Editor’s note: The gospel came early to Xuzhou, and many people in the area are at least familiar with the tenets of Christianity. But the traditional house churches tend to be a bit messy in the way they are run, and many are now focusing on setting up things like formal church offices and more structured plans for shepherding.
China Partnership: How has your city changed in the last five years? What changes have occurred in your church?
Church Planting Via Dispersal
Lin Yukang: Xuzhou is in Jiangsu Province, but our economy is not as developed as southern Jiangsu cities like Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou, all of which are closer to Shanghai. Xuzhou has developed more slowly, and the economy here is weaker than those cities.
But over recent years, culture and tourism has grown quickly. Xuzhou has become “Internet famous.” During holidays, we basically don’t go out, because there are traffic jams as tourists visit from all over the country. Local soccer is big – there’s something called the “Jiangsu Super League, and Xuzhou has pretty good rankings there. Tourism development has been fast.
Compared to other parts of China, Jiangsu is politically moderate….Unless a church is under special scrutiny, the religious environment is relaxed.
Xuzhou now has three subway lines and more under construction – that’s above average for a city that’s not the province capital. More than three million people live in Xuzhou’s urban center, and with surrounding counties it bumps up to nine million, so this is a fairly populous area.
Compared to other parts of China, Jiangsu is politically moderate. Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are economic powerhouses, and these provinces tend to put development above political hard lines. Unless a church is under special scrutiny, the religious environment is relaxed.
So, for Brother Xu and Brother Wang, the church environment is pretty open. Things are relatively safe for most churches.
But our church is an exception. There are three reasons: First, before we planted churches, back when we were a single congregation, we were relatively large. We were probably the largest church gathering in the urban area. Because of that, the government paid attention.
Second, we started a school. The government finds this unacceptable, so we face constant pressure over that.
Third, when Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu ran into trouble in 2018, we participated in visiting and supporting them. The government does not allow that, so we have been under special scrutiny.
Never miss a story
Over the last few years our strategy has been to “break large into small,” so we have planted and divided the church into multiple congregations. We also recognize that planting outward is God’s will for us.
Right now we have a couple of congregations, and plan to form several more. This disperses people and eases government attention.
“We Need to Adjust”
Brother Xu: The past 10 to 15 years have brought big changes to Xuzhou: highways, railways, high-speed rail, subways, elevated roads – everything is more convenient, and the city is more livable. The city is building its “cultural tourism” brand, so Xuzhou has changed a lot in the past five years.
Our church is a small house church, and Pastor Lin and his church have helped us a lot. We have many elderly members, and have been praying and know we need to adjust. About three years ago, in a meeting with other church leaders, I said we need to “reform.” I meant we needed to make changes – we can’t keep drifting and stay lukewarm, no matter our numbers.
Thank God – last year we began discipleship training, and a missions course. One group has already completed a year of discipleship, and another is registering now. We’re also studying missions.
We needed to make changes – we can’t keep drifting and stay lukewarm
Our church is small and conservative. We haven’t suffered the pressure Pastor Lin’s church school faced, and we might be too weak to endure that. But we see God’s provision in these courses our church has begun; the Lord is helping us walk more in his will.
Transitioning to Systematic Plans
Wang Qingxi: Although I’m an outsider, I worked in real estate for a few years, so I have a sense of Xuzhou’s situation. Many migrants move here, while Xuzhou natives move to cities like Nanjing, Suzhou, or Shanghai. Xuzhou can’t match southern Jiangsu province’s economy, but it’s doing well compared to nearby regions. There’s a “siphon effect” drawing people in.
All this means many people in our church are not native to Xuzhou. A lot of church leaders are also from other places. This is a gospel opportunity. The gospel came early to Xuzhou, and it’s hard to find people who have absolutely never heard of it. Even if someone doesn’t believe, they probably have a Christian family member.
Our church is representative of a certain kind of Chinese house church, a church just beginning to establish governance systems and to transition toward biblically ordered shepherding. Previously we didn’t have that. I came out of a very traditional Chinese house church, and although some people might not like to hear it, the reality is things were really chaotic when it came to running the church.
When you ask if I’m a pastor – well, I’ve served the church for two decades, but I’ve never held an official church office. This is because, in our traditional setup, those sorts of things weren’t recognized. There were no governance structures, no ordination, no clearly defined roles.
In the last five years or so there have been a lot of changes. Our church started as a small youth fellowship, then merged with older nearby fellowships who found us and joined our gatherings. At first we were scattered across a lot of small meeting points, with 10 to 20 people at each location. Some sites had someone to preach; others did not. Sometimes I could visit, but other times they just met on their own.
When you ask if I’m a pastor – well, I’ve served the church for two decades, but I’ve never held an official church office. This is because, in our traditional setup, those sorts of things weren’t recognized.
Later we connected with Pastor Lin, and learned it was possible for the church to function differently. Before, we didn’t know that was an option. Reading Scripture, we discovered that offices like pastors, teaching and ruling elders, deacons, and so on are clearly outlined in the Bible.
So, now we are transitioning. Our church is building structure and setting up a unified shepherding plan. We’ve established a team for those leading the church, and are learning how to meet with one another, how to govern, how to organize our shepherding. Before, we were very casual. Please don’t think I’m an isolated case – there are lots of unstructured churches like ours in Xuzhou. All of us need prayer – I pray for them, too.
Before this, our teaching was not systematic. Whoever passed through would come and give a talk, then leave, and we would continue on as before.
We also didn’t have set plans to train workers. Look at me – I served in a traditional church almost twenty years before receiving any formal theological training. I’ve only now started systematic study at a seminary. Before, I read some books and knew a bit – but lots of church leaders aren’t even clear on the basics of core doctrine.
Often we simply took the way we ran our households and use that in church life. You can tell that some sisters speak and act in church in exactly the same way they function at home. There’s some good there, but the “one-size-fits-all” approach also hurts people.
That’s been our pattern, and there are many very similar churches. But now a lot of churches are in the process of building structures.
Lin Yukang, Brother Xu, and Wang Qingxi are pseudonyms for house church pastors in Xuzhou.
Pray for traditional house churches in Xuzhou that are trying to find better ways to shepherd and lead their congregations by institutionalizing.
