Editor’s note: In today’s post, several Kunming pastors shared that these are hard times in their city. People are more hostile towards Christianity than in the past, and many reject the faith immediately as a “foreign religion.” Others are too focused on their economic troubles, and find they can’t consider faith because they are consumed with their daily, physical needs.

Pray for Leaders

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?

Wu Yexin: First, pray for those who lead. Pray that preachers will have a deeper understanding of God’s word and doctrine. Pray for each leader to truly understand God’s heart.

For a long time, each church in Kunming has done its own thing. There are various denominations and backgrounds, so it’s not easy to unify. Now, there is a pastoral fellowship in Kunming, but it’s very loose. We need God to guide us so Kunming churches can be more unified and form a common force.

Pray for those who lead. Pray that preachers will have a deeper understanding of God’s word and doctrine.

Second, pray for the gospel to spread in Kunming and reach a wider audience. Each church needs to do its part.

Resistance to the Gospel

Ou’yang Qiang: People are very resistant to the gospel. I’ve been serving for almost 20 years. Now, when I share the gospel – like if I hand out gospel tracts on Christmas Eve – I clearly feel rejection. People see Christianity as foreign. After [a popular Chinese movie], people feel we should celebrate volunteers who died on the battlefield on Christmas Eve, not commemorate Jesus’s birth. People are resistant. If you are handing out tracts, they refuse. If people hear you say, “Merry Christmas,” they think you are strange, and brainwashed by Western culture. It’s not like before. Then, when you said, “Merry Christmas,” people were happy. The current secular ideology has made people particularly resistant to faith.

As for fear: now many churches don’t dare gather with more than 30 people. More than that would be illegal, according to religious regulations. So, some believers don’t dare to gather in large numbers. They don’t dare sing loudly. During worship, everyone is very subdued. This is a kind of spiritual fear.

I clearly feel rejection. People see Christianity as foreign.

Now, if you share the gospel, people think: “I can’t even make ends meet – how can I think about faith?” Right now, the most important thing is having enough to eat. It is difficult for those of us who serve and share to meet people’s needs. Not only do we need to meet people’s spiritual needs, saving and caring for their souls, but we also need to care for their physical and emotional needs.

Whether the challenges are ideological or economic, fear and scattering makes it difficult to move even the hearts of brothers and sisters. Believers are troubled by the world’s environment. Their own faith begins to waver. They wonder, “Where is God? If there is a God, why am I going through this?”

This is what I’ve observed and pondered about over the last year, as I’ve been shared the gospel and talked with people in our church plant. We should pray for these things.

For now, sharing the gospel is not prohibited. We can still share. No matter how corrupt, fearful, or uneasy people’s hearts are, no one is stopping us from sharing. As long we faithfully share, God has his chosen people in this city. He will allow more people to hear the gospel and respond.

We should pray for those who are sharing: may they not give up because of the world’s turmoil or the difficulties Kunming faces. Instead, may we persevere in sharing the gospel and preaching God’s word. God will change hearts and, through his word, save more souls.

Sharing the Gospel through Life

Guan Ju: The world has always rejected the gospel. Kunming is troubled by what Revelation calls the two helpers of Satan: politics and false religion.

No matter how corrupt, fearful, or uneasy people’s hearts are, no one is stopping us from sharing. As long we faithfully share, God has his chosen people in this city.

Unlike in other churches, our church doesn’t seem disunified. Everyone is willing and eager to share the gospel. Brothers and sisters share in their families, workplaces, and in teaching their children. People see their work ethic, their Christian view of marriage and raising children, and then wonder why believers are different. Because unbelievers see Christianity is guiding believers in their life choices, they are more willing to listen. Pray for this.

This year, I’ve been praying for God to use believers’ work testimony. The world doesn’t know the meaning of work. But after Christians are transformed by the gospel, they have a different ethic. For instance, on Sundays, they firmly ask for leave.

Pray for us to be able to share the gospel from the perspectives of work, marriage and family, and raising children.

Right now, the biggest challenge is: how can our congregation balance obedience to God’s word? Some are very legalistic, sometimes becoming unbalanced. Others are a little antinomian [asserting that since believers are saved by grace, they don’t have to follow moral law]. They also become unbalanced. These Christians’ lives are founded in Christ, but it would be better if they could be more balanced.

 Bringing the Gospel to Kunming

Huang Gudai: The biggest challenge is job insecurity because of the economic downturn. Everyone earns less and less money, so they feel insecure about the future. Housing prices have declined, and many people have a lot of loans. People are anxious about the future and especially how to raise children, because there have been declines in the employment rate.

We pray for the Lord to break the idols in people’s hearts so they can completely surrender their lives to God…We want to enter this broken world with Christ’s incarnate love.

In these struggles, we pray for the Lord to break the idols in people’s hearts so they can completely surrender their lives to God. We hope that faith will not just be a religion, but that people’s lives will be gospel-centered. We want to enter this broken world with Christ’s incarnate love. In difficult circumstances – and with greater challenges potentially ahead – we want to love our neighbors and unbelieving family members. We want to accompany those whom we love, but who don’t believe.

May the Holy Spirit use each of us to become channels of God’s grace. May the Spirit that moved the missionaries of the past doubly move each of brother and sister, so we may continue to love and bring the gospel to Kunming.

Wu Yexin, Ou’yang Qiang, Guan Ju, and Huang Gudai are pseudonyms for preachers and leaders at house churches in the southwest China city of Kunming.

Pray believers will love and accompany their unbelieving friends and family, and that non-Christians will see God’s power in the lives of those who know him.