Called in China to minister in Alabama

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, February 8th. You’re listening to WORLD Radio, and we’re so glad you are!

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: The Winter Olympics in Beijing have brought Chinese persecution of Christians into the conversation once again.

WORLD Senior Correspondent Kim Henderson met up with a Chinese pastor in this country who remembers how it used to be in China before the crackdown.

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Just last year, Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs told reporters about the crackdown on Christians in China.

NEWSCAST: What we say in 2021 is that everywhere in China there is intense persecution of Christians. There is intense efforts to control the church…

But it hasn’t always been that way. Things were more open when Dawson Zhang was a young man.

ZHANG: Twenty years ago, I worked in a bank. So I had good salary and real easy job. But I, my heart feel empty.

Zhang tried to fill the empty space in his heart with work. He got involved in a business startup. But his business partners did him wrong.

ZHANG: I felt so frustrated, so, so mad. I think about what's the meaning of life, what I'm living for?

He walked along a street he’d been down hundreds of times, but this time he noticed a church. And words posted on its gate.

ZHANG: That says, everybody has souls, everybody would face the judgment after death. So I never heard about this teaching. My teacher, my parents, my friends, they told me there's no God. People will become nobody, nothing after you die.

Zhang stopped to read the post on the gate. Every line of it.

ZHANG: They said the way to destruction, to death is wide. And the way to eternal life is narrow. And so if you win the whole world but lose your life, what's the benefit for you?

He didn’t know these were the words of Scripture, but he knew they were meant for him.

ZHANG: I continued reading. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to Heaven except by me.” So I'm so excited. I'm so blessed to know about Jesus.

He was excited enough to burst into that church office.

ZHANG: I said, “Hey, boss, manager, if I want to join your organization, OK. How much should I pay?” He said, “OK, well, our church is free for the gospel. Gospel is free for everybody . . .”

And Dawson’s Zhang’s life changed. Dramatically and totally.

Zhang later immigrated to Canada, then to the United States. He was at the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, North Carolina, when he heard Asian evangelist Stephen Tong speak.

AUDIO: [STEPHEN TONG]

ZHANG: He called to the audience, “So who wants to become a full time minister or pastor in the future? Come out and stand on stage…”

Zhang went on to earn a Masters of Divinity from Moody Bible Institute and helped plant a church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They conducted services in Mandarin Chinese.

ZHANG: The congregation mainly from local Chinese restaurants. Some from faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi. And some are a housewife. And the husband may be American . . .

The church plant was successful. Leaders in the state Baptist convention congratulated them on their fifth anniversary.

AUDIO: [HATTIESBURG CONGRATS]

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. When the congregation purchased land to build a sanctuary, their neighbor wasn’t happy about it. He was a soldier in the Vietnam War.

ZHANG: He don't like Asian people. Because the war maybe. I understand Chinese and Vietnamese look alike. But we are Christian. We are persecuted by Chinese, by Chinese Communist Army, by Chinese government.

The neighbor made things difficult. He put an old TV and other garbage along the property line. The church built a fence. And when the neighbor passed away, his son moved into the house.

ZHANG: We talk to each other. We can make friends with his son.

AUDIO: [ZHANG PREACHING]

Today, Zhang pastors Montgomery Chinese Christian Church. He arrived in Alabama in 2019 with a noble goal: Reunifying a church split. Zhang first got to know both congregations.

ZHANG: So I am working hard from both sides and join one for Bible study. Join another group for worship service on Sundays.

Then on Easter Day 2020, they launched the new church. They’ve got about 40 people coming for services.

And fellowship is building, too.

AUDIO: [EXERCISE CLASS]

On this cold winter day, ladies come together to exercise using videos with hymns sung in Chinese.

AUDIO: [CONVERSATION IN CHINESE]

The church is in the country. Houses are few and far between. There’s a cattle yard across the road. It’s a far different scene from that street where Zhang first heard the gospel.

ZHANG: This building is 100 years old. They have a certificate in there, is a historical site. [KH: But you’re building history here now.] Yeah. God is making His story - ‘History’ equals ‘His Story’ . . .

Zhang knows people without Christ have empty hearts just like he did, whether they’re in Alabama or in his homeland, with its growing restrictions. He’s part of a program that offers video training to pastors in China. That’s paused because the current environment is so difficult. But he hopes the day will come when he can offer that training in person. In China.

ZHANG: In China now, all the churches are closed. The Bible is taken away, maybe burned, very difficult time in China, so we pray for them. And we try to find some way to reach them. Another way, maybe by internet or by something, by social media, to reach local Chinese pastors. To minister is really, now it's very hard.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Montgomery, Alabama.

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