Recently, we reported on the situation of the Chinese house churches as they reflected on the past five years of increased surveillance, Covid restrictions and persecution. One of the network leaders shared in detail how this renewed persecution is helping to strengthen the Chinese house churches.
The first thing he mentioned is an increased dependence on prayer. For those who have walked with the Lord for a longer time, this will come as no surprise. Nothing brings us to our knees like losing the security you think you had. As Chinese believers saw their plans fall through, their leaders arrested, their churches closed and Bibles confiscated, they had to fall back on the only lifeline that could not be removed. And in the renewed dependence on prayer, the churches found strength in the Lord.
Another positive thing that resulted from persecution was courage. According to this network leader, God is raising up a new generation of brothers and sisters who are not afraid to count the cost and even to lay down their lives. The persecution made them face the hard questions about how much Jesus was worth to them. And the answer was – everything. They are more determined than ever to make the name of Jesus Christ known in China and all the way back to Jerusalem.
As they pressed on with this vision, they realised they could not always depend on support from outside of China. Even though there has been a willingness and even an eagerness to support the Chinese church in other countries, new regulations and surveillance made this harder and harder. For example, as Back to Jerusalem workers, we were not able to visit our house church partners for a long time, were not able to personally encourage them through the hardest part of the pandemic, and sending funding for workers in remote areas was impossible for a while. Although we can now meet many of them again face to face, and continuously find new, creative ways of sending funding, the Chinese church learned that they can also function independently if they need to. While it is certainly not ideal that any part of the global church should function in isolation, it has helped the Chinese church to become more self-sufficient and inventive.
Lastly, the network leader commented that the churches have been strengthened in their knowledge of the Word of God. Because of persecution, large house church groups, which often met in public buildings, had to break up in many small groups meeting once again in homes. There was a sudden need for teachers of the Word, because every little group needed their own qualified person. This meant many thousands of Christians have been trained as Bible teachers in the past years, bringing a new depth of knowledge and spiritual strength.
As the government of China has sought to hurt and weaken the house churches, God is using their tactics against them to bless the church. The ancient words of the apostle James ring true once again. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
