Those who follow Jesus Christ walk a narrow path, and challenges accompany them every step of the way, especially for those who serve Jesus as pastors.
Pastor Luo has been serving in South China for over a decade. After graduating from seminary, he moved to a completely new and unfamiliar city to plant churches and mentor seminary students. Recently, in an interview with a Chinese online Christian newspaper the Christian Times, he spoke about his internal and external challenges.
He said he was under psychological pressure due to the ministry and church development. As believers are too busy to spend time on spiritual matters, he finds it exhausting to nurture them. Moreover, the church requires people to take on the tasks of its organization, administration, training disciples, and leading small groups, but there is a lack of believers willing to serve.
The church Luo serves is mainly composed of migrant workers, most of whom struggle to earn a living by spending much time at work. Some Christians work long hours, even on Sundays. Pastor Luo has observed that while some are willing to serve God, believers' pursuit of faith has significantly diminished compared to the situation before 2010. This makes ministry more challenging for him.
External challenges include economic pressure, preaching challenges, and circumstantial pressure. Full-time pastors have no other source of income because they don’t do other jobs. It is challenging to spread the gospel, as people are always on their phones and few are willing to talk. Now it is necessary to build relationships to share the gospel. While accompanying sick believers, conversations with other patients can be carried on in the wards.
However, the most stressful thing for Pastor Luo this year was that a Christian man intended to serve full-time, as the man had to support three children and pay off his mortgage. Luo said that after receiving his request, he was worried all night and couldn't sleep. The church's finances is stretched, and supporting full-time workers is challenging, he added. Most full-time workers in the church need to borrow money because the church truly has no money, he continued.
Despite the ministry pressure and financial stress, Luo remains committed to planting churches and expanding the congregation. He decides to entrust all these difficulties to God. "It's important to keep moving forward towards our goals, but we should also proceed based on reality." He believes that with one more person serving, the church's economy would improve. With the hope that more people would engage in full-time ministry, he said, "I wish there would be more people serving and planting churches in God's house."
- Translated by Abigail Wu
跟随耶稣基督的人走的是窄路，挑战如影随形地伴随着他们，而那服事耶稣的牧者更是如此。
罗牧师在南方服事了十多年。自神学毕业以后，他就来到一个完全陌生的城市开拓教会、带神学生。近日，在与中国一网络基督教报纸基督时报的采访中，他谈到他所面对的挑战一个来自内部，另一个来自外部。
内部的挑战主要是教会的牧养和建造。信徒普遍都很忙，投入属灵的时间比较少，罗牧师觉得牧养他们很累。同时，教会的建造、结构、门训或者是小组，这些都需要有人来做，然而却没有人可以参与到这些服事中。
罗牧师所牧养的教会主要组成人员是农民工群体，大部分信徒赚钱比较艰难，因此他们必须要为生计付出更多的时间。有的基督徒上班时间也很长，甚至在主日时间也需要上班。虽然也有人愿意服事神，但是罗牧师观察发现比起2010年之前的光景，信徒对信仰的追求少了很多。这对牧者来说，服事起来比较难。
而外部的挑战包括环境的压力、经济的压力、传道的压力。教会的全职牧者因为没有其他工作，就没有其他的收入来源。而传道也是很有压力的，现在每个人都是在看手机，几乎没有什么人愿意和你说话。传道人想要传福音，只能是通过建立关系，比如有些信徒的家人生病，去医院看病的时候，就可以和旁边的病友聊一聊。
然而比起这些情况，今年最让他感到有压力的就是有一位弟兄对他说想要全职服事。这位弟兄家里有3个孩子，此外每个月还有房贷要还。罗牧师说那天晚上“担心得一晚上睡不着”。因为教会基本上每个月都是入不敷出的，供应全职同工就捉襟见肘了。大部分教会全职服事的信徒还需要自己筹款，“因为教会实在是没钱”。
尽管教会的压力很大，经费很紧张，罗牧师还是很坚持要做开拓和植堂，他决定将这一切难处都交托给神。“还是要定好目标，继续往前，神的家到了什么地步就按什么地步去行” 。他相信多一个人服事，教会的经济会变得越来越好。他也希望可以有更多的人参与到全职服事当中，“希望神的家里可以多一点的人来服事和植堂”。
特写| 一服事十多年的牧者坦露种种真实挑战
Those who follow Jesus Christ walk a narrow path, and challenges accompany them every step of the way, especially for those who serve Jesus as pastors.
Pastor Luo has been serving in South China for over a decade. After graduating from seminary, he moved to a completely new and unfamiliar city to plant churches and mentor seminary students. Recently, in an interview with a Chinese online Christian newspaper the Christian Times, he spoke about his internal and external challenges.
He said he was under psychological pressure due to the ministry and church development. As believers are too busy to spend time on spiritual matters, he finds it exhausting to nurture them. Moreover, the church requires people to take on the tasks of its organization, administration, training disciples, and leading small groups, but there is a lack of believers willing to serve.
The church Luo serves is mainly composed of migrant workers, most of whom struggle to earn a living by spending much time at work. Some Christians work long hours, even on Sundays. Pastor Luo has observed that while some are willing to serve God, believers' pursuit of faith has significantly diminished compared to the situation before 2010. This makes ministry more challenging for him.
External challenges include economic pressure, preaching challenges, and circumstantial pressure. Full-time pastors have no other source of income because they don’t do other jobs. It is challenging to spread the gospel, as people are always on their phones and few are willing to talk. Now it is necessary to build relationships to share the gospel. While accompanying sick believers, conversations with other patients can be carried on in the wards.
However, the most stressful thing for Pastor Luo this year was that a Christian man intended to serve full-time, as the man had to support three children and pay off his mortgage. Luo said that after receiving his request, he was worried all night and couldn't sleep. The church's finances is stretched, and supporting full-time workers is challenging, he added. Most full-time workers in the church need to borrow money because the church truly has no money, he continued.
Despite the ministry pressure and financial stress, Luo remains committed to planting churches and expanding the congregation. He decides to entrust all these difficulties to God. "It's important to keep moving forward towards our goals, but we should also proceed based on reality." He believes that with one more person serving, the church's economy would improve. With the hope that more people would engage in full-time ministry, he said, "I wish there would be more people serving and planting churches in God's house."
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Pastor Shares Challenges After Decade’s Ministry
