"The RADICAL CHINESE HOUSE CHURCHES"

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There is a powerful anointed church in China. She is a beautiful bride
prepared and waiting for her Bridegroom. I have read short accounts of
God's testimony on the other side of the globe and been deeply
challenged by their lives. Recently, at our Youth Bible School, we had
the privilege of hearing a detailed account of many of their lives. Two
men closely connected with the persecuted church in China shared their
story. When the meeting was over, I sat and interviewed these two men,
asking them specific questions which I felt would help us American
Christians get a vision. This article is an account of that interview:
Bro Denny: When I was listening to you, I wrote a few questions that I
had wanted to ask you. One is about fasting and prayer. How much do the
people fast and pray in the house churches of China?
Bro Ren: Let us take prayer first. The leaders of the church in China
try to pray three to four hours a day. That is normal. But then there
are some brethren who are totally committed to pray. Almost every minute
they are awake, they are praying. They cannot even be elders in the
church because of the amount of time they spend in prayer. They have two
kinds of leaders in the church. They have spiritual leaders, who fast
and pray; then they have practical operational leaders, who are active
in everyday affairs of the church. The praying leaders are praying for
the whole church, and especially for the practical leaders. They are not
in a preaching ministry. The operational leaders go to them for
direction and wisdom. Very few Westerners have ever met these elders.
These men are older men who cannot travel anymore, so they are mainly in
that ministry. It literally keeps the church on track. They hear from
the Lord and give answers to the practical leaders.
Bro Paul: I know a brother who never sleeps more than two hours a night.
He prays for 22 hours a day. The brothers and sisters pray always, and
there are many all-night prayer vigils. I have been to some of these
prayer meetings. By morning, the floor is slippery because of all the
tears that flow during prayer.
Bro Denny: What about fasting? What part does fasting play in all these
testimonies we have heard?
Bro Ren: There are two kinds of fasting in China. Most of the pastors
have to fast because they don't have money to buy food. It is a natural
part of their lives. The other kind of fasting is out of a burden for
someone or some spiritual issue. When you read from Brother Yun's book,
you will read how he fasted one hundred days to get one Bible during the
Cold War revolution. He was eating a small bowl of rice each day; that
is all. That means there was no time that he wasn't fasting. After one
hundred days of prayer and fasting, he received a Bible in a
supernatural way. That story is there. It is not in anyway special. The
people fast like that often.
The first time we sent about twenty people out to preach, nineteen of
them were arrested; one came back to report. Everyone else was detained
for six months. We sent another group. The same thing happened. One lady
came home on a stretcher. They smashed her skull. She was paralyzed, but
later God restored her. When there is such resistance like this in one
specific location, then the whole team goes to fasting and praying.
Usually this kind of fasting will break the yoke within thirty days, and
then the gospel has free course. When there is a real resistance, the
teams do not try to push the gospel. They just go on their knees and
wait on the Lord to hear His voice for direction on what to do. They
just keep silent and continue to fast and pray. This is a very practical
part of their lives.
Bro Denny: Do they have corporate fasting where the whole church joins
in when a need comes up?
Bro Ren: Yes, they do. Let me just give you an example about when the
group Eastern Lightning kidnapped all of their leaders. I met with the
leaders from maybe ten different house church networks. They would all
say, "We have started once a week for fasting and prayer for the release
of these leaders." That was something pronounced all around the body of
Christ in China. When Brother Yun was arrested the whole church in China
was fasting and praying.
Bro Denny: How do the Acts of the Apostles compare to the Chinese
church? What does the Chinese church believe about the Book of Acts?
Bro Paul: They would say, "We are there. It is our normal Christian
life." They believe that Acts is a demonstration of the normal Christian
life. It is a testimony of the resurrected Christ, and He is still the
same today. They do not believe that miracles have passed away.
Bro Ren: We have to understand that the Gospel that is preached in
China, is a little bit different. The emphasis is not only intellectual
and mental messages. It is fifty percent preaching, fifty percent
showing the power of the Gospel. There is always an expectation and
readiness for miracles. It is normal that anytime when the message of
the Gospel is pronounced, there is going to be a demonstration of the
power of God in that situation. People can see clearly that Jesus is the
Son of God, and that He is the Savior of the world. The church of China
is not praying for miracles, but they are living in miracles. It is like
Paul said: it is the normal Christian life.
Think about the challenge of the countries west of China, like the many
Muslim countries. The only thing that can really bring an opening to
these people is a demonstration of God's compassion. You have to show
them that you have something more than all these gods they are bowing
to. You have to prove your case, instantly and on the spot, that this is
true - that Jesus is alive, and that He is the Savior of the world, and
that He has all authority.
