With the process of urbanization, a large number of young and middle-aged rural Chinese people flow to the cities. Influenced by the development of the times, rural churches see fewer young people. Most people who attend the church are elderly, and occasionally a few are middle-aged. The rural church is losing its vitality. Many pastors and co-workers are worried about this situation and are also exploring various ways to find a way out for the further development of rural churches.
County churches whose situation resembles rural churches are feeling the pressure more than urban ones. A pastor surnamed L (pseudonym for protection), who works in a county in southern Fujian, said that there are usually only three or four hundred people meeting in this county-level church, but during the Spring Festival, there are thousands of people. Many young people have gone to nearby cities like Zhangzhou and Xiamen to work and settle down, so some parents also move to these cities with their adult sons and daughters. He jokes that the church he is in belongs to a "rural city" and is at the lowest level of the urban churches. Because people from the towns and villages would move to the city because their children go to school and so on, the believers in his church are relatively more.
"But down in the countryside, the church is really miserable. There are fewer and fewer people in the countryside, and it is harder and harder to spread the gospel." He added that in rural areas, the patriarchal clan idea is widely accepted, so people would look at Christians judgmentally. If believers are not wise enough to deal with relationships, it would be very troublesome (for example, if believers avoid participating in funerals and weddings). "In rural areas, people usually come to Jesus only when they have physical problems or encounter some difficulties, and there are many empty-nesters in rural areas."
Rural churches also have a problem in paying their preachers. From an economic point of view, the lack of contribution is a big problem for rural churches, so they cannot afford to support ministers. Due to the lack of pastoral care, the church is slowly losing its original believers, so the situation is getting worse and worse.
As for the reality of rural churches, Pastor L believes that the solution is that urban churches support rural churches. Urban churches need to offer help in terms of the hardware needs of rural churches, such as building churches, and the spiritual needs of pastoring and supporting preachers.
In this regard, some churches and pastors have made useful attempts.
Some churches in cities and counties in Fujian have solved the financial worries of grassroots preachers by establishing a comprehensive salary system. In the 1990s, a city church in southern Fujian developed a salary evaluation system for pastors in the city. According to this system, the salary is assessed according to the years of pastorship, ordination, administrative position, and educational level. This system is implemented in all grass-roots churches in the city. Whether it is the pastor of the churches in the city or the rural churches scattered in various mountains and islands, everyone is assessed according to the same standard, even the theological students who have just participated in the ministry. The salary can reach about 4,000 yuan.
Since the system of equal pay for equal work was promoted in the city's grass-roots churches, almost all grass-roots churches in the city have full-time pastors assigned by the local CC&TSPM, and there has been no shortage or loss of pastors due to economic problems, thus the church staff can be committed to ministry. At present, in some rural churches, believers will send rice, noodles, and vegetables to preachers, and they have established a deep relationship with each other in the church.
In a church in a county in East Fujian Province, the issue of the salary of pastors and co-workers is also an important part of the construction of a pastoral team. In this county, the wages of pastoral workers are unified throughout the county. In 2000, the salary system began to be adjusted according to that of primary and secondary school teachers, and in 2010, the salary level of pastoral workers with medium-grade professional titles was equal to that of teachers. In 2006, the church of this county began to pay social security for the co-workers, and in 2013, it covered all pastoral staff in the county.
It is also clear to church leaders that no one wants to be in the grassroots churches if the life of grassroots pastors is insecure. "Due salary is not only the guarantee of the basic life of the preachers but also the preservation of the self-esteem of the preachers and the integrity of the ministry, and it is also a basic barrier for the preachers to resist temptations and hardships of the secular world."
Apart from compensation issues, pastors stationed in rural churches face doubts about their self-worth, family care challenges, and children's education problems. To address these, the entire pastoral team helps them. Over the years, pastoral workers have persisted in participating in morning prayers at 5:30 AM, bringing diverse issues and difficulties before God in prayer. Additionally, the church organizes four pastoral training sessions annually, inviting experts and pastors from other regions to teach. All pastoral workers attend these sessions diligently. The church also sends young members to theological seminaries across the country for further training.
However, in actual visits, I find that there are few cases in which churches could give equal remuneration for work of equal value, standardize urban and rural compensation, and support rural church development. In Meizhou, Guangdong, Pastor Y adopts a flexible method to support local pastors.
In 2018, Pastor Y began managing two churches, which combined have around 300 believers and annual donations of about 110,000 yuan. However, there are four young pastors, two elders, and one seminarian serving these two churches.
The local approach to supporting them involves jointly paying pastors with other gathering sites, as they are advocated to serve at different sites. A pastor can receive 500-800 yuan in subsidies for preaching at a meeting point twice a month. Combined with the approximately 3,000 yuan from the church he serves, each pastor receives a salary of over 4,000 yuan, with social security paid for by the church.
