Brother Bai never imagined that he would leave in such a way after faithfully serving his church for more than ten years.
Having served as the leader of his church's youth fellowship for over a decade, he suddenly received a suspension notice from the church. The fellowship had grown together with his own spiritual life since the early days of his faith journey.
"During the day, I had all kinds of hard labor, carrying bricks, handling coal briquettes, cleaning toilets, and so on. So, by evening, I was exhausted," Brother Bai recalled. When he went to the youth fellowship in the evenings and saw no one there, he would just find a seat and fall asleep soundly.
Ministry from Nothing
Twenty-five years ago, after a family crisis, Brother Bai moved with his parents to a city in Northeast China, where he came to faith in Christ. Shortly after believing, he passionately joined in church services.
That year, the church assigned him to lead its youth fellowship. At the time, his understanding of the Christian faith was shallow, and he didn't know how to lead a fellowship. After almost half a year, he realized that this youth fellowship existed in name only. No one ever came except him.
Another three or four months went by. Then one day, he suddenly awoke from sleep and got up to pray for the youth, for the fellowship, and for more people. Over the following two months, during the fellowship time, he prayed instead of sleeping. Gradually, his heart changed, and he began to feel a burden for young people. The burden grew stronger. Later, two or three young people joined the fellowship out of expectation. They were studying away from home and wanted to join a fellowship on vacation. Although he still didn't know how to lead, whenever they came, he would share the biblical messages with them and lead them in praise.
Perseverance Amid Financial Hardship
For the first three years of his ministry, there was no salary for him. His family lived on his wife's monthly income of 600 yuan. He still remembers how, a few times a year, by God's grace, he would receive 100 yuan; the church would also give a 200-yuan holiday allowance during Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival.
"In the past, I worked in real estate administration and had a good income. Later, when I began serving, I had no income and suddenly had to face financial struggles. It was truly a great test," Brother Bai said. "I believe it was God's training me on how to rely on Him to live."
One time, some church members visited him at his home. It was lunchtime. Checking his pockets, he found only 20 yuan. However, he still wanted to offer these young people a meal. So, he bought cucumbers and mixed them with salt and cilantro. He then cooked a big pot of noodles. "Later, whenever we talked about it, everyone said that was the most delicious meal they ever had," he said with a smile.
Growth and Disagreements
As time went on, the fellowship grew with regular attendance exceeding one hundred people, and even more during the Christmas season. Meanwhile, Brother Bai himself grew spiritually, and his influence in the church increased. However, conflicts between him and the church leadership also began to surface, and his situation became more difficult.
As he was ambitious to grow his ministry, he longed for more theological training. Yet no matter what opportunities arose for theological studies, his church never recommended him. Finally, he had no choice but to enroll in a seminary at his own expense.
Meanwhile, the church leadership was secretly planning to start businesses such as physical therapy and beauty services.
The church sought opinions on these projects. Brother Bai felt it was not appropriate, which was not simply a matter of "should we do it or not," but a question of principle that touched the very nature of the church. Even though he knew they were reaching the final stage of decorating the salons, he still believed he had the right to express his views, and he voted against it.
The church leadership believed he was deliberately opposing them because of issues of theological studies. Their relationship quickly deteriorated, and the church directly demanded that Brother Bai be suspended and hand over his responsibilities.
New Decisions and New Developments
More than ten years of ministry ended abruptly, seemingly reduced to nothing. Brother Bai did not know where to go. Facing regret and confusion, he fell into a short period of distress.
At that time, a friend invited him to join an engineering project, which would last four months and bring in more than three million yuan in profit. His friend promised that Brother Bai could earn 300,000 yuan from it. His wife asked him, "Do you want to continue serving? Or should you take this as a turning point and do something else?"
In the end, Brother Bai declined his friend's generous offer and chose to attend a seminary.
After three years of studying, he graduated successfully, but his former church no longer welcomed him.
Yet, through his quiet service and continual accumulation of knowledge and experiences, by 2023, their own church was officially established. Although its size was far smaller than his former fellowship, having the opportunity to work with two or three faithful coworkers, he repeatedly said, "I am truly grateful."
Originally published by the Christian Times
- Edited by Karen Luo and translated by Charlie Li
