Editor’s note: Join us this August as we pray for Suzhou. This city, in Jiangsu Province, has been renowned for millennia as a place of high culture and beauty. Like other Chinese cities, local churches have struggled with persecution and pressure over the last five years. Some leaders say they are finding new ways to do relational ministry, while others have spent that time deepening their congregation’s theological understanding.
China Partnership: How has Suzhou changed in the last five years? How has your church changed?
Focus on Theological Education
Pastor Song: Over these past five years, foreign capital has left in especially large numbers. Chinese capital has left, too. For instance, one brother in our church oversees tech at a factory which moved to Vietnam and Thailand. So, he went to Thailand, too.
Another change is that, before, a lot of business and population were concentrated in the old urban area. In the last 10 years, the population has spread into surrounding towns. I have always lived near the center of our little town in Suzhou. The area used to be thronged with people, but now it is quiet and nearly empty, mostly elderly people.
Many people have left, and the most basic reason is their children’s schooling. Some in our [mostly migrant] church bought homes and returned to their hometowns with their children; others left, but came back because of their children’s education. Schooling here has many restrictions and practical hurdles.
Another change is that many factories no longer require overtime. In the past, a lot of believers could not rest on weekends or Sundays. But now, most can rest, and are able to attend worship and other gatherings.
As for changes in our church, people leave the church because of changes in their job, their children’s education, and other circumstances. But many new members have also come in the last five years. Our church’s governance model has also changed, and we have become a membership church. In the last couple years, I have focused on theological education. Theological training helps believers to grow, and gives them a firm, confident understanding of Christ’s body. In the past, our church had a lot of programs. But after the pandemic, we began to focus on shepherding and theological discipleship. We stopped what needed to be stopped, and reduced many activities.
Our gathering pattern has also changed. We used to all come together for Sunday worship. But our church was disrupted several times, and now our small groups serve as meeting points for worship. Every week, brothers and sisters get together and join the online worship service, singing and listening to the sermon, then discussing afterward.
Finally, through theological education and governance transition, many sisters in our church have grown in knowing God, knowing the church, and serving others. As they commit to living by the truth of Christ, their lives have grown. That is completely different. Now their commitment is grounded in the truth, which gives me deep security. I don’t have to worry about whether they will leave the church, because they are committed to the truth and seek to walk by it. God will take responsibility for them.
Lately I’ve been praying about how we can better share the gospel with unbelievers and lead them to know God. We’ve been praying about methods. We are considering visiting elderly people, but local welfare is especially good here. This is a city with no poor people who need economic help. But, there are many elderly. We want to try and work through that.
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Managing to Survive
Preacher Yu: Suzhou clearly represents the Yangtze River Delta in its rapid economic development. Many young people choose to come here. In the past, whenever people mentioned Suzhou, they said Suzhou people were very exclusive, but I feel it’s more open now. Life is busy and fast-paced, and work and daily life can be very competitive.
I come across a lot of young people who rent homes nearby but seldom come out. They simply withdraw: they play games, don’t have jobs, and don’t tell their families. A lot of foreign investment has left, and some domestic factories also relocated, so there is unemployment. Some are simply “lying flat.” But, at the same time, it seems the economy is still resilient, and new infrastructure, like high-speed rail lines and stations, is still developing.
As for church, our small church saw a lot of young people leave Suzhou because they couldn’t settle here permanently. Housing prices and children’s education are difficult, so people relocate to nearby cities where it’s easier for kids to settle.
Our shepherding has focused on caring for and building up families. Because of the environment, we have become more inward-looking. Our gospel outreach is very weak, but we want to see breakthrough. A lot of pastors say that, nowadays, simply managing to survive is already a passing grade.
New Patterns of Evangelism
Elder Huang: In the district where I live, industry is fairly developed, but many factories have moved out because of environmental regulations. The flow of the migrant population has also put a lot of pressure on church ministry patterns.
Our church has faced a lot in the last five years. Before we were “hit,” we had five full-time preachers, and were open. But after, the pressure is greater and we can’t be open anymore. We dispersed into small home gatherings. This majorly impacts shepherding – you have to shepherd here and shepherd there. This also creates great internal anxiety. So, the church hasn’t advanced in these five years.
When we established the church, we mainly preached the gospel right here in Suzhou, locally. Over these past five years, the church has not grown. As industry changed, people began to leave the town and the church. How do we shepherd and hold onto people? Pastors’ hearts have borne many negative factors, and gospel work stopped. We have fewer and fewer baptisms every year. The impact is great.
Hundreds of thousands come to Suzhou to work, and not that many locals believe in Jesus. When I was a boy, only one household in our village believed; now there are nearly a dozen. Still, so many haven’t.
So, this year, to bring change, we formed an evangelism team. Three years ago, a sister in our church had a vision of doing elderly ministry – giving free haircuts, cutting fingernails and toenails, checking blood pressure. We build relationships, then share the gospel. Now, we do this every week. We call it a “ministry of life – rescuing souls.” Each week we serve nearly a hundred elderly, most of whom don’t believe in Jesus. Some have made decision prayers, but we serve everyone. We thank God, because these past years it has been hard to share the gospel. We can’t preach widely anymore, but as we do this work, every week these elderly hear the gospel – and some believe in Jesus.
Currently, resistance is great. A lot of resistance comes from outside, but we also see long-standing things in the church that don’t align with Scripture. Gospel work, apologetic work, and church shepherding are very important. Now that we are so dispersed, we are also short of people. This is a test for us.
Pastor Song, Preacher Yu, and Elder Huang are pseudonyms for house church leaders in Suzhou.
Pray for Suzhou churches to find creative ways to share the gospel despite the constraints they face these days.