"The head of the church must find ways to solve salary issues and arrange appropriate work for pastors." Currently, the church continues to recruit new pastors, as Pastor Y knows that the Meizhou churches generally lack pastors. Newly recruited pastors can also be introduced to other churches or jointly hired and supported by several churches. The churches share employee resources while maintaining independent management.
In addition to addressing the problem of supporting rural pastors, some churches also help local rural churches nurture believers. A city church in northern Fujian has been helping local rural churches grow for many years. On the one hand, they strengthen the preaching ministry, encouraging believers to participate in the Great Commission. On the other hand, they help cultivate volunteer pastors, advising them to attract people to the gospel through funeral services and visits to relatives and friends.
If a person wants to learn about the gospel, the church assigns more staff workers caring for newcomers to follow up until new meeting points are established in local villages and towns. Once a new meeting point is established, the church sends theologically trained workers to provide pastoral care and supervisory support until the local meeting point can become self-sustaining, at which point the workers are withdrawn. For places with existing meeting points, the church also helps to carry out activities, further enhancing their vitality.
Another city church in northern Fujian strengthens the training of migrant believers, with their spiritual lives improving. The hope is that when they return to their hometowns, they can sow gospel seeds, bringing back advanced pastoral and management concepts.
Due to varied reasons, some pastors and believers have left rural churches and moved to cities. However, they still care deeply for their hometown churches and strive to support and contribute to the church’s growth. A pastor in Guangdong, who has served in rural churches for over a decade and is now serving in a city church, still keeps rural churches in mind. Currently, the church is working hard to equip retired, financially stable individuals who have a burden for rural churches, as they can enter the rural ministry after completing their theological studies.
- Translated by Abigail Wu and Nicolas Cao
伴随城市化进程，大量农村中青年群体流向城市。受时代背景影响，乡村教会也开始鲜少看见年轻人，大部分只是老年人，偶尔有几个中年人。教会也逐渐没有了活力。对于这种情况，不少牧者和同工忧心忡忡，也在探索各种方式，希望为农村教会的下一步发展找到出路。
与城市教会相比，离乡村教会最近的县级教会更加感觉到这种压力。在闽南某县牧养的牧师L说，作为县级教会，平时聚会只有三四百人，但春节时有上千人，很多年轻人已经去附近的漳州和厦门工作并定居了，所以一些父母也会跟着孩子出去。他笑称他们属于“乡村城市”，是最底层的城市教会，因为下面镇、村的人因为孩子上学等原因会搬到城里来，所以信徒相对好一些。
“但到下面，乡村教会真的是很惨，人越来越少，福音越来越难传。”他说，在当地，农村宗族观念很强，别人会用异样的眼光看信耶稣的人，如果信徒在处理关系上不够有智慧，对于一些事情一刀切、红白喜事都不参与，是那很麻烦的。“在农村，一般是身体出问题或者遇到一些困难才来信耶稣，现在农村有很多空巢老人。”
农村教会在供养传道人方面也是一个问题。从经济角度，农村教会在奉献上很不容易，所以也养不起传道人，缺乏牧养，本来有的信徒也慢慢流失了，如此情况就越来越差。
对于乡村教会这种现实，他认为解决办法就是城市帮扶农村，不管是在农村教会建堂等硬件需要上，还是牧养、供养传道人这些灵性需要上，都需要城市教会提供帮助。
对此，一些教会和牧者开始做出有益尝试。
福建一些市县教会已经通过建立整全的薪资待遇制度，先在经济上解决基层传道人的后顾之忧。闽南地区某市教会在上世纪90年代，就制定了全市传道人薪资待遇评定制度，按照教牧人员的牧龄、圣职、行政职务以及学历水平四方面进行评定。该制度在全市所有基层教堂实行，无论是城区教会牧者，还是散落在各个山区及海岛的乡村教会，大家都按照同样的标准评定工资，即便刚参与服侍的神学生传道，工资也能达到4000左右。
同工同酬制度在全市基层教会中推广以来，该市几乎全部基层堂点都有两会派任的专职传道人，而且没有遇到因为经济问题导致传道人缺乏或流失的情况，大家能够非常安定地委身事奉。现在一些乡村教会，信徒会给传道人送米面蔬菜，彼此建立了深厚的主内关系。
在闽东某县教会，教牧同工待遇问题也是其教牧团队建设的重要内容。在该县，教牧同工的工资待遇全县统一，2000年开始参照中小学老师工资制度进行调整，2010年中等职称的教牧同工的工资水平与教师持平。2006年开始为同工交社保，2013年已经覆盖全县所有教牧人员。
教会领袖也清晰地认识到，如果基层牧者生活失去保障，没有谁愿意驻守基层。“应有的待遇不仅是对传道人基本生活的保障，也是对传道人自尊、事奉节操的保全，同时也是传道人抵挡世俗的一个基本屏障。”
