Miss Shi was my first teacher during my Christian faith journey. She is not very tall and wears simple clothes, probably to save time when dressing. She always has short hair so that it might be easier to take care of. My surmise was well-founded because she, as a woman with a family, has to take care of her family and all the church affairs, which is not an easy task. Since I became involved in church ministry, I have learned the hardships of being a pastor.
It was this thin woman who turned what started as a small gathering place of a few people into a large church. In a time when there were no helpers and no pastors, this strong woman worked as both a housekeeper and a pastor, developing the church which had only a few people at first.
Speaking of Shi today, I am still very grateful to her. When my wife and I had conflicts, she led the church staff to visit my wife in our home and resolved the conflicts for us. She told me to go to the church if I had any difficulties. Those words touched me deeply, for, at that time, my family became poor due to an accident. At a time when even my relatives looked down upon me, this pastor gave me great comfort.
As the saying goes, where there are people, there will be trouble. Because of her old age, Miss Shi gave up the position of pastor to her son, which caused dissent in the church. Some people said she was selfish, others said she feared that the church’s property would fall into the hands of others. This kind of talk behind her back hit her hard. I've seen her cry about it. In fact, what I admire about her most is that she made her children pass on the responsibility of love.
Her child, Brother Zhang, used to work in the railway bureau. He graduated from university with academic qualifications. He is a young and well-educated man who dares to think and do. He would have been better paid to work in the railway bureau than the church, but he chose to serve. Zhang was quite young in those days but now is a mature and prudent pastor.
Now let's talk about Sister Zhou who has also influenced me. She is also a church pastor. Although she did not give me much knowledge of the Bible, I admire her very much for what she did.
In north China, it is very cold in winter, and the church needs to be kept warm, which requires someone to manage the boiler during the gatherings. Because the boiler is only used when the church has gatherings, it is impossible to assign full-time staff to do this job. However, Zhou volunteered to undertake the dirty and tiring work. She would get up early to light the boiler before the gathering, which was very tiring. Maybe she herself is the only one who knows how hard it is.
Apart from that, she still thought of me after I was unable to attend gatherings due to ministry and other reasons. Every Christmas, she gave me a few gifts from the church. She did this not just for one or two years, but for many years, and she showed me that the church had not forgotten me.
Jin and Xianhua are pastors of another church, and they taught me what love is. In their church, they were the first to be there when a brother or sister had a family problem. Caring for the sick and helping those in need might be their way of pastoring.
For some reason, a couple's family was in a desperate situation. They asked to borrow money from the pastor couple. At that time, Jin and Xianhua had no cash, so they took out the real estate license as a mortgage loan to help that couple out of trouble. Although something happened and in the end, the money has not been returned fully, this couple's actions awakened the most precious thing in Christians’ hearts - love.
When this happened, many Christians, moved by their deeds, came together to help them and paid off all the losses caused by their love in an instant.
Thank God! I thank God for bringing me into contact with these loving pastors who have influenced my life.
Today I would like to pay high tribute to the pastors who take God as the center, give up their own ideas and respect the Lord as great! May the Lord bless them throughout their lovely life.
(This article was written by a staff writer/freelance writer of Gospel Times, who is a Christian from Liaoning Province.)
- Translated by Stephen Huang
