Women in the Chinese Church
Excerpts from a presentation
by
Rev. Ms. Wu Mingfeng
Women have kept their faith in Christ even in the difficult times of trial and tribulation in the1960s. In China today women are sharing pastoral leadership with men. The church I serve in is XitaChurch in Shenyang, a large city in northeastern China. It has earned the nickname "Church of Mary" because its membership is over eighty percent women. The senior pastor is the Rev. Ms. Wu Ai-en, a second generation Korean Chinese. Rev. Wu provides leadership to the local congregation as well as to the church at provincial and national levels. She serves as one of the vice presidents of the China Christian Council.
During the difficult days in 1948 and in the 1960s, all the men left this church. Rev. Wu and a few remaining women deacons prayed without ceasing. At the time of the so-called Cultural Revolution (1966-76) Rev. Wu was assigned to a steel mill to do hard labor. She was mocked and persecuted. When the pressure became unbearable, she would cling to God in prayer. She held onto her faith in Christ even though she was physically abused and injured. She still carries the scars in her body from that trying time. In the late 1970s, when she was released from hard labor, she immediately returned to Xita and began to pray again with the women. Working with a few committed Christian women, she reclaimed the building for Xita Church that she loves so well. Now Xita has a membership of over 2,000. Rev. Wu is a living example to us young women pastors in China.
In the late 1950s, Rev. Wu had two women classmates at Yanjing Theological Seminary (Beijing). Atthe time of graduation everyone in the class was called to serve in churches except these two women. Finally the two women went to Qinghai, a western province with a large population of Muslims and very few Christians. There were disturbances in Qinghai, and people were involved in demonstrations. During the crackdown on the demonstrators, the police arrested hundreds of people, including some who were innocent. These two women were among those arrested and put in prison. They had scarcely begun their ministry when this happened. They were to be in prison for 20 years. Although they suffered unjustly in prison, they did not give up their faith. One of them died when the prison cell collapsed. The other survived. She was Rev. Wei Anru, who was finally released in 1980.
During her time of incarceration, hundreds of young criminals were sent to Qinghai. Rev. Wei lived with these young criminals and learned much from them. She learned to listen and talk with them. She became an expert in criminal psychology. She worked with these young people and ministered to them in prison. After her release, she continued to minister to troubled young people. She also ministers to the elderly, the sick in the hospital, and to inmates on death row.
While she was unjustly imprisoned, Rev. Wei experienced anew the love and care of God, even as God used her to offer a compassionate ministry to the young criminals. There are many such devoted women pastors who are an inspiration to us young pastors in China. They are the true pioneers of faith who teach us through their good examples. We give thanks to God for them.
By the end of 1994, 387 women had been ordained as pastors. Women account for one-sixth of the total number of pastors in China. Many women pastors are serving in rural churches. Of the theological seminary students in China today, fifty-six percent are women. Among seventeen top national church leaders, six are women. Women serve as principals of seminaries and many hold faculty positions. In China today, many women work as senior engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers, managers and politicians. Many Christian women are among them.
Editor's note: The above excerpts, slightly edited, are from China News Update published by the Presbyterian Chuch (USA). They are from a presentation by Rev. Ms. Wu Mingfeng at a meeting of a delegation from the China Christian Council with Presbyterians in Louisville from March 19th to the 22nd, 2000. After the meeting at Louisville, the Chinese delegation met with other church denominations in Chicago, Valley Forge and New York City. In China all Protestant denominations have been merged into one government-recognized church. There are also many so-called house churches, many of which have relations with the government-recognized church, but some do not. The photographs are of women celebrating the International Women's Day of Prayer at Shanghai's Muen Church and come from the April 1995 edition of Tian Feng magazine, the official magazine of the Chinese Protestant Three-Self Church.
www.heritagemadison.org
Webmaster - Dan Nelson
Copyright © 2007 Heritage Congregational Church All Rights Reserved