The funeral of the Emeritus Professor of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary (NUTS) Wang Weifan held in Nanjing, Sept. 17th, 2015. Groups of pastors with grief from all over the country came to Nanjing and attended this heartbreaking funeral of this beloved pastor, who has made great contributions to Chinese church.
A pastor of NUTS, Chen Bin presided at the funeral. At the beginning, all the participants stood up to sing "The Lord loves deep", which was written by prof. Wang. Gu Yuese (Joseph), the president of China Christian Council in Zhejiang, who was one of the students of Wang, deeply commemorated the love that Wang gave to his students, to the church and to China. Meanwhile, he hoped that Wang's wife and families received comfort from God, and he encouraged all the pastors to follow Professor Wang's example and work hard for God.
After the church choir of NUTS sang the hymn "Close to the Lord", Kan Renping, who serves as the pastor of Nanjing St. Paul's church, read the scriptures of John 11:30-37 and Revelation 14:13 and expressed the hope that the burdens were laid down and prof. Wang would be living with God in heaven.
Chen Yilu, the executive vice president of NUTS, peached with the title "Turn tears into pearls". He pointed out that prof. Wang always wept. He cried for his students, Nanjing and Chinese church. His tears fell on the Rock and changed to the pearls, and Chinese theology education also bore beautiful fruits. Chen also talked about his experiences as a young man with prof. Wang and recalled the moment of his graduation with professor Wang.
Gao Feng, the president of NUTS, also the president of CCC (China Christian Council) briefly summarized the whole life of prof. Wang as a dean in NUTS and a standing committee of the fourth and fifth CCC. He highly estimated Wang's work as a thoughtful theologian. His poems and essays with Chinese feature and his studies on Chinese Christianity were the valuable wealth to theological thinking.
Wang Hong, the son of professor Wang, recalled the hard life of his father. He mentioned that his father was very strict. He had not understand why he loved his students more than his children before. But now, he knew the students were his best comforts and thanked for those students coming to the funeral.
The farewell started with the hymn "Be with the Lord", written by prof. Wang. Families and participants with tears and affection filed past the body of professor Wang to pay their last respects.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the memorial service held at Mochou Road Church in Nanjing. Chinese Christian Council, Heilongjiang Christian church, Chongqing Christian Council and overseas alumni of NUTS offered condolences to fully express the remembrance to the dead.
Resume of Pastor Wang Weifan
Pastor Wang Weifan taught at Nanjing Union Theological Seminary (NUTS) over a long period of time, and died on the morning Sept. 15th, 2015. Wang Weifan was born in Taizhou, Jiangsu on December 22th, 1927. Since his childhood, he had been influenced by traditional Confucian thoughts. He first came into contact with Christianity in 1947, and was baptized in the same year. In 1951, he entered Hangzhou Seminary, and studied in NUTS from 1952 to 1955. He was sent to preach the Word at Zhenjiang Baptist church in 1955. He worked in a factory for eight years during the Cultural Revolution. In 1979, he was reassigned to Religion Research Institute in Nanjing University. When NUTS resumed in 1981, he was assigned to teaching and publication and ordained as a pastor in 1988. He served as a dean in NUTS and a standing committee of Chinese Christian Council and retired in 1999.
Translated By YangMing