除了待遇问题，驻守在乡村教会的传道还面临自我价值的怀疑，以及家庭照顾、子女上学等问题。对此，整个教牧团队彼此帮助。多年来，教牧同工坚持一起参加早上5点半的晨祷，把各种问题和难处拿到神的面前去祷告。此外，教会每年会举办四期教牧培训，邀请来自各地专家教授和牧者来此授课，所有教牧人员全勤参与。教会也会送年轻的神学生前往全国各级神学院进行装备。
但在实际走访中，能够在当地推行同工统筹，实现城乡待遇标准一体化、助力乡村教会发展的地区少之又少。位于广东梅州的Y传道以一种灵活的方式来供养当地传道人。
Y传道18年开始担任两个教堂的管理工作，这两座教堂加起来可能就300信徒，年奉献量可能就十一万左右。但在两座教堂服侍的有4名年轻传道人、两名长老，还有一名在读神学生。
当地就供养他们的处理方式是联合其他堂点一起供养传道人，让他们去其他堂点服侍。一个聚会点每月去两次，可以领到500-800的补助；再加上教堂给发的3000左右，每个传道人到手工资达到4000多，教会也会为传道人交社保。
“负责人要想办法解决薪资问题，帮助传道人安排适当的工作。”目前现在也还在继续招聘新的传道人，因为Y传道知道，梅州教会普遍缺乏传道人。招聘过来的传道人可以介绍到其他教会，也可以几个教会联合聘请供应。教会共享工人资源，管理上也可以独立。
解决乡村传道人的供养问题，有些教会也通过牧养来帮助所在地区的乡村教会除了。位于闽北的某城市教会多年来一直帮助当地乡村教会的发展，一方面是加强讲台话语的宣讲，鼓励信徒参与到福传的大使命中；一方面是加强义工传道专项栽培，鼓励大家通过丧礼服侍以及亲友探访，吸引人来认识福音。
如果有人想要认识福音，教会会让更加专业性的新人关怀以及栽培同工负责跟进，直至当地村镇建立新的聚会点。新聚会点建立之后，教会会派出接受过神学教育的同工进行牧养监管的帮扶工作，直至当地聚会点能够自立，才会撤回同工。对于已经有聚会点的地方，教会也会帮助开展工作，进一步提升其活力。
而位于闽北的某城市教会，则通过加强对外来信徒的牧养，让他们得到扎实的栽培与提升。希望他们回到家乡能成为茁壮的福音种子，带回去先进的牧养和管理理念。
还有一些牧者和信徒，虽然由于各种各样的原因，他们离开了乡村教会，走进了城市。但是他们依然心系家乡教会，努力参与奉献，帮助当地教会的发展。广东一位牧者曾在农村教会服侍十余年，他目前在一城市教会服侍，但是他依然心念农村教会。目前教会正在努力培养装备已经退休、
生活无忧、对农村教会有负担的人，让他们读完神学之后可以前往乡村禾场服侍。
经验：城市教会如何助力乡村教会发展？
With the process of urbanization, a large number of young and middle-aged rural Chinese people flow to the cities. Influenced by the development of the times, rural churches see fewer young people. Most people who attend the church are elderly, and occasionally a few are middle-aged. The rural church is losing its vitality. Many pastors and co-workers are worried about this situation and are also exploring various ways to find a way out for the further development of rural churches.
County churches whose situation resembles rural churches are feeling the pressure more than urban ones. A pastor surnamed L (pseudonym for protection), who works in a county in southern Fujian, said that there are usually only three or four hundred people meeting in this county-level church, but during the Spring Festival, there are thousands of people. Many young people have gone to nearby cities like Zhangzhou and Xiamen to work and settle down, so some parents also move to these cities with their adult sons and daughters. He jokes that the church he is in belongs to a "rural city" and is at the lowest level of the urban churches. Because people from the towns and villages would move to the city because their children go to school and so on, the believers in his church are relatively more.
"But down in the countryside, the church is really miserable. There are fewer and fewer people in the countryside, and it is harder and harder to spread the gospel." He added that in rural areas, the patriarchal clan idea is widely accepted, so people would look at Christians judgmentally. If believers are not wise enough to deal with relationships, it would be very troublesome (for example, if believers avoid participating in funerals and weddings). "In rural areas, people usually come to Jesus only when they have physical problems or encounter some difficulties, and there are many empty-nesters in rural areas."
Rural churches also have a problem in paying their preachers. From an economic point of view, the lack of contribution is a big problem for rural churches, so they cannot afford to support ministers. Due to the lack of pastoral care, the church is slowly losing its original believers, so the situation is getting worse and worse.
As for the reality of rural churches, Pastor L believes that the solution is that urban churches support rural churches. Urban churches need to offer help in terms of the hardware needs of rural churches, such as building churches, and the spiritual needs of pastoring and supporting preachers.
