I walked through the large spinning glass door and into a busy lobby with crowds of white collar workers and food delivery drivers pushing their way in and out. The hustle and bustle of the moment ensured no one ever noticed me making my way to the elevators.
At the back of the lobby stood a familiar face. It was one of the elders from the church that I was going to speak at. He smiled at me, but made no gesture to shake my hand or indicate that he knew me. He simply turned towards the wall of six elevators and waited for me to follow him into one of them.
When the elevator door opened, I pushed in with the other twelve people that had been waiting. The elevator thinned down as we continued up. Floor after floor, I waited and watched for the elder to get off. When he did, I followed.
We walked by several glass doors of recruiting agencies, accounting departments, and money management groups until we arrived at a large wooden door. We walked through, into a large office full of cubicles and friendly faces. At the back was a massive office with a view of the city. It was there that over 100 people were worshipping together.
That was the location of our Sunday morning fellowship.
This church service reveals a growing trend in China. For the last five years, persecution against Chinese Christians has increased, but after a sustained effort of government opposition, the church has finally found several ways to work around the system.
“China has many ways of monitoring us,” Pastor Peter said, “but after living with these monitoring systems every day, we have learned the weak points in the system and have found ways to work around them.”
Pastor Peter has planted more than 40 churches in several cities throughout China. I spent the weekend speaking at his secret fellowships.
When I asked Peter how his church has been doing since the persecution against Christians ramped up in China five years ago, he responded by saying, “If it weren’t for the persecution, I would have never started these churches.”
Peter and his wife run over 40 fellowships, but they also work full time jobs! Neither of them take a salary.
“Peter never has a break,” his wife said of him. “He works Monday through Friday and runs the church on the weekends.”
“The people are hungry,” Peter says. “They travel from miles around to be at the weekend services.”
I can testify to Peter’s words. I preached for eight hours straight yesterday, stopping only for a short lunch. Outside of the lunch break, no one left – not even for the toilet – for the entire eight hours!
Peter spends so much time preaching at the church on the weekends that he often sleeps in the offices where the church services are held.
“We rotate our meetings between a series of offices,” Peter says of the fellowship.
When asked about the other fellowships, Peter indicates that they do the same – rotating from office to office and factory to factory.
“Homes are not as safe as businesses,” Peter admits. “If too many people go to a home, it can raise suspicion, but if too many people go to a business, it often increases the business!”
Peter’s group is new but is already sending out missionaries. Over the weekend, they sent out two couples to serve in a foreign country between China and Jerusalem. BTJ is also supporting 10 of their evangelists that they have just sent to western China.
