Editor’s note: This August we are praying for Suzhou, a famous, ancient city in eastern China. Suzhou church leaders say that it is difficult to shepherd believers during these times of restriction. They worry that the next generation of Christians does not have the same fervor as Chinese house church fathers. Churches are searching for new ways to share the gospel despite ongoing restrictions, and many have found mercy ministry opens doors for relational outreach.
“God Has His Work”
China Partnership: What are some common challenges, fears, and struggles you and your church encounter as you minister to people in Suzhou?
Pastor Song: We need a gospel opening, a fitting way to share the gospel and lead people to the Lord.
Some Suzhou churches serve sick children, and do that quite well. I’ve visited another province which has a place where cancer patients, who are traveling to the city for chemotherapy and radiation, can stay cheaply and can cook their own meals. That center has led many to the Lord through that. I feel the gospel needs an opening, and each church should find one.
As for fear, I don’t worry about much. Although our church’s people are relatively stable now, member instability might be a concern. I don’t necessarily mean that people have settled here permanently, but that at least they keep coming and attending gatherings. When the work and business of a city change, the people in the church inevitably change. If people aren’t stable, you simply can’t shepherd them. When people change, it affects shepherding, training, and even ministry. I used to worry, but now I don’t so much. I believe God has his work.
I feel the gospel needs an opening, and each church should find one.
Because of the situation of my child [who has special needs], some of my energy goes to family and the child. Sometimes I worry that putting more energy into my family and my child could scatter the church’s energy. There is a feeling of somehow owing God.
But, I’m very thankful: church service is primary, and family is primary – family is also ministry.
“People Don’t Prioritize Discipleship”
Preacher Yu: One major, shared challenge is the broader environment in China, where house churches still face restrictions. Because of pressure, it is difficult to directly undertake gospel ministry. It seems you need to take an indirect route, or have a recognized identity or institutional cover before you carry out certain gospel activities.
Suzhou pursues a comfortable, refined life, so people get swept away by the world and by that comfortable life. Gradually, this affects Christians’ willingness to pay a cost for the gospel.
Many Christians today were born in the 80s, and a lot are second-generation believers. They are really consumed by marriage and parent-child issues. Even church leaders don’t have time and energy to fully pour themselves into church life. Their time is squeezed, and sometimes it’s hard to push better church ministries – in discipleship, you have to go by their schedule.
Never miss a story
As a pastor, you feel people don’t prioritize discipleship, and you don’t know how to train them better. Sometimes that is really discouraging, because they don’t seem to think spiritual things are very important.
Suzhou pursues a comfortable, refined life, so people get swept away by the world and by that comfortable life. Gradually, this affects Christians’ willingness to pay a cost for the gospel.
There’s a deeper feeling that, sooner or later, the church will die in your hands. As pastors, we have no certainty. We don’t know where we will take the church. We just keep renewing ourselves in the gospel, saying, “God, this is your church, I’ll just do my best.”
Persevering through Restrictions
Elder Huang: Our challenges right now are real; the gospel work and discipleship we are doing are all restricted.
Local young people in Suzhou attend church gatherings. But our hope in shepherding is that they would be raised up and discipled, and that is a big challenge. Previously, we kept dragging them along over the years, calling them to serve. But after a while, with marriage and kids and family pressure, their pace is really fast. We see that they haven’t been able to enter the sphere of service that we desire as their pastors. That is a great challenge today. Because after all, the next generation needs to keep up.
As for fear, I’ve always said how good it would be if someone could take over. But, despite looking and looking, we can’t find anyone who can rise up. They don’t have the character and service we want, and they are unwilling to rise up and shepherd and serve well. So we have this fear: “Lord, how is it that there is not even one person in this church with the heart to pay this cost?”
For a while we’ve been saying that the church isn’t like before, when we followed our older predecessors. All of that generation had the heart to pay a cost. Then, our generation followed them, and we had a bit of that heart. But as we look to the next generation, we have great fear. Because of work, career, family, and kids, there are truly few who pay a cost.
So we worry, because we cannot see how those young people can pay the cost, serve the Lord, and move forward guided by Scripture and by love for the Lord. When we see that those under us in the church cannot rise and love the Lord like this, we do not know how to “give an account.”
In the midst of challenge, how… can we give young people a chance to receive training and shepherding? How can we build to the future so that the church can be passed on better?
These days, the gospel is restricted, and many places are restricted. Every time we share the gospel, every time we go out to serve the elderly, we have to watch carefully: is there someone behind us taking pictures and asking who we are? We can’t easily say which church we are from, so we just say we are a charity organization. Once you evangelize, people continue to ask which organization we are from. This is a challenge.
In the midst of challenge, how can we keep gatherings normal? How can we give young people a chance to receive training and shepherding? How can we build to the future so that the church can be passed on better?
We have internal fear because we do not see how the church will be passed on, and how these young people will learn to better follow the example of the older generation.
Pastor Song, Preacher Yu, and Elder Huang are pseudonyms for house church leaders in Suzhou.
Pray for Suzhou churches to persevere in hope despite facing challenges and restrictions.
