Editor’s note: Just like others in their city, Christians in Zhengzhou struggle to balance work, family, children’s education, and struggles between traditional mindsets and the modern world. Believers face another challenge, too: continuing to follow Jesus in a society that alienates or even persecutes them for their faith.
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 for you?
Challenge: Evangelism and Shepherding
Pastor Cui: We face two main challenges: outreach, and shepherding the church.
Evangelism is a big challenge. Although traditional churches like ours emphasize building up life and missions, gospel understanding isn’t a full part of life. We often try to rely on law, merit, and moralism for sanctification. When someone’s spiritual life doesn’t have the vitality it needs, it’s even harder to evangelize.
Outside the church, as cities develop, you see something that probably happens all over the world: people are colder to each other, it’s hard to build trust, and strangers hardly speak. Believers are also consumed with the pressures of city life. Just staying above water and steadily participating in the church’s teaching, worship, life, and service is already a lot. So, people don’t have much motivation to evangelize.
On top of that, because this is China and religious policies are what they are, people can pay a price for sharing the gospel. A lot of people feel a kind of shame about the gospel. It’s fine for them personally to believe, but it becomes very hard if they’re going to pay a cost, or face persecution, or get called in and questioned by officials and have their family and co-workers see them differently. Evangelism has always been tough.
Believers are consumed with the pressures of city life. Just staying above water… is already a lot. So, people don’t have much motivation to evangelize. On top of that, because this is China and religious policies are what they are, people can pay a price for sharing the gospel.
Right now, motivation is weak, and fear keeps us from being bold. But in the church, we’re always re-thinking this. Everyone wants to share the gospel – but it’s hard to break through these weaknesses.
The other challenge is shepherding. I come from a traditional house church background. We were mainly trained as evangelists, not shepherds. So, once we started church planting and pastoral ministry, I’ve been challenged to grow in my shepherding capacity: preaching consistently week after week; giving counsel in life, family, work, and raising children. All of that is shepherding. You also need to build the church into a healthier community.
Pray for us. We need the Holy Spirit, through worship and preaching, to revive his church and the spiritual lives of believers. May Christians willingly put down roots for God, so they will again be ignited by the gospel and respond to God’s love with power. May they not be fearful, but join in the Great Commission.
Pray for each pastor. May they be given vision and strength in service. Amidst all kinds of challenges, may they be made resilient in the gospel and be faithful to the ministry God has given them.
Never miss a story
Challenge: “The Loneliness of City Life”
Pastor Wu: We are trying to plant a church, and our church is pretty young. The upside is they’re full of energy, but our weakness is our faith isn’t yet stable and mature. That feels like a big challenge.
On one hand, we have job pressure. On the other, everyone has a deep relationship hunger. The loneliness of city life makes us long even more for connection. On top of all that, Henan is an inland province where the underlying culture is heavy on human relationships. So, in the church, it’s a big challenge to handle interpersonal dynamics, to respond to the different expectations people have of their pastors, and to help brothers and sisters well.
With employment pressure and relational expectations, brothers and sisters have shaky commitment.
On top of all that, with employment pressure and relational expectations, brothers and sisters have shaky commitment. Layer together education and employment pressures, finances, pastoral expectations, plus the fact that in the city it’s really hard to plant your feet anywhere, and it’s very hard to stabilize numbers as the church grows. Spiritually, believers are also going through real struggles, both in the workplace and in general.
As we serve the city, my wife and I are prepared to say to do our best to shepherd this church, but we don’t know how long the church will last. At some point, our church might fail. Of course God gives us hope, but sometimes we still feel anxious. Brothers and sisters move around all the time, and we’re never sure who will stay. People come and go. That’s just how it is.
Challenge: “Internal Friction”
Pastor Lu: Zhengzhou is highly mobile, and that creates a big challenge for pastoral ministry. Because this city is shaped by railroads, people constantly move in and out. Another issue is the exhausting internal friction [内耗 nèihào, “internal friction”] in Zhengzhou. Zhengzhou has “996” work rhythms [working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week], and this province is also known for intense gaokao [China’s college entrance exam] pressure, much heavier than many others places. So, the pressure of work and anxiety surrounding children’s education leave many believers worn out.
The same things are true inside the church. Under the weight of competition and a depleted culture, many people serving in ministry are close to empty. As faith presses against so much pressure, faith can easily get pushed to the margins. That creates real difficulty in shepherding.
Because people are mobile, it is especially important – and especially tough – to build relationships. We often feel we can’t keep people with us. The continuity of long-term ministry is constantly interrupted, and that easily produces fatigue. This is a major challenge.
At an even deeper level, there’s also tension between traditional assumptions and the city’s pluralistic culture. People come to Zhengzhou from every direction, but most have the traditional family culture of Henan and the Central Plains. That creates shepherding tension. You have to navigate the influence of secularism and the traditional thinking of the older generation.
Because people are mobile, it is especially important – and especially tough – to build relationships. We often feel we can’t keep people with us.
So, how can a pastor be balanced? How can we care well for the older generation? They’ve already done their part, and now they need us to care for them. At the same time, how do we shepherd the younger generation amid the pressures of secular emptiness and nihilism? How do we keep older and younger generations from living in tension? How do we bring them into a healthy balance? These are great challenges, and pastors feel a lot of pressure.
Add to this the uncertainty of the broader environment. There is another layer besides just church life. As space keeps shrinking, we never know when our meeting place or even our ministry pattern may need to change. We may have to relocate or shift course at any time. We simply have to watch where the Lord places us. That uncertainty puts real pressure on the heart – especially for people who are more sensitive to the broader environment.
When I think about prayer, I think of praying honestly into these things. I also think of John 8. We long for brothers and sisters to be set free in the truth, not drained dry by the pressures of survival and education. We want them to see that God called them to this city, and their being here is not in vain. How do we help them know this?
I want to pray for Zhengzhou in the spirit of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17: may he give us “the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation.” Then, in the face of pluralism, in spite of the powerful pull of a secular, nihilistic culture and the pattern of exhausting internal competition, may we build up the church and serve this city well.
Pastor Cui, Pastor Wu, and Pastor Lu are pseudonyms for house church leaders in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.
Pray for tired, stressed, and over-burdened believers in Zhengzhou to find life and rest in Christ.