In this regard, some churches and pastors have made useful attempts.
Some churches in cities and counties in Fujian have solved the financial worries of grassroots preachers by establishing a comprehensive salary system. In the 1990s, a city church in southern Fujian developed a salary evaluation system for pastors in the city. According to this system, the salary is assessed according to the years of pastorship, ordination, administrative position, and educational level. This system is implemented in all grass-roots churches in the city. Whether it is the pastor of the churches in the city or the rural churches scattered in various mountains and islands, everyone is assessed according to the same standard, even the theological students who have just participated in the ministry. The salary can reach about 4,000 yuan.
Since the system of equal pay for equal work was promoted in the city's grass-roots churches, almost all grass-roots churches in the city have full-time pastors assigned by the local CC&TSPM, and there has been no shortage or loss of pastors due to economic problems, thus the church staff can be committed to ministry. At present, in some rural churches, believers will send rice, noodles, and vegetables to preachers, and they have established a deep relationship with each other in the church.
In a church in a county in East Fujian Province, the issue of the salary of pastors and co-workers is also an important part of the construction of a pastoral team. In this county, the wages of pastoral workers are unified throughout the county. In 2000, the salary system began to be adjusted according to that of primary and secondary school teachers, and in 2010, the salary level of pastoral workers with medium-grade professional titles was equal to that of teachers. In 2006, the church of this county began to pay social security for the co-workers, and in 2013, it covered all pastoral staff in the county.
It is also clear to church leaders that no one wants to be in the grassroots churches if the life of grassroots pastors is insecure. "Due salary is not only the guarantee of the basic life of the preachers but also the preservation of the self-esteem of the preachers and the integrity of the ministry, and it is also a basic barrier for the preachers to resist temptations and hardships of the secular world."
Apart from compensation issues, pastors stationed in rural churches face doubts about their self-worth, family care challenges, and children's education problems. To address these, the entire pastoral team helps them. Over the years, pastoral workers have persisted in participating in morning prayers at 5:30 AM, bringing diverse issues and difficulties before God in prayer. Additionally, the church organizes four pastoral training sessions annually, inviting experts and pastors from other regions to teach. All pastoral workers attend these sessions diligently. The church also sends young members to theological seminaries across the country for further training.
However, in actual visits, I find that there are few cases in which churches could give equal remuneration for work of equal value, standardize urban and rural compensation, and support rural church development. In Meizhou, Guangdong, Pastor Y adopts a flexible method to support local pastors.
In 2018, Pastor Y began managing two churches, which combined have around 300 believers and annual donations of about 110,000 yuan. However, there are four young pastors, two elders, and one seminarian serving these two churches.
The local approach to supporting them involves jointly paying pastors with other gathering sites, as they are advocated to serve at different sites. A pastor can receive 500-800 yuan in subsidies for preaching at a meeting point twice a month. Combined with the approximately 3,000 yuan from the church he serves, each pastor receives a salary of over 4,000 yuan, with social security paid for by the church.
"The head of the church must find ways to solve salary issues and arrange appropriate work for pastors." Currently, the church continues to recruit new pastors, as Pastor Y knows that the Meizhou churches generally lack pastors. Newly recruited pastors can also be introduced to other churches or jointly hired and supported by several churches. The churches share employee resources while maintaining independent management.
In addition to addressing the problem of supporting rural pastors, some churches also help local rural churches nurture believers. A city church in northern Fujian has been helping local rural churches grow for many years. On the one hand, they strengthen the preaching ministry, encouraging believers to participate in the Great Commission. On the other hand, they help cultivate volunteer pastors, advising them to attract people to the gospel through funeral services and visits to relatives and friends.
If a person wants to learn about the gospel, the church assigns more staff workers caring for newcomers to follow up until new meeting points are established in local villages and towns. Once a new meeting point is established, the church sends theologically trained workers to provide pastoral care and supervisory support until the local meeting point can become self-sustaining, at which point the workers are withdrawn. For places with existing meeting points, the church also helps to carry out activities, further enhancing their vitality.
Another city church in northern Fujian strengthens the training of migrant believers, with their spiritual lives improving. The hope is that when they return to their hometowns, they can sow gospel seeds, bringing back advanced pastoral and management concepts.
Due to varied reasons, some pastors and believers have left rural churches and moved to cities. However, they still care deeply for their hometown churches and strive to support and contribute to the church’s growth. A pastor in Guangdong, who has served in rural churches for over a decade and is now serving in a city church, still keeps rural churches in mind. Currently, the church is working hard to equip retired, financially stable individuals who have a burden for rural churches, as they can enter the rural ministry after completing their theological studies.
- Translated by Abigail Wu and Nicolas Cao
Urban Churches Step Up to Support Struggling Rural Congregations in China
