Editor’s note: Lu Jianxi, a Wenzhou pastor, says people in his city are resistant to the gospel — and much of the reason is because the gospel sounds like someone is trying to scam them! It’s also a difficult time to minister to those who already believe. The bad economy, low levels of public trust, overwork, and persecution have combined to make life hard for young Christians who are trying to hold down jobs and raise young families.
China Partnership: What are some common challenges, fears, and struggles that you and your church encounter as you minister to people in your city? How can we pray about this?
Fearful, Hard Hearts
Lu Jianxi: Unbelievers in this city are more resistant to the gospel than before.
We used to go out to evangelize, walking and handing out gospel tracts. People would look at the tracts and listen to me explain the gospel. Now it is very difficult. If you give someone a tract, they might not even bother to look, but just throw it in the trash right in front of us.
Now, if you try to share the gospel, polite people listen for three minutes and impolite people refuse immediately. Before, many people used to be willing to listen. Even if they didn’t agree, they would talk to you – but now it’s quite difficult.
When we try to share the gospel, people are not thinking about whether what we say is true. They are wondering if you are trying to scam them!
The younger generation is very resistant to the gospel. If you evangelize them, they might immediately call the police, saying you are illegally proselytizing. Especially after the pandemic, these challenges are more intense.
Behind gospel resistance, we find deep fear. People are afraid of being deceived. This fear comes from the general environment. There are so many fraud cases, people are scammed all the time. The whole environment is one of distrust. There is no sense of security, and people’s hearts are trapped in fear.
When we try to share the gospel, people are not thinking about whether what we say is true. They are wondering if you are trying to scam them! People have lost their sense of trust.
This is a struggle, because as unbelievers, people still need to find faith. But everyone is terrified of being deceived, and there is no way out. As we serve unbelievers, we can clearly feel they are very empty, confused, and don’t know the way forward.
They have an extreme lack of security and trust in their hearts. They also long for real relationships and trust – but there is no way out. Their gospel resistance is very obvious.
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The Struggles of Believers
As for believers – the whole environment is more and more resistant to the gospel, so it is becoming harder for Christians to be a good witness for Christ. In the past, you could be open at work about being a Christian, and people would respect you.
Not anymore! If you express yourself and are in a government job, you could be placed under political investigation, your boss will talk to you, someone will ask you to hide your Christianity. That’s with a “better” leader – some leaders will immediately pressure you.
So, believers are struggling with to express their Christian identity in this city. Brothers and sisters also struggle with the relationship between the workplace and the gospel. This challenges their faith, putting them in a place of insecurity. Teachers, doctors, civil servants – all have suffered difficulties and pressure in the past few years, more than ever before. Even non-Christians say the past two years have been the most serious years of control and exclusion since the Cultural Revolution.
Young people are willing, but they have no strength. They are willing to serve and they love the Lord, but life crushes them so much it is difficult to breathe.
At the same time, the economic downturn has made their lives extremely difficult. People need stable jobs, relatively stable incomes. For young people, the challenges are getting bigger and bigger. They need to sacrifice rest to work over-time to have the money they need for life.
They are willing to participate in church and commit to serving others – but the burden of their lives leaves them breathless. This is the struggle in Wenzhou: young people are willing, but they have no strength. They are willing to serve and they love the Lord, but life crushes them so much it is difficult to breathe. They believe God will protect them – but they struggle for their daily bread.
How to Pray
How can we pray?
First, pray that the hearts of the people in this city will be softened towards the gospel. Fifteen or 20 years ago, when I began ministry, Wenzhou people were very soft towards the gospel. If you preached the simple gospel, people would listen. Whether or not they believed was up to God – but they were willing to hear. Now, their hearts are hardened. We need to pray for their hearts to be softened to receive the gospel.
At the same time, we need to pray for them to recognize their inner lack. Unbelievers are very empty inside. They are willing to talk about anything but the gospel. They talk about money, power, or even women, and I deeply feel the emptiness, confusion, and helplessness behind it. We need to pray they will recognize their true spiritual need.
Pray for younger Christians to rely on God in this stressful environment. Pray that – like our parents’ generation, like our grandparents’ generation – they will be able to “obey the Lord’s will and not ask about the future.”[1] Pray for their resolve.
Pray for more ministers to be raised up from the younger generation. There are many ministers from older generations [what Westerners would call Millenials and Gen X], but there are pitifully few 20- to 30-year-olds willing to go to seminary or pursue being full-time preachers. Once, I surveyed a group of 70 churches. In that group, there were only three full-time preachers or seminary students born after 1995!
Pray for younger Christians to rely on God in this stressful environment. Pray that – like our parents’ generation, like our grandparents’ generation – they will be able to “obey the Lord’s will and not ask about the future.””
This makes me feel there is a great crisis. Ministry succession is slowly being broken. Partly this is because of the population decrease brought by the one-child policy. It is also possible young people today are not willing to pay the price to serve the Lord. I’m 40 – but we need to pray for the younger generation to rise up. This is important.
Another thing: pray for Christian families as they bring up children. Every family has all kinds of tutoring – this invisibly reflects the pressure they have raising children. There is pressure, whether you homeschool, go to public school, or face the problems of private education. This generation has a great struggle in raising their children.
Of course, children are the idols of Chinese people, and also of Wenzhou people. But this struggle is something we need to pray for more, and shepherd them in more.
[1] “但遵主旨、莫问前程” (dàn zūn zhǔzhǐ, mò wèn qiánchéng) is a famous Chinese Christian motto meaning, “Only follow the Lord’s will, don’t ask about the future.” It emphasizes faithful obedience regardless of outcomes.
Lu Jianxi is a pseudonym for a house church pastor in Wenzhou.
Pray for Wenzhou people to have soft and receptive hearts to the gospel.
