On September 1st, 2015, the 100th anniversary of Pastor Pollard's death was held in Kunming, committee of TSPM & CCC of Yunnan Province attended to commemorate and honor the memory of Pastor Pollard. By the chance, Jiang Zhulin, the former vice-Ppresident of TSPM&CCC, talked about the challenges of the church in the current day and age. "To ensure the church meets the requirements of God, the most important aspect is that our church should reconfirm the spiritual position and mission of Jesus Christ in a place of ever-changing and superior competition." he added.
ACTS Chapter 4 shows us the situation of the early church.There are four images: First, when the apostles got caught when they were preaching among the people, persecution came upon them. Second, Peter boldly proclaimed the Gospel of Christ in the face of the trial. Third, the united prayer of God's people shook the churches and filled its followers with the Holy Spirit.. Fourth, lives changed. And all that believed were together and had many things in common. And this great power gave the apostles the opportunity to witness to many people about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Apostle Peter was preaching the gospel, the chief priests, Sadducees, and captains went there and arrested him. They intimidated him by threats so as to prevent him from preaching the gospel. But the Servant of Lord has God's presence andPeter did not stop preaching the gospel because of the threats.
Our church today also faces the same challenges. So,how do we deal with this? Pastor Jiang thinks that we can find strength through the attitude of apostles and churches when they were faced with adversity. Peter bore witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ boldly and proclaimed, "Nor is there salvation in any other," when faced with adversity. Religion and good deeds cannot save us but only Jesus Christ. The church must rely on Jesus. Only in this way can we break through this dilemma. Jesus cannot only heal diseases, but also lets us earn His salvation. Anyone can only exalt the name of Christ but any other names."If our churches do not preach God's Truth, we will degenerate sooner or later,"said Pastor Jiang.
God's people should be united in prayer when facing adversities. This is something that we need to learn. Some of our churches today don't unite in a covenant of prayer and testimony but just criticize each other and run around here and there when facing problems. Our followers should pray for pastors so that God will give them inspiration. And we should also pray that God entrusts them with healing properties so as to bring vitality to their brothers and sisters .
What is church? Fan Rongzhen, the author of "God's Missionary People," defines it in this way: A church is a place where disciples of Jesus Christ from all over the world focus on the Word of God, the Holy Sacraments, and bear common witness to establish the only pure universality and Apostolicity. It tells us that Jesus is the Lord. The marks of the true church are the pure preaching of the gospel, the pure administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of discipline. The Word of God, the Holy Sacraments, and common witnesses are like three sides of a triangle, without any side, it becomes problematic.
A church also has four properties, namely, uniqueness, universality, saintliness, and apostolicity.The church regards Jesus Christ as the Lord. He is the only Lord and if anyone in the church wants to replace him then it becomes degenerative. God's church should be pure and holy. He demands no private interests when we come into His presence. Only people of pureness can worship Him.
Churches all over the world regard Jesus as the prince of the kings of the earth. It is universal. Each church is a branch of God's kingdom. God commands us to preach the Gospel to different people even up to the ends of the earth. Finally, the church must use the apostles' teaching as its basis and standards. Apart from the apostles' teaching of the four Gospels in the New Testament, we should also know the apostles'teaching beyond the four Gospels. These four properties are essential measures of a true church.
Jesus left a Great Commission before his leaving, which we Christians should meditate on day and night. If a church does not preach the Gospel anymore, it will lose its fundamental attributes as a church. Our church belongs to Lord, the Great Commission is our commission, and doing our part is the secret to living a life of significance. Thus we are acceptable to God. No matter what happens, a live church is one where the Spirit of God is free to move and to use his Word in the hearts of his people. It is a place where lives are being changed.
Church has Worship, Fellowship, Sunday-school, and Service.We witness the mutual care among believers in church and we commit ourselves to the construction of the kingdom of God. Our churches need to change its impression of selfish egotism and reach out to the world to find out if there is anyone out there who needs our help to support their lost souls. We have the whole Bible in our hands and we are assisted by Holy Spirit, thus we should hold them in arms and tell them the truth.
The righteousness of Christians transcends the Scribes and Pharisees. Only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven can enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God simultaneously belongs to the present and future. It dwells in the hearts of people who respect human authority as established by God. Jesus once came here in the Incarnation and He shall come back. We may face different kinds of challenges in our time but when Jesus comes back, we will enjoy everlasting life. At that moment, the righteous and the wicked will be separated. Righteousness will replace all sin. Therefore, we should repent and mend our ways from our ungodly lusts and take God at His word. But how can we not get readily assimilated by this world since we live in it? It lies in our inner change of life.
This cannot be realized by a human's works or understanding but by the Word of God.This kind of power comes from the kingdom of God. So don't worry about your current situation or the stress in your personal life because we are in the hands of the Lord.
Finally, Pastor Jiang encouraged his followers at the preaching. Pastor Pollard crossed the chasms of nationality, country, and culture to preach the gospel to the Miao pepole 100 years ago. And the Miao people broke through the difficulties and established their churches. We should do more to serve our Lord and not be satisfied with our current situations. Keep moving and bear the Great Commission in our minds.
