PERSECU ION International Christian Concern | September 2013
TESTS & TESTIMONIES:
A Ministry Born from Persecution
Pastor Peter holds a thank you sign in front of ICC-supplied Bibles.
ISSUE 2/4
Why now, more than ever, China needs the Word of God A B LO O DY B E G I N N I N G Peter (name changed for security) woke up alone, covered in his own blood. It was almost midnight and the last thing he remembered was a group of police officers storming the small apartment, yelling loudly as they pummeled his body with their fists. His father, along with a group of Christians, had gathered quietly lest the neighbors complain to the authorities. Apparently
You can help today! 800-ICC-5441
1
CHINA
they hadn’t been quiet enough, because someone had reported their meeting. The day the police beat Peter unconscious, they also took his father and friends into custody. They beat the small group of Christians repeatedly before breaking up a crate of glass bottles and strewing the shards across the small lawn of the station. “If you believe your God is the real God, then kneel down in the grass and you won’t be injured,” taunted one of the guards. Boldly, the group knelt down on the shards of glass. When they stood, they were completely and miraculously unharmed. Peter was only 19 at the time and the story became a life—and faith—changing moment for him. A C ALL TO LEAD Fast forward 20 years and you will find that Peter, now a pastor, leads a ministry forged of the fires of persecution. He has traveled extensively and today pastors what he himself calls a “very small” underground church of about 100 members. Speaking more than 500 times a year, Pastor Peter has touched thousands of lives across China, especially aspiring house church pastors, who meet at underground Bible schools. Today, the authorities know his name and face and follow him fairly closely. He says the ones in his hometown are especially good at their jobs and “know everything.” They often invite him over to “have tea” and chat about his work. Pastor Peter says he never actually takes them up on this offer, though he does his best to keep things friendly. The “invitation to tea” is perhaps the simplest way to describe the vast, complex and constantly changing relationship between China
2
Boxes of Bibles awaiting to be packaged and smuggled into China.
Boxes of Bibles awaiting to be packaged and smuggled into China.
and the underground Church. From Pastor Peter’s personal experience, overtly violent attacks on Christians, at least in his area, have become very infrequent, especially after pastors from his home city hired a human rights lawyer to fight the more egregious cases of outright persecution. This by no means, though, indicates that the Chinese government is not intensely interested in controlling the activities and growth of the underground Church as much as possible. In fact, from 2000-2008, Pastor Peter was forced to live in hiding with his wife and son around China, constantly moving homes, burning through their entire life savings, and eventually relying on the generosity of houseYou can help today! 800-ICC-5441
3
CHINA
church Christians to survive. Their lives as fugitives began after a police raid in 2000 discovered Pastor Peter’s name written t out. n e s on some Christian re a re they les befo ib B literature. Fearing are iz n ers orga Volunte rest, Peter fled, and for years received reports from his family that police were looking for him. He says he found himself often fighting fear that this life on the run would never end, that he and his family would forever be without a home. Eventually, the pressure on him eased and he was finally able to return home. It was, he tells ICC with a brief flash of intense emotion on his otherwise joyful countenance, “a very difficult time.” THE NEED FOR THE WORD For a little more than three years, ICC has been supplying Peter’s ministry with thousands of Bibles. According to him, the need for Scripture never eases. Peter acts as a sort of secondary distributor, taking calls from other pastors and evangelists in nearby provinces who also need Bibles. Many argue that China prints more than enough Bibles for its own people, but what few understand is that the distribution of those Bibles is highly controlled by the Communist Party. In fact, it’s believed that the majority of Bibles printed in China are actually exported around the world for profit rather than sold to the Chinese themselves. For the past several decades, the fact that Christianity is growing in China at a tremendous pace has been well known. Peter and other house church leaders say that 20,000 new believers join the church body every day. With this tremendous growth comes tremendous need, and our partners constantly report not being able to fill all of the requests for new Bibles. Upon being thanked for traveling nearly 18 hours to meet with ICC, Pastor Peter smiles and simply says, “No, no, thank you.”
4
You can help today! www.persecution.org
I CC N O T E When we say that the Chinese government keeps a close eye on Christians, especially house church leaders and Bible smugglers, we aren’t kidding! Earlier this year we received a report that Chinese police used a cell phone tracking device to find Matthew*, an “inside man” with our ministry partner that moves Bibles into China. About a dozen officers knocked on the door of the office and, cell phone tracker in hand, asked, “Is mobile number xxx-xxxx in this office?” When they identified Matthew, all of the Bibles in the office were confiscated and he was ordered to report to several different government bureaus. Faced with the decision to continue working on Bible smuggling at great risk to himself, he decided to continue the work. Matthew is very active making contacts across China and responding to requests for more Bibles. *name changed for security
You can help today! 800-ICC-5441
5
YOU CAN HELP TODAY! SEND DONATIONS TO: ICC PO BOX 8056 SILVER SPRING, MD 20907 OR ONLINE AT WWW.PERSECUTION.ORG
GIVING TO ICC VIA YOUR WILL Provide now for a future gift to ICC by including a bequest provision in your will or revocable trust. If you would like more information on giving to ICC in this way, please give us a call at 1-800-ICC-5441.
ICC makes every effort to honor donor wishes in regards to their gifts. Occasionally, a situation will arise where a project is no longer viable. In that case, ICC will redirect those donated project funds to one of our other funds that is most similar to the donor’s original wishes.
@persecutionnews
#10988 www.facebook.com/persecuted International Christian Concern is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) (all donations tax-deductible). © Copyright 2013 ICC, Washington, D.C., USA. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce all or part of this publication is granted provided attribution is given to ICC as the source.