Suffering: God's Mysterious Means for Spreading the Gospel

What if one Sunday morning, worship service underway, police officers marched into your church building, handcuffed your pastor, most of your congregation, and took them all off to jail?

This scenario is almost impossible for us in the West to imagine, but it’s a reality for the Early Rain Covenant Church in China.

In December 2018 the pastor of the Early Rain Church, Wang Yi, and nearly 100 of his congregants, including his wife, were hauled into police custody as part of a major crackdown on unregistered churches in China. While most of the parishioners were freed, Yi remained in custody.

One year later, during a secret hearing in December 2019, Yi was found guilty of subversion of state power and illegal business operations. He was sentenced to nine years in prison, personal assets worth $7,200 were confiscated, and his political rights were removed.[i]

‘THIS IS THE MEANS BY WHICH I PREACH THE GOSPEL’

The Early Rain Church maintains that Yi and their faith family are innocent of any wrongdoing. The church has not registered with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement led by the Communist Party, which is required by law in China. In addition, they have sought to minister openly as a means of building up and encouraging the church in China. Along with other congregations they have started a seminary, a Christian school, a college, and a presbytery. The church openly helps legal petitioners, families of political prisoners, the unborn, and women in crisis pregnancies. Yi has been outspoken against the Communist Party, the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, the country’s abortion practices, and the rise of President Xi’s totalitarian rule.[ii]

Because of their open ministry and critical voice, Pastor Yi and Early Rain leaders expected persecution from the Chinese government and were ready for the crackdown. In preparation, Yi wrote a letter entitled “My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience,” which says, in part:

Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family—the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith; no one can make me change my life; and no one can raise me from the dead.[iii]

I firmly believe that Christ has called me to carry out this faithful disobedience through a life of service, under this regime that opposes the gospel and persecutes the church. This is the means by which I preach the gospel, and it is the mystery of the gospel which I preach.[iv]

Experts surmise the Communist Party feels threatened by the growing Christian church in China. There are currently about 116 million Christians in mainland China, compared to only 90 million Communist Party members. As Chinese citizens increasingly turn to the Bible and Protestant Christianity for their hope and identity, the Communist Party wants to exert more control and influence. Pastor Yi and the Early Rain Church are only part of the Communist Party’s much larger effort to intimidate not only Christians but Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists too.[v]

And China isn’t the only place where this is happening.

THE GLOBAL PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

Religious freedom has been a globally protected human right by the United Nations since 1948. Even so, according to Open Doors USA, non-governmental organization that focuses on the persecution of Christians around the world, there are currently 245 million Christians experiencing high levels of persecution for their faith.

In the last year for which global reporting is complete, 4,305 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons, 3,150 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned, and 1,847 churches or Christian buildings were attacked.[vi]

And persecution is rising: eleven countries currently score an “extreme” level on Open Door’s World Watch List for their persecution, whereas five years ago the only such country was North Korea. Incidentally, for eighteen years North Korea has been ranked the world’s most dangerous place to be a Christian.

Bottom line: In many places around the world, following Christ can cost you your life. For us in the West, where safety and security are almost a guarantee, this is really hard to fathom.

ARE WESTERNERS WILLING?

According to Nik Ripkin, missionary and author of The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, approximately 70 percent of Christians around the world practice their faith in contexts of persecution. At the same time, Ripkin says 90 percent of Christians in the West will never share the gospel with another person.[vii]

Did you catch that disparity? How can we reconcile that both of these groups are members of the same body of Christ? For the 70 percent, their faith is worth more than their comfort, security, and safety. And it would seem that for the 90 percent it is not.

While our brothers and sisters in China and around the world willingly experience fiery trials for their faith, we in the United States keep it under wraps. What, then, should we who are in Christ make of Peter’s exhortation?

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. . . . if anyone suffers a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. . . . Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1 Pt. 4:12–19)

Here are four truths for the western Christian to ponder.

FOUR TRUTHS ABOUT SUFFERING

1. Fiery trials should be expected by the western Christian. We are just beginning to see some evidence of persecution for Christians in the United States. At this point, though, it’s limited to losing customers, status, and relationships—and in most (but certainly not all) cases those losses are fairly minimal. The implication in these verses, however, is that if we behave like believers trials will come. We have experienced all the privileges of being the majority in our nation for the last few hundred years, but that majority is slipping. And according to Peter, we must stand ready for it to give way to fiery trials.

2. Suffering is cause for rejoicing and will reveal God’s glory. Peter says that to suffer as Christ did is a privilege—it is cause for rejoicing. Further, God is somehow glorified when we suffer because of our dedication to him above all else. Surely this is what Pastor Yi means when he says, “I firmly believe that Christ has called me to carry out this faithful disobedience . . . This is the means by which I preach the gospel.” James says that we should rejoice under trials because “the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (Jas. 1:3–4). If God allows us to suffer, let us rejoice and believe that it is for our good, that we might lack nothing and bring God glory.

3. Being insulted for Christ’s sake is a blessing because God is with us. The psalmist tells us, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted” (Ps. 34:18). Paul says God is the “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction” (2 Cor. 1:3,4). Truly, God rests upon us in a unique way when we are under trial. If we avoid suffering, we miss out on the restoration, confirmation, strengthening, and establishing God gives (1 Pt. 5:10). In the days ahead we must trust that the Spirit will rest upon us when we suffer.

4. Suffering for Christ is not shameful—it’s hopeful. For generations, we as Christians in the United States have been quick to equate material blessings with the favor of God. When things go well with us, we subconsciously believe that we must be performing well as a Christian. According to Peter, the opposite is true. Suffering is not shameful; rather, it is a blessing. “Not only that,” Paul says, “but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:3–5).

5. If we suffer, we must entrust our souls to God and do good. There’s nothing like a fiery trial to reveal where we place our hope. Pastor Yi must have asked himself where he put his hope countless times as he prepared for the imminent government crackdown. In his statement, he affirms that he doesn’t put his hope in his wife, or children, or reputation, or life, or family. Rather his hope is firmly in Jesus, who “can raise me from the dead.” He entrusts himself to God and continues to do good. May we do the same in the West—may we stand ready to put our hope in Christ alone, not in our safety, or comfort, or even our family. We must confirm in our hearts now, before the fiery trial, that God is good and on his throne. There is nothing that can separate us from his love (Rom. 8:38–39).

ARE YOU READY?

Right now, the persecution endured by Christians around the globe is almost too much for our imagination in the West. But it is possible, even probable, that we are moving toward a day when a crackdown will take place in our own churches too.

As western society moves further away from Biblical standards, we who are devoted to Jesus will become more obvious. We will be an increasingly bright light in an increasingly dark world. This is good news, really, because the hope of the gospel and the glory of God will be revealed.

Where is your hope? Is it in your safety, reputation, or family? Or is it in the risen Jesus? Are you ready to endure fiery trials or will you avoid them at all costs? Peter admonishes us to be ready.

Let’s learn from our brother, Pastor Yi, in China. Let’s be eager to preach the gospel, even if it means faithful disobedience. And in so doing, we will be blessed and bring glory to God.

[i] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/world/asia/china-wang-yi-christian-sentence.html

[ii] https://world.wng.org/2020/01/long_expected_sentence

[iii] https://world.wng.org/2020/01/long_expected_sentence

[iv] https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/december/chinese-pastor-wang-yi-early-rain-house-church-sentence-pri.html

[v] https://time.com/5757591/wang-yi-prison-sentence-china-christianity/

[vi] https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/

[vii] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/an-eerie-unacceptable-silence

Author’s Note: This article first appeared at GCD in February 2020.