The story of the Chinese church is not a story of invincible spiritual heroes who laugh in the face of danger. Persecution causes pain and creates wounds, which can linger a long time. Trauma can lead to depression and cause people to struggle in their faith. As well as brave evangelists and missionaries, the church sends out people to attend to these suffering believers.
A couple involved in this work explains their background. When they were young and their first child just a baby, the husband was imprisoned in a black prison. That means he just disappeared, and nobody knew where he was. This ordeal lasted about nine months. Then he received a prison sentence of several years and was allowed an occasional visit from his wife and child.
While the husband was in prison, the wife did not have it easy either. She was constantly followed around by police, to the point that it was really getting on her nerves. She recalls the police were not plain clothes officers following her from a distance, but fully armed security officers, staying always within several feet of her. One day, she recalls just turning around to one and asking him right in his face to leave her alone so she could have lunch with her friend. He had no answer and left her.
At first it was really traumatic, but through the years she grew bolder. She was doing a ministry helping children who had a hard time, and was still under close surveillance. One day she told the officers “I love China, I love these children, they need help and I try to help them, why do you keep following me?” They answered “We know you are doing good work, just do it quietly.”
As she and her husband grew older, they felt a call to encourage others who struggle spiritually and emotionally because of persecution. They went through training in counseling, left their church into the care of a younger couple and now travel the country to visit people.
How important this work is was illustrated by the story of a believer whose mother had a very hard time when her husband was in prison. She not only suffered the discrimination and contempt of being the wife of a ‘criminal’ but was also often abandoned by other Christians who were afraid to associate with her. She ended up destitute. Now decades later, she is still working through this, and extending forgiveness to all those Christians whom she felt so betrayed by.
Healing takes time and it is important to know that God wants to give time to heal. He is not only concerned about workers being sent, but also about workers, and their families, being loved and cared for—so that one day these workers can comfort others with the comfort they received.
