April 8, 2010
You have been praying!
This week I have the happy privilege to tell you about two wonderful answers to prayer. God is moving in China!
The first answer to prayer is about the man for whom we prayed on week one of the Ten Thursdays of Prayer, Gao Zhisheng. Thanks to your prayers, and an ongoing international campaign by China Aid, in a March 29, 2010 press release, China Aid reported that Gao had been confirmed alive. This was especially great news after now-proven-false rumors of his death, disappearance, and escape from police custody had been circulating for the last couple of months.
But on Sunday, March 28, Gao spoke to his wife and children for the first time in over a year. He also spoke to AP and Reuters reporters and to his friend and fellow human rights attorney, Li Heping. Gao explained that he had been “released from detention six months ago, and had taken up residence at Wutai Shan mountain, a Buddhist landmark in northern Shanxi province,” reported China Aid. They said that he was unable to give details on his condition, because he could not legally give interviews.
China Aid continued that Gao’s wife Geng He and his children were “overcome with emotion and relief” when they spoke to him that Sunday morning. Gao said that he just wanted peace and quiet and to be reunited with his family. Hopefully that will happen soon. China Aid’s Bob Fu warned that this is only the beginning. “Yesterday’s events happened as a result of international pressure. But Gao is not free yet. His movements are still being watched and monitored. He is not free to speak publicly or without surveillance.” He urged that advocates continue to press the Chinese government to give Gao complete freedom and allow him to be reunited with his family.
The second answer to prayer concerns the Shouwang House Church in Beijing. This church was the topic of prayer for our second Ten Thursdays of Prayer for the Church in China! You will remember that church members were forced to have worship service outdoors during a snowstorm last November when they were banned from the building where they had been meeting. Amazingly, in the March 17, 2010 edition of the official Chinese news publication, China Daily, there is an unequivocally positive portrait of the Shouwang House Church, along with a sidebar that contains the testimony and faith journey of a young Chinese Christian, Simon Zhang.
Members of Shouwang House Church, including university professors and business owners are interviewed in the China Daily article. They prefer to belong to a house church in part because it is smaller than a registered Three Self Church and therefore it is easier to get to know other church members. Jacob Sun, a philosophy professor at a university in Beijing said that many practical needs were not met in the large, more impersonal Three Self Church, but they are “well catered to at house churches.” Another church member, Abel Li, the manager of a technology company explained, “In a small congregation like this, I have more opportunities to communicate and build relationships with other churchgoers before and after services. We have also fellowships for people who have things such as occupations in common.”
The sidebar article is a portrait of Simon Zhang, a 22 year old student who became a Christian two years ago, “when trying to figure out the meaning of life.” Although he was very successful, he still felt as if something was missing. It was when he started reading a Bible that a colleague gave to him that “his perspective on life changed.” “All of a sudden all my questions about life were answered and what could be as amazing as that?” the article quotes Zhang. After some searching for a church home, Zhang found his place at a 700 member house church in Beijing.
Despite their growth, house churches in Beijing continue to operate in a gray area, says China Daily. “There is currently no law legitimizing house churches in China, but China’s constitution and international convention allows freedom of religious belief” said Yang Fenggang, the director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University. China Daily ends the article with a quotation from a worker at a Beijing Three Self church, who says, “although house churches may continue to increase in number in the capital and establish more permanent venues, they likely have a long way to go before receiving any kind of official approval.” That may well be true, but if we continue to pray, who knows what the Lord will do?
Prayer Points for the Week of April 8-14, 2010
April 8
Thank God for His faithfulness in answering prayer. Praise Him that He loves and cares for His children, and that He has a plan for China.
April 9
Thank the Lord for the great new of Gao Zhisheng’s safety and freedom. Pray that the Lord will continue to protect him and to bring him to complete freedom so that he can be reunited with his family. Also pray for his complete inner healing, both emotionally and spiritually, that he would be refreshed and restored by the Lord.
April 10
Pray for Gao’s wife, Geng He, and for his children. They are so thrilled to hear from him, but frustrated that they cannot yet be with him. Pray that the Lord would return Gao to them very soon. Ask God to prepare their hearts in such a way that their reunion and the reintegration of Gao into the family might happen effortlessly and joyfully.
April 11
Thank God for the work of Chinese Christian human rights attorneys like Gao who are willing to risk their careers and their well-being to defend fellow believers. Also thank God and ask him to bless those concerned members of Congress, the British Parliament, and the European Union who are advocates for the persecuted church and human rights in China. Ask God to continue to use them for His glory and for the deliverance of China from oppression. Pray as well for China Aid and its founder/director, Bob Fu. Thank God for Bob’s tireless work for the Church in China.
April 12
Thank God for the favorable story concerning the Shouwang House Church in Beijing. Ask the Lord to confirm this as a sign of change and opening up on the part of the Chinese government. Pray that He would bless and continue to use Shouwang House Church, and thank Him for the church members glowing witness to Christ in spite of many hardships. And pray for the journalists who wrote the China Today article, that what they wrote would touch their own spirits and bring them to a love relationship with Jesus, if they do not already have one.
April 13
Ask God to bless the members of Shouwang House Church. Thank Him for their faithfulness, and ask His continued protection, grace, and strength be given to them. Thank Him for the salvation of young people in China as evidenced in the testimony of Simon Zhang. Ask the Lord to continue to work among the young people, that they would be dissatisfied with their lives until they find Him.
April 14
Pray for the Lord to continue working a change of heart and repentance on the part of the Chinese government. Pray that God would open the eyes that are blind and make tender the hearts of stone. And thank Him for the evidence we have seen and that we have not yet seen that He is doing this.
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