Editor's note: Two decades ago, a rural preacher, Brother He, migrated to Shanghai for a job to support his family. Later, he brought his daughter and children to Shanghai. During his work, he began a church for migrant workers in the metropolis.
With the economic development in China continously increasing, the young rural people rushed into the big cities like Shanghai and Beijing thinking that it will help them escape poverty and grab new opportunities for development. In Shanghai, a large percentage of young migrant workers spared no effort to participate in the urban construction as the team expands in numbers.
Many of them have settled down in the city, becoming "new Shanghainese". Among them, there are a lot of Christians whose faith journey started in their hometowns while they are scattered like sheep throughout the land.
My family has several children and live in poor economic conditions. Two decades ago, my hometown suffered loss from the flood. My wife stayed at home to farm the lands and raise up our children while I chose to migrate to Shanghai for a job.
Starting as a bricklayer, I worked hard and went everywhere until I was promoted to be the contractor of bricklayers. As time went by, my children grew up and my wife moved to Shanghai for a job. With stable salaries, we settled down in Shanghai.
I used to be a rural preacher. During my early years in Shanghai, I preached the gospel while working in the field of the fitout construction, living in a suburban town. In the very beginning, there were only four grandmas believing in the Lord. I invited them to gather in my rented apartment, signifying the birth of a small church. Later, the congregation grew and we rented an abandoned factory where a flowing of migrant workers worshipped God. Knowing this, the church workers of my hometown moved to Shanghai and served with me together.
The migrant-worker Christians were weak in spirit for they worked too hard to make money. They brought new friends and relatives to the church, so did the new converts. Gradually, we had established more than 20 gathering places in the city.
However, it was not easy for the believers to live in such a big city whose salaries could only meet the basic requirements. But, we offered training programs in which Bible teachers were invited to teach the believers, holding the goal to find back the lost sheep in them.
At that time, the house church in Shanghai had been challenged by the three-self church who hated us and the heresy "Eastern Lighting." As a result, the church was divided: some went to gather in the government-approved church and the rest stayed in the house church. From my point of view, I didn't object to the three-self church, ,because many people were reborn there with a lot of life testimonies.
Currently, we serve both the migrant workers and locals, including restaurant bosses, construction workers, vendors, hourly employees and babysitters. The migrant workers and church staff return to their hometowns in turns on holidays. There are six church co-workers who can be connected anytime and their number can be adjusted according to the demand. For example, some of them will support the rural farm work while some work as harvest-hands for wheat or rice are in demand.
There's a high mobility among the migrant workers, thus the truth of salvation should be declared clear in case of the prevention of hurting the believers by the heresy. We're pretty alert to strangers who come to the church, on guard against the penetration of the "Eastern Lightning".
The government sometimes interferes in the house church, but amazingly, God put the churches in the rural-urban fringe, an area that the government lacks control of.
The attendants come from all the corners of the country, including Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Henan. The Sunday attendance ranges from dozens to one hundred believers.
The authority allows more religious freedom and we serve more people as a result. Our problem; however, lies in the shortage of communication and transportation tools, like computers, cars and electric vehicles. We use the computers and e-books to deliver sermons. Moreover, it's better to buy some study books on the Bible, less limited by time.
(The article is based on the oral testimony of Brother He.)
