God’s grace — in Germany and Guizhou

by Tony Lambert

The Guizhou plateau in southwest China lies at over 6,000 feet and parts are heavily forested. In this poor area, a band of gospel preachers have labored over the years. They did not live in fancy apartments or feast on rich food. Compelled by the love of God, they spread the gospel in the high mountains, braving the bitter winds in a life spent for God. The wrinkles on their faces were a testimony to the gospel. They lived by faith and in total reliance on God.

One such faithful servant is an Yi Christian who leads the church in a village in Dafang County, in the Bijie prefecture of northwestern Guizhou. He is nearly 40 and his great-grandfather received the gospel from a German deaconess sent by the China Inland Mission. This Yi brother came to Christ at age 12. His family was very poor and so he never went beyond lower middle-school. Then he served with the army in Tibet before returning home to work in the fields. At 16 he accepted God’s call and turned down a promising career opportunity with the local government in order to preach the gospel.

In 1989 he was properly ordained as pastor of his local church. When he took over there were only forty believers and the total offering was only 18RMB (US$6). The Christians lived scattered across a large area, some as far away as 5 miles and it took them two and a half hours to walk to church. It took him 5 or 6 hours to make one pastoral visit. The houses are perched on the mountaintops or on the slopes linked only by a sheep-track. But he downed tools in the fields so as to visit the sick and comfort the weak. He prayed for Miss Wang, who was only 18 but was paralyzed. God healed her and as a result her entire family believed in Jesus. He labored on, and step by step the Lord daily added to the church.

Just as the work was growing, a great trial came upon him. In 1998 he fell ill with exhaustion and could not eat. A medical examination revealed pulmonary TB. It was not incurable but his family had no money for medicine. To avoid infecting them he decided to go away and die. But a brother in the church learned of his plight and urged him to pray. He decided to commit himself totally to the work of building the new church in spite of his illness. A month later a further medical examination revealed that his TB was completely healed! The entire church was deeply moved. They saw with their own eyes the depth and breadth of the love of God. His own faith was deepened and although he had no regular salary he decided to serve Christ full-time for the rest of his life.

This is the testimony of a simple evangelist. Although he has not experienced a great revival like John Sung (one of China’s greatest evangelists), here in this poor corner of Guizhou he has sowed the seeds of the gospel. Patiently he waters them, learning a new lesson in faith every day, looking to Jesus. “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

As John Sung said: “When you trust in the Lord, you are unafraid of every danger. There is no burden you cannot bear; no situation in which you cannot sing. Every situation is prepared by God for your good. Every victory is due to His grace. There is no want God will not supply. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.” (Translated from The Dew, issued by South-Central Theological Seminary in Wuhan, 2000/2.)

We have published the above account as a testimony to God’s wonderful faithfulness down the generations. His plan is far beyond what we can imagine in its depth and detail. Today in Christian work we often want instant results. But here we see the outworking of God’s long-term purposes. His love inspired a German missionary with the CIM to work in a remote corner of Guizhou some seventy years ago. There was much prayer in Germany, UK, USA and China for the tribal people. Now many decades later the fruit can be seen in the faithful witness of a family through four generations and a young man now patiently spreading the gospel to his own people. A believer wrote to FEBC five years ago reporting there are at least 2,000 Christians in Dafang County meeting in fifty churches. According to local government sources over ten years ago the Bijie prefecture had more than 100,000 Protestant Christians. To God be all the glory!

CHURCHES DEMOLISHED IN WENZHOU

In December several international news agencies published reports about demolition of religious buildings in the Wenzhou region of southeast China. An official in the Wenzhou Foreign Affairs Office confirmed that since early December many churches and temples had been demolished. A spokesman for the city’s Propaganda Department said as many as 450 buildings had been destroyed. Most were in Ouhai, Yongjia and Leqing counties. Officials in Beijing stated that 239 unregistered facilities had been shut down and 210 churches (both Protestant and Catholic) and temples had been destroyed in Ouhai alone. Officials said the action was taken to maintain social stability and “protect the public.” The official in Wenzhou Foreign Affairs stated that “in rural areas religious superstition is rampant. The government’s goal is to demolish those illegal buildings as well as to correct decadent rural lifestyles.” Ominously he added: “this could be a good example for other cities.”

For over twenty years Wenzhou has been a center of Christian revival. Leqing County has at least 100,000 Protestant Christians and inYongjia County nearly 20% of the population are officially registered as Protestants. (Reports from Radio Australia, December 12, 2000 and Agence France-Presse, South China Morning Post and Associated Press (Shanghai), December 13, 2000.)

Copyright OMF International