This story follows a female minister who, fresh out of seminary over 10 years ago, chose to serve a rural church characterized by the "three-lack": lack of money, coworkers, and proper building.
More than a decade ago, a rural church in a small city in East China saw growth in its early years, but after its founding leader retired, it fell into chaos. A power struggle erupted, splitting the congregation into three factions: the gang of the founding leader's child, the gang of a church elder (the nominal successor), and the gang of another leader. The internal struggle was brutal: arguments, legal accusations, and even physical fights became the norm. The impact was immediate: attendance dwindled to just twenty or thirty people, and the church teetered on the edge of being shut down. No one expected that the arrival of a young woman, a seminary graduate, would spark such an incredible transformation.
Entering the "Three-Lack" Church
When asked her name, the sister replied, "Ye Lüju" (Jesus' Donkey Colt, translator's note). She explained, "Without Jesus, I am but an ignorant donkey; only when He uses me does my life have value."
Before studying theology, Ye and her husband ran a breakfast business in their hometown while she served as a church volunteer. Seeking to serve more effectively, she entrusted her young children and the business to her husband and enrolled in a provincial seminary during her final year of eligibility at the age of 36. Her plan was simple: graduate and return to her hometown as a volunteer.
However, life did not follow her script.
While she expected blessings for her sacrifice, hardships followed quickly. During her first year of study, the breakfast business failed due to her husband's poor management, forcing him to take a factory job. In her second year in the factory, tragedy struck. His hand was crushed by a machine at work. Distraught and unable to even find the words to pray, Ye asked for an emergency prayer from her teachers and classmates.
She applied for an eight-month leave and rushed to care for him. They kept the accident a secret to let her husband's elderly parents avoid the shocking news. However, when they eventually returned home, Ye's mother-in-law noticed her husband's mangled hand. The shocking sadness was overwhelming, and she passed away a few months later. Her husband often fell into depression, and the locals gossiped about the family.
In their darkest hour, their siblings encouraged her, "Since you were willing to give up your business to study, it must be something vital. You must finish what you started." They took over the care of her husband and children, sending her back to school.
Upon returning, Ye made a vow: having paid such a high price, she would no longer be just a volunteer; she would enter full-time ministry.
She recalled spending her days in prayer, often kneeling alone in a secluded cemetery behind the school to seek God's will.
As graduation approached, as the president of the student union, she received invitations from prestigious churches in large cities. Among the offers was also one from a dilapidated rural church with only a handful of members.
Because of misunderstandings in her hometown and the fact that they had already raised new and young pastors, she knew she could not return there. When she responded to the small rural church to guest preach there, an elderly founding member grabbed her hand and pleaded, "Please come serve us! Please sign a contract with us!" Ye wondered if such a broken church truly needed a seminary graduate. She initially declined politely. However, through persistent prayers, she saw two visions: a dilapidated house with one rock-solid wall still standing firm; and a massive water heater capable of providing baths for many but requiring immense heat to function. She realized this rural church, 80 kilometres away from her home, was the field God wanted her to plough.
In 2010, she arrived. She faced a "three–lack" church. The church had only 30–40 yuan in cash in the account, but had nearly 400,000 yuan in debt from a past accidental death on the property. Existing leaders were involved in internal strife and offered no support. Moreover, the gathering house had been crude and was later listed as a building to be demolished.
She signed a one-year internship for a monthly salary of 1,000 yuan, a third of what city pastors made and far less than her former business income. Even then, the church could not afford to pay her for the first few months.
A Perilous Internship
Alone in her forties, she began her ministry away from home. The hardship was beyond imagination.
Her living quarters often lacked water and electricity. Haunted by the fatal accident that had occurred in front of her room in the church, she sometimes sat up all night, too afraid to sleep. Yet the spiritual attacks from within the church were worse.
The warring factions temporarily "united" to drive her out. While she was preaching, a woman rushed to the stage and threw her Bible to the floor. On rainy days, someone threw her bedding out in the rain. Knowing she lived alone, people would lead barking dogs around her room at night or make terrifying noises to terrify her. Once, a male coworker pointed to a knife in his scooter storage box and told her, "This is for you."
She wept and prayed, often wanting to quit. Yet she could not abandon the few faithful members. The elderly sister who had first invited her stayed loyal, secretly hiding the church's property certificate so no faction could seize the document.
Another illiterate believer, Sister Wang, protected her, eventually taking Ye into her own home. She called Ye, "the precious servant of the Lord". Once before the Chinese New Year, Ye had a high fever. Wang had never left her home very far but insisted on sending her to the coach station for the hospital. On the way, Wang hurt her leg due to a fall.
There were around 30 believers who constantly attended service. Ye launched a 5:30 am prayer meeting for one or two hours. Though many joined at first, the numbers dropped to five or six as winter set in.
