一样，以祈祷传道为念。另外，他们抓住一个属灵原则，上帝要他们做的事情，他们才去做，不让做，就不动。不在乎事工做多少，也不在乎自己的经验，他们寻求上帝的旨意，跟随圣灵的带领，不用人的方法。
周坦言，刚刚接手教会的几年，自己是很累的，直到最近一两年，在他经历了挑战和上帝一直的带领之后，才真正学会了依靠圣灵。
他提到在每一个事工开始之前，他们都会放下自己的经验和方法，首先献上许多的祷告。他说，“人可以有很多种方法，但重要的是上帝使用哪种方法。”他们也通过祷告来宣告，来转化城市，转化灵界，转化人心。在事工开始之后，他们也依然会安排祷告的团队在背后为服事的同工守望祷告。
周也虚心学习国内外成熟的机构所开展的牧养课程以及领袖成长课程。现在他不像以前，听到一个课程就直接套在自己的教会中。而是会花更多的时间带领同工们寻求主的引导，在实践中找到适合自己教会的方法。
农村牧者走向城市植堂的道路
Though he is only more than 40 years old, Rev. Zhou Guang (pseudonym) has served in the church for nearly 30 years. His faith in God started with his mother’s illness. Since then, he has begun his service, which has extended from rural to urban.
Zhou was born in a remote village in North China. In response to her sister's advice, his mother, who had been the target of evil spirits, accepted Christ. After the conversion, some female believers came over to her home with hymns of praise and prayers, driving out demons for Zhou’s mother. Gradually, she got better, and the demons were gone.
Therefore, under the persuasion of several Christian aunts, the teenager Zhou went to church with his mother and even accepted Jesus by faith. At that time, without finishing his junior high school, Zhou also started to learn crafts from a skilled man of architecture.
During a gathering, with a hand raised, Zhou Guang responded to the pastor upon hearing of his calling, saying he wanted to devote himself to the Lord. Hereafter, he confirmed his call to serve. Though he was just a youngster, Zhou decided to serve the church in his hometown with the determination to give up the practice of architecture. Despite the architectural teacher’s three-year persuasion to leave for earnings, Zhou refused, only for church gatherings.
After joining the church, Zhou gradually grew from a “little assistant” to a core member of the church staff and got married to a female staff worker in the church. The previous pastor, who relocated to serve somewhere else, even entrusted the couple with the church.
Pastor Zhou was just in his early 30s when he took over the church. The previous pastor and his wife established many churches in the surrounding villages and towns. So, the number of believers that Zhou needed to pastor, monitor, and connect among diverse cross-regional churches was thousands.
To be a good leader of these churches, Zhou kept consulting with the experienced pastors and church staff respectfully, staying in contact with the former church leader, and being willing to cooperate with neighboring churches as well. Even facing exterior challenges and self-incompetence, the young Pastor Zhou still stuck to his position because of his faithfulness to the Lord and the mercy and guidance of God.
Not just being the guard for the rural churches, Pastor Zhou also followed the lead of the Spirit to plant churches in urban areas for the rural believers who came to the city for work, accompanying their children's education, caring for their grandchildren, or retiring.
Actually, Zhou never thought about creating churches in urban areas. Later, some believers said that they couldn’t accommodate the worship pattern and pastoral method of the city churches, asking about the possibility of planting churches in city areas. With such feedback, Zhou began to rethink and lead believers to pioneer in the cities. Currently, Zhou and his staff workers have set up churches in different cities, with a majority of believers who moved to cities serving in the church.
Before this, they also encountered a bottleneck in the development of rural churches. As believers tended to share testimony of the gospel and their faith, nearly every villager in nearby areas believed in God. When it came to planting churches in cities, more people had the opportunity to hear about Jesus.
Honestly, when talking about preaching in the city areas, the first thought in their minds was, “No acquaintance! The trust among people differed from how it was back in rural areas. How can we share the gospel with those in the workplace without connections and common topics?” They began to pray together, seeking God to open the door for them. It turned out to be a piece of cake when they actually put it into practice. In this process, they witnessed God’s faithfulness and realized that human thoughts couldn’t restrict the power of God.
Pastor Zhou appreciated that his church has focused on prayer and evangelism, just like the early church. Besides, they follow one spiritual principle: they only do the things God allows them to do, and vice versa. No matter how much work they need to do or how many experiences they have, they seek God's will and follow the lead of the spirit instead of relying on men’s methods.
Zhou admitted that he was very tired in the first few years of taking over the church. It wasn't until the last year or two, when he had experienced the challenges and the continued guidance from God, that he truly learned to rely on the Holy Spirit.
He mentioned that his church staff would pray first and forget their previous experiences or methods before starting any ministry. He said, “Men can have a variety of methods, but what matters is which one God uses.” They also declared through prayers that God would change the city, the spiritual world, and people’s hearts. After the ministry began, a prayer team would pray behind the scenes for those who served.
Zhou Guang also studied courses on pastoring and leadership growth from experienced organizations at home and abroad. Instead of practicing in his church directly after learning a course, as in the past, he spends more time leading staff workers to seek guidance from the Lord and find a suitable method for his church in practice.
- Translated by Poppy Chan
Story of Rural Pastor Embarking on Urban Church Planting
