The gospel took root in Linghu Village, Lingxi Town, Xinzhou District, Shangrao County, Jiangxi province.
In 1973, Zheng Naijun, a local young bricklayer accepted the gospel after seeing wonders and miraculous signs performed in a young man's house. Afterward, he shared his conversion testimony in the village. A villager nam Zheng Yingrong also converted to Christianity.
Zheng's younger brother Guan Shuidui followed Christ because the sores on his hands were healed in a house of a man named Lin Qiushou.
The first-generation preacher Zheng Naijun and Zheng Yingrong of Xiahu Church got young Christians to work on a production team during the day and guided them in groups to visit people and spread the gospel at night. During that time, the church saw miracles like demons driven out from young girls and middle-aged women and the resurrection of a dead woman.
Years later, many Christians came from miles around to attend Sunday services conducted in the Xiahu Church and then built churches in their own villages.
The village congregation first gathered in a brother's house. After the membership became too large, a 90-square-meter church was completed on a mountain. Because of the inconvenient mountain road, a second church with an area of 200 square meters (0.049 acres) was built by the roadside in 2008.
In the past four decades, Christianity has made four contributions to the area. First of all, the gospel has promoted rural civilization. Bad habits such as swearing, smoking, drinking, and stealing have stopped. The educational level of villagers has increased and they are now literate. Forty years ago, most villagers could not read due to poor living conditions. After they accepted Jesus, they gradually understood the words of the Bible.
Moreover, they have learned to read music, play the piano, and blow a trumpet in the church. In the past, they always had low self-esteem and truly thought of themselves this way. Knowing that they are children of the heavenly Father, they have the courage to face difficulties. Also, there is a great emphasis on humanistic care including caring for the sick and the elderly as well as hospice care. The church provides assistance to any member who is ill or whose relative is dying.
Today a fourth-generation of local Christians serve in the church. Many families have several generations of believers.
However, at present there are many challenges. With a majority of middled-aged and aged members, the church finds it hard to keep pace with the times in evangelism in this age of knowledge explosion. It needs more young workers. The elders of the church in Shangrao have started to launch training programs for group leaders. At the same time, they support the development of youth fellowships that envision studying the Bible and learning to serve the society.
(The author is a local preacher in the church in Shangrao, Jiangxi province.)
- Translated by Karen Luo