At the end of her internship, she stood by the church wall crying, unsure if she should stay. Suddenly, she saw a rainbow in a clear sky, and it was not raining at all. She took it as the "covenant of the rainbow", God's answer. "From that moment on," she said, "I made my mind."
Three Fundamental Foci on Growth
Once decided, she focused on three fundamental tasks: Sunday worship, prayer, and visitation.
She prioritized the Sunday sermon above all, believing the pastor's primary duty is to explain the gospel clearly. She evangelised her family too. Her husband, children, and children-in-law were eventually converted to Christianity.
Prayer remained her lifeline. It was a habit she built while she was studying theology. So, she prayed every day. Recalling the prayer meeting she initially set up, she said, "The one or two hours of prayer went by fast because we had too many issues to pray for." To encourage more believers to pray, she organized a weekly prayer meeting in addition to the morning session.
By visiting believers, she helped bring back those who had wandered away.
As the church stabilized, the struggling opposition gradually faded due to various reasons. The woman who threw her Bible died in a car accident. She was about forty and was the only one killed in the car. The news struck fear into many agitators. Among them, some were dealt with by the authorities for forging church official seals and no longer dared to bring trouble. The leaders and staff of the local governmental religious authority had also learned about the situation of the church and reached out to help her and the church.
Wishing for unity, Ye remained graceful towards her former enemies. One former strong opponent, spared from harsh punishment by Ye's intervention, is now a key coworker. "She was always enthusiastic," Ye said, "she just believed the wrong rumors about me." Some believers were reluctant to return to this church, so they set up their own gathering place. Ye accepted that practice, listing them in lawful gathering places.
From Desolation to Revival
The congregation has grown from 20 or 30 people to over 100, eventually stabilizing at around 300 today, reaching as many as 500 during Christmas. For a rural township church, this is a remarkable revival. The contrast is especially sharp compared to another church in the same district; despite having a more spacious venue, that church is now left with only a few dozen elderly members keeping the house.
As members grew, the facilities were improved. Today, the church meets in a detached two-story building. The main sanctuary holds nearly 300 people, supplemented by a side hall that seats nearly 100. The exterior walls have been renovated, and the old wooden benches used for years have been replaced. The church's debts have long been cleared, and they now have savings dedicated to expanding its ministries.
Ye, once a fresh theological graduate, has matured into a pastor with over a decade of ministry experience.
With One Mind in One Ministry: Life Impacting Life
The church now has a ministry team of over 70 people. Aside from Pastor Ye, everyone else is a volunteer. Whenever someone mentions her sacrificial work, she would immediately shift the focus to her colleagues: "I am so grateful to have such a like-minded team. They serve with their whole hearts."
Sister Su, in her fifties, is one of the core team members involved in preaching ministry. She came to this church because she needed to move to the area. It was at a time when her husband was recovering from a severe car accident and needed long-term care. The burden of caring for her husband and raising two children made her physically and mentally exhausted. Day after day, she could only look to God, unable to imagine the future. When Pastor Ye learned of this, she held Su's hand and prayed for her. The words "We have the same experience" moved Su to tears. Now, she has taken early retirement to devote much of her energy to ministry. In addition to preaching, she participates in visiting believers and plans to learn to conduct choirs.
Sister Shao serves in the preaching and prayer ministry. For years, a major "stumbling block" hindered her spiritual journey: a bad temper. She very often lost her temper with her husband and sometimes beat her children. She struggled many times to change through her own efforts, but always failed. One day, as she was about to lose her temper again, she suddenly realised that her "old self" had been crucified and buried with Jesus, and that it was now the new life of Jesus living within her. In that moment, she was set free and discovered the secret to overcoming her temper. Having lived out this testimony in her daily life, she found even greater motivation to serve others.
Other members of the team contribute silently. Sister Wang, who took Pastor Ye into her home during the terrible times, now manages the church's logistics and serves through cleaning. A soft-spoken brother takes the initiative to repair water and electricity facilities whenever he spots a problem. During Christmas celebrations, Pastor Ye hardly needed to consider anything, as the team organises the various activities themselves. Choir members learnt accompaniment with teachers to improve the quality of their service.
From division to unity, and from desolation to revival, looking back on the journey, Pastor Ye summarizes everything in one word: life. She said, "When people pursue a spiritual life, they do not get caught up in worldly disputes. Only 'life' can impact 'life,' and only 'life' can bring about change."
The pastor who first encouraged her to come to this church is now over eighty years old. He takes great comfort in his beloved student, often saying, "Some preachers need the church to support them, but Pastor Ye is a preacher who sustains the church." Pastor Ye responded, "This has been a road paved with blood and tears."
- Translated by Charlie Li
