Editor’s note: The church in Xiamen is one of the oldest in China, and other believers around the country tend to look at the ministries in Xiamen with admiration. But Xiamen church leaders say their churches lack depth and commitment. Part of this has to do with persecution: Christians are afraid to stand out or take on leadership roles, for fear it will draw attention to them. But part of this issue is a lack of making the gospel their own. If Xiamen churches are to grow and mature, they need to reflect deeply on Christ’s goodness. As one pastor shared, he is praying for “discipleship within the church, and evangelism and missions outside.” While sobering, this critical look at what the Xiamen church needs can encourage us to pray for Xiamen believers and for the church in China.
China Partnership: How can we be praying for your city and for Christians in your city? How can we be praying for your churches and families?
True Spirituality
Huang Minzhu: First, I pray that the Lord will help Xiamen churches to increasingly display true spirituality, not just the appearance of it. I hope that, beginning with us pastors, we can truly worship God, obey the truth, live out our testimonies, and lead our congregations to live better before God and the world.
Second, if the Lord wills, I hope the church in Xiamen will have a more relaxed environment. Then we can do more public ministry, and non-Christians won’t look on us with prejudice because of persecution. That would help us better pursue revival as we shepherd and evangelize.
Our church has many people, but not many who are truly committed to serving the Lord.
Finally, I hope pastors and churches can better serve Xiamen and truly be salt and light in this city.
Lacking Spiritual Commitment
For our church, in the new year we will focus on covenant relationships and building true community. I hope that relationships between pastors and congregation will come more and more into line with God’s will. Lord willing, we want to gradually establish more formal church structures – but we won’t rush it.
Second, right now our church has many people, but not many who are truly committed to serving the Lord. We don’t have many we can train. For example, I want to start a preaching workshop. There are three or four interested brothers, but only two are truly committed. We offer many opportunities to grow, but there’s not a lot of participation. I pray God will guide our congregation in how they spend their time, and will help them prioritize and better lead their families to participate in ministry.
Third, we have had to change locations several times over the last five years. Brothers and sisters are weakened and timid. People tend to maintain the status quo. They keep doing the ministry they are already doing, but are afraid to take on more – believers are concerned about participating more, being more visible, or interacting more with others. The reason for this is the current environment.
Before 2019, we could talk naturally about our faith, and people were welcome to visit the church. Now, we are hesitant. Our church has already moved so much. If unfamiliar people come, we are worried that could risk making us move again. I pray for the Lord to help us return to the gospel. May we not focus on the environment, but on the hope and promises he has given us. May he help believers live more securely in him, and shine out with the gifts he has given each as they faithfully serve him.
For my family, pray for God to help me manage my time well, because there is always more to do. I hope to maintain my priorities: first my relationship with God, then family, then the church, and finally other relationships outside the church.
May we not focus on the environment, but on the hope and promises he has given us. May he help believers live more securely in him.
My wife has a demanding job, so pray for her spiritual and physical health. My child is in public school, which brings a lot of challenges. Pray for God to guide him to be rooted in faith from a young age, to follow the Lord all his life, and not to be swayed.
We Don’t Have a Deep Core
Jin Dajun: As for Xiamen, I pray that when the illusory bubble of this world breaks, the church will be prepared to catch those who fall. I am deeply concerned about this. For instance, one sister excitedly said that public education is falling apart. It’s like she thought Christian education would somehow benefit from this. My response was that it’s very possible Christian education will collapse even sooner than public!
Statements like the one this sister made are common. People criticize the government for its corruption and issues – but the church can’t handle the fallout. The church doesn’t have the capacity.
We lack a clear core and contextual reflection.
The church in China has always been prone to imitating superficial trends. We imitate [overseas] ministries, or learn “how to pray for the city.” On the surface, things look similar, but we lack the inner core. We preach Christ-centered sermons, but lack truly deep perception. There are a lot of areas like this: church planting movements, church structure, Christian education, or the missions movement. I’ve been deeply involved in most of these and know the situation on the ground, so I’ve always been worried. It’s easy to fall into superficial ministry.
We lack a clear core and contextual reflection. We have a classical Christian school that’s been running for 10 years, and we only now realize we don’t understand education at all. This is truly heartbreaking.
Far from Fruitfulness
I’m a pastor, but in my heart, I know I’m very unqualified. Pastors can’t pastor; parents can’t parent; teachers can’t teach. This makes me feel heartbroken and pessimistic. We look like a vast ocean, but in reality there’s only a little depth. We’re more like a Christmas tree, with lots of beautiful ornaments hung on it, rather than a tree that bears real, life-giving fruit.
A lot of things here were established by missionaries, like ministries to women in the red-light district, or ministries for orphanages and people with disabilities. When missionaries had to leave Xiamen, they handed these ministries over to the local church. This isn’t fruit we bore; it’s just pretty decorations hung on us. We’re still very far from that kind of fruitfulness.
We look like a vast ocean, but in reality there’s only a little depth. We’re more like a Christmas tree, with lots of beautiful ornaments hung on it, rather than a tree that bears real, life-giving fruit.
Reflecting on myself, when I preach, I can speak deeply and powerfully about sin. But when I speak about the gospel and how good Christ is, I feel very impoverished. In a one-hour message, 40 minutes is spent reflecting on sin. But when talking about Christ, it’s not like Tim Keller or other mature preachers who can bring out Christ’s beauty. Our practice of Christ-centered preaching is either very dry, or formulaic and shallow. We are still unskilled in the proclamation and application of the gospel, and are still unfamiliar with the power and beauty of the gospel. We need more reflection and depth.
All these things require prayer. From a human perspective, I don’t know what to do: just pray for God’s mercy.
We hope our own church can be unified, godly, and rekindle a passion for the gospel within the church. We pray for discipleship within the church, and evangelism and missions outside the church. Our church is also preparing for a thoughtful, confident church plant. Hopefully we can think it through thoroughly, and plant a new, healthy church that comes from a healthy church.
Finally, thank you for your love for China.
Huang Minzhu and Jin Dajun are pseudonyms for house church pastors in Xiamen.
Pray for Xiamen believers to have the boldness of Christ, despite a difficult environment. Pray for deep reflection that leads to fruitful, life-giving faith.