The Chinese house churches are living in the time of the book of Acts.
The Holy Spirit is working in their lives. They are just trying to
follow the wind of the Holy Spirit. It is something we miss. We always
want to settle, and we hope that the Holy Spirit will settle with us and
just be with us as we create these centers and places where we hope the
Spirit will be moving in a mighty way. We have to understand that God's
Holy Spirit is moving all the time. We have to be very flexible. We
should with the maximum effort join the Holy Spirit where He is working,
not trying to work ourselves. It is always better to partner with Him,
to find out where He is active today, where the battle is going on, and
join Him there. Then we will be blessed with souls, and also the
blessing will be reversed upon us.
Bro Denny: That leads me to my next question. What about missions and
methods of evangelism? How do our Chinese brothers live out the Great
Commission?
Bro Paul: Their theology and methods are really quite simple. They
believe there is only one reason why God has left them here on earth:
that is to evangelize the lost. Anyone who is not actively pursuing this
holy purpose is missing the mark. The Great Commission cannot be
compromised. Their methodsare anointed preaching with signs following.
The leaders instruct the evangelism teams to go to a new village and
inquire about the worst problem in the village. Then they are to go and
minister to that problem and show that Jesus is the all-powerful Savior.
With this success, they turn to the people and preach Jesus to them.
Bro Ren: I will give you a beautiful example of how this worked for two
young ladies who were sent to a village to share the gospel:
These two sisters, eighteen years old and very tiny, came to a village
of about three hundred people. There was one big problem. There was a
man who was possessed by demons. Somehow, the Communists were able to
count that this man had twelve demons in him. He was learned in five
different languages. He was so powerful that twelve heavy farmers could
not hold him back. They tried with chains and wires, but he had the
power to break free. This man happened to live at the entrance of that
village. The whole village of three hundred people could not walk on the
road, but had to walk in the forest, because the man decided that nobody
was going to pass through his property. Whenever anyone stepped through
the property line, which was invisible, the man would come out with a
jungle knife in his hand, shouting, "I'm going to kill you!" Everybody
was afraid. It was like this for many, many years.
Now, these two young ladies came asking, "What is the biggest problem in
this village?" Everybody pointed to the crazy, demon- possessed man's
house. The sisters turned around and started to move towards that house.
They were walking and praying. The whole village came out from their
houses. Everybody wanted to see what would happen. They knew where the
invisible line was, and if they step over that line and enter into his
property, they knew what would happen. He would fly out with a jungle
knife, half-naked, with a crazy look in his eye, and all the demons
would drive him forward to them.
Sister Lee, one of the young girls, was leading. The two of them entered
onto his property. The man ran out through the door with a knife in his
hand. This sister lifted up her hand and said, "In the name of Jesus,
stop." This man became frozen. He stopped in mid-air, like a statue. He
couldn't move back, and he couldn't move forward. This man was as a
stone. He couldn't do anything. He could not stand. His eyes were
totally frozen.
This happens quite often in China. We know by experience that the body
is frozen by the Holy Ghost, but the person can hear with his ears. You
can share any message you want to with this kind of person. He can
understand every word that you speak. Sister Lee went next to this
"statue" and started to proclaim the Gospel. She then, through the name
of Jesus, cast all twelve demons out of this man. He was instantly
delivered. He melted in that spot, like butter in sunshine. He fell down
onto the ground and was completely restored. The first words he said
were "This Jesus is Lord." He was wonderfully saved and restored.
There was a very special group of people who stood together in the
village that day. There they stood, the two girls on each side, and the
man who used to be possessed in the middle of them. He was talking to
these sisters, and together they entered into the village. As they
passed the doors of the first house, the families one by one confessed
that Jesus was the Son of God. The whole village with three hundred
people surrendered to the Lord that evening. These are very simple
Gospel methods: problem - solution - salvation.
Bro Denny: With results like these, they hardly need us Americans to
help them. We should be learning from them.
Bro Paul: Actually, that is not the case. They very much need
missionaries who can come help them and work together-but as equal
brothers, not as Western leaders leading the show. That day is well and
truly finished, and it is easy to see, they do not need our leadership.
This is causing a great burden on the Chinese church. I sat in a meeting
when one of the house church leaders stood up and said, "We just don't
understand why people are racing into China from the West with their own
vision and ideas, doing their own thing." He continued, "Why don't these
people come and ask us what God has given to the church?" They are all
bringing their new visions, and it is actually damaging the advance of
the Gospel in China. The proud westerners do not even think to ask the
Chinese church. The key is that first you must find out what vision God
has given His body in China, then how you can be part of that vision. Do
not bring a new vision.