Editor’s note: This June, we are praying for Nanjing. In this second section of our interview (part one is linked here!), Nanjing pastors share how their cities and churches have changed over the past five years. While there are still many challenges, these pastors have seen their faith grow, and the hard times have helped them and their churches to deepen their walks with God.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Challenges and Control

CP: How has your city changed over the last five years? How have things changed for your church?

Hu Jiang: Because of Covid-19, over the last five years, the university doors have been closed. People who are outside [who do not work or study at the university] cannot come in. This is a big change. Because the gates have been closed, student ministry has been really influenced.

All these changes happened through government control and persecution. They do not want us to get to know the students. Before, we could go into the university, hold events, eat with students, play soccer and basketball with them, and walk on campus. After Covid Zero, the gates were closed. Now Covid-19 is over, students can come out, but those outside still cannot go in.

As a minister working with students, you cannot easily get to know students. Our meetings with weaker brothers and sisters are now difficult. We have fewer connections.

They do not want us to get to know the students. Before, we could go into the university, hold events, eat with students, play soccer and basketball with them, and walk on campus. But after Covid Zero, the gates were closed. After Covid-19, students can come out, but those outside cannot go in.

Du Liwei: Over the last five years, the economy has changed greatly. The employment rate as well as salary and income levels have been greatly affected. A lot of people are on unemployment or are having a hard time finding a job, so they leave.

The second change is, because it was hard to get together when Covid-19 was spreading, we got used to gathering online. Afterwards, people were used to that, and nobody wants to meet  face-to-face.

The third change over the last five years is persecution. This is quite a challenge, and even a crisis for churches who cannot gather. We have to have smaller gatherings, with around 10 people in one house. This leads to the challenge of raising more leaders for these small gatherings.

Zhang Ming: The population of Nanjing is increasing by about 50,000 people per year. Now the city has a population of about 9.5 million. About 87 percent of the population lives in the city, while the rest of the population lives in more rural areas of Nanjing.

You could call what is happening here an economic crisis. In all of China, the price of houses is going down. Nanjing is probably number one as far as decreasing prices. Nanjing’s economic outlook is not so good, and the city does not have a very strong economy.

Liang Mai: Before, Nanjing had many smaller, non-state-run companies. But now these small companies are dying. A lot of people were employed by them. Because of that, the government is trying to protect the bigger, state-run companies.

We have to have smaller gatherings, with around 10 people in one house. This leads to the challenge of raising more leaders for these small gatherings.

The northern part of Nanjing near the Yangtze River is growing more quickly than other areas. In the last five years, maybe 200,000 new people moved there. They are planning to build a new high-speed railway in that part of the city. It will probably be the largest high-speed railway in Asia.

A Deepening Faith

Within Nanjing, the church planting network has grown a lot. We have done trainings for small group and church leaders, and many teachers and trainers have been raised up. The connection between churches has also gotten stronger.

For our church, we feel the gospel became more known and deepened in our lives during Covid-Zero. Not only is the gospel being preached, but people are bringing the gospel into their lives.

But because of Covid-19, a lot of changes happened. Some people left the city or the faith. Yet on the whole, faith deepened. Because some churches stopped gathering during Covid-19, or because some people were wandering and unconnected, more people came to our church.

We also adopted a small gathering into our church body. Our visions aligned, and they joined us. Right now, our church’s focus is on “reach.” We want to reach out to non-Christians. We are encouraging our members to boldly walk into their neighborhoods and deepen relationships with their neighbors to reach the city. We are using discipleship to help more people “reach” and do the same.

Du Liwei: We had to change because of Covid-19, but this helped us become a small-group based church. Over the past three years, the focus has been on building a gospel-centered message and culture.

I realized God was using Covid-19 to help me see how the gospel can shape my church. I am thankful God changed my church to grow in a deeper way, instead of just spreading.

I am so thankful. At first, I felt this was an obstacle. Later, I realized God was using Covid-19 to help me see how the gospel can shape my church. I am thankful God changed my church to grow in a deeper way, instead of just spreading. I’m a fast church planter, and can do things very quickly. But because of Covid-19, I had to stop and be refined first. I realized that what I really need is the gospel-centered message to deepen both my life and my church.

My church is a community church. Right now, I am thinking about how to build the culture and at the same time how to help church members reach out among the community.

Zhang Ming: Because of persecution, several years ago we separated our church into several different homes. Even before that, we were also a small group church. During those years, though, we gave each group more authority to run on their own.

During the past five years, the gospel has also deepened in our church, and the church has grown in preaching and pastoring.

This year and last year, I have focused on disciple-making. This year, we are focusing on teaching our members to pray. We want to have the culture of a praying church.

Liang Mai, Du Liwei, Hu Jiang, and Zhang Ming are pseudonyms for house church pastors in Nanjing. 

Pray that God will use difficulties to grow the faith of his people in Nanjing.