It was about three weeks before the Chinese
New Year’s holidays. We were going to start a new preaching series; this time
on the letter of James. Several years earlier we had covered this letter in our
Bible study group, but the membership had changed quite a bit, and I was
convinced that –enriched by Timothy Keller’s insights- it would be good to have
the whole congregation involved in a kind of discipleship course, as James’ letter
offers great advice on practical Christian living.
So, as usual, we had spent the whole
Saturday on preparing the service. I prepared the message, “Don’t be surprised when
you face troubles and temptations!”
Marioka selected the songs and the readings, and then I spent a few more
hours crafting a power point presentation with the liturgy, including songs and
readings, selecting the children’s song, and writing a series of slides to
summarize the message.
This had been our routine for over two
years, but on January 25, 2015 everything changed.
That Sunday morning, as usual, I packed the
heavy laptop, my sermon notes, and a few other things. Just before we left our
house to ride our bicycles to the meeting place, I remembered to bring my
passport. “You never know, I might need it today!” As a foreigner you have to carry passport,
visa, and residence permit with you at all times. On average perhaps once a
year we had been stopped by special police, usually at the bus station, where
they would demand anybody who did not look Chinese to present their papers.
We were about ten minutes into the sermon,
when the doorbell rang. I was not alarmed, for it happened quite regularly that
visitors came late- even half an hour or more.
Soon, however, it was clear that something was different. The word “police” was whispered. Right away I
had to think about the neighbors. Over the past few weeks we noticed how at the
next-door apartment, the balcony doors were open as the neighbors seemed to
enjoy the “fresh air”. As we had lost
our piano player, we liked to sing some praise songs with musical accompaniment
of music tracks, and typically this would be fairly loud. Our friends had
always enjoyed the singing! Already I
had wondered if we, perhaps, had gotten new neighbors, and if they could accept
the Sunday morning music next door. The police might want to leave us in peace,
but one complaint from neighbors would be enough to warrant their involvement,
and then the law books would be opened!
One of the officers came inside to look
into the room. He must have heard a foreigner, speaking English. Looking in, he
noticed the presence of several foreigners: three Roman Catholic teachers
joined us in the worship, and then there were the two of us. Brother D went outside to talk with the
officers, trying to convince them of our innocence, but the law was recited to
him: (1) You may not rent a building for religious services*, and (2)
Foreigners were not allowed to be involved in the teaching of religious
services. He returned inside to tell me
that we had been instructed to immediately stop the meeting. Encouraged by
God’s Word and Spirit I was reluctant to stop the message, but I did not want to
bring trouble to our colleagues, so I gave him my passport and papers. One more
time he returned, and so Marioka gave her passport too. Then the officers left,
and we could continue our meeting. Some of us had been praying, but I had felt
at peace and continued preaching, “Don’t be surprised, my brothers and
sisters…”
*(I think, the law states that you may not
rent out space to be used for religious services.)
A few days later we had a meeting with the
unofficial core group. Brother D explained how the previous Sunday he had tried
to pacify the officers with his answers. Oh, we just started a few months ago.
It’s really English class, but we do discuss religious topics… ) Over the next
weeks I tried to coach them in this way: ‘It may be wise at times to withhold
some information or at least not to volunteer giving all kinds of facts, if it
helps to protect each other. Nevertheless, it is essential that we do not twist
the truth, for we must rely on God to guide and protect us, not on our skills
of manipulation. Learn from the early church, as described in Acts, and trust
in God!’
Upon our recommendation, we made the
following arrangements. From then on we (as church planters and coordinators)
would have an advisory role only; the actual decisions should be made by a
steering group, consisting of two committed families, our evangelist and
deacon. Brother D was appointed as their
chairman. Although formally the
evangelist had our trust and approval for teaching, upon their request I would
continue to provide sermons, which they could expand on and translate. For the coming three Sunday mornings we would
meet at a local restaurant. (The owner was a Roman Catholic brother, who loved
to help us without any payment.) During
that time, they should pray and work to find a new location for our meetings.
We would only visit them once a month, perhaps at the end of the meeting for
communion. On Wednesday nights we had our “Blackaby course”, where we would
study the book “Experiencing God.” Our evangelist had suggested we study this
book, as she had done at her (registered) church. Although we had assisted in
the teaching and organization, from now on she would lead it by herself. This
would allow us to focus on the Sunday message and the Sunday night discipleship
course.
Brother D was invited by the local police
department for an interview about our meetings. The officers first warned him
not to get involved with foreigners; they should not be trusted. Then, they
asked him how much money we had received, but D told them we had never asked
for or received any money for our work. D insisted that ‘these foreigners’ had
been very good and helpful all the time. The officers informed him that they
were under instruction from the district office (which had received instructions
from Beijing) to close all unregistered churches in town. Then D was asked how we had paid for the
apartment rent. The officers thought it quite strange when our Brother told
them that we had an ‘offering box’; voluntarily people would put money in it to
pay for regular expenses and to support a local foster home. D was then urged that we stop meeting at this
place; if we would refuse to do so, the apartment owner could lose her right to
sell it. So we made arrangements to terminate our lease with Sister M, the
owner, who lived in America.
The situation looked very bad. Yet, it seemed like another confirmation that our work in China was coming to an end. Nevertheless, we were concerned how our friends could continue. After a few weeks, however, we could see the bright side of the problem. Until then our friends refused to take on new responsibilities in anticipation of our departure, but now they had little choice. The steering group took their task very seriously, and everyone took on a responsibility in the work. Brother T and his wife focused on prayer ministry, brother D. made the power points, while his wife (Sister H) selected the songs for the services. Meanwhile, Brother Paul (from Canada) took over the English reading, while our evangelist became the worship coordinator and continued doing the Chinese translation of the message. We realized that God had used the government interference to work for the good of Vineyard Fellowship. Praise to God for building his Church!
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