Unsung Heroes – House Church -China

I’ve always been fascinated by hearing stories from people who follow Christ under persecution. As Westerners, we may wonder how well our own faith would hold up and what church would look like when persecution knocks on our front door. The following is a Facebook post from Wendy Click and is well worth reading. It’s a bit long, so grab a cup of coffee, relax, and let your heart be open.

Giving My Love Back to America
Lessons from the Chinese House Church
By Wendy Click (2019)

When I came to America, I felt very thankful.

Wherever I went, one of the first things I wanted was to thank the Western missionaries who came to China more than 100 years ago. They told people about Jesus. They helped Chinese people. They started schools and hospitals. They brought new ways of learning and new technology.

Most of all, they brought the message of Jesus Christ.

Their prayers, tears, hard work, and even their blood were not wasted. The good news about Jesus took root in China. Many Chinese Christians over the years were changed by that message.

I am one of those people.

Today, I want to give that love back. I cannot pay back the gospel, because no one can. But I can serve Jesus in America. I can pray for this country. I can tell Americans about Jesus.

I believe God has not forgotten what the Western missionaries gave up for China. I also believe God can use Chinese Christians to help the American church today.

This is the story of what I learned from the Chinese house church. And this is what I think American Christians can learn from it.

The Church Is Not a Building

The idea of a house church may sound new to many Americans. But house churches are not new. They go all the way back to the New Testament.

The first Christians met in homes and in public places.

Acts 2:46 says:
“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”

Paul also talked about churches that met in homes. In Romans 16:5, he said hello to “the church that meets at their house.” The same kind of words appear in 1 Corinthians 16:19 and Colossians 4:15.

This does not mean Christians must only meet in homes. We can worship in church buildings, homes, schools, rented rooms, or other places.

Jesus said: “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” – John 4:24

The place is not the most important thing.

What matters most is this: Is Jesus at the center? Are people learning from God’s Word? Do they love each other? Are they living as His followers?

The church is the body of Christ. A building can help the church, but a building is not the church.

How the Chinese House Church Began

The story of Chinese house churches is not simple. It cannot be told in just one way.

Western missionaries had already started churches in China before the Communist government took over. After 1949, things changed a lot. The government took control of churches. Religious freedom became very limited. Many Christian leaders were put in prison or forced to stop public work.

During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, almost all public Christian worship was stopped. Churches were closed. Bibles were taken away or destroyed. Many Christians were put in prison, publicly shamed, forced to work hard, beaten, or hurt in other ways.

But the church did not disappear.

Christians met quietly in homes. Families prayed together. Believers memorized Bible verses. They met with family and trusted friends. In some places, people traveled to faraway areas to worship.

The house church was not first planned as a way to grow the church.

For many believers, it was simply the only way to stay faithful to Jesus when they could not worship in public.

That difference is important.

We should not make the Chinese house church sound perfect or romantic. It grew in very hard times, and it had its own problems. But persecution taught Chinese Christians something that many comfortable Christians can easily forget:

The church can keep going without buildings.
The church can keep going without big budgets.
The church can keep going without fancy programs.

But the church cannot stay strong without Jesus, the Bible, prayer, and people who follow Him faithfully.

A Voice from Chinese Church History

One important person in Chinese church history was Francis Wilson Price, also known as Bi Fangyu.

Old records from the Chinese Christian movement say that Price cared deeply about the future of the church under Communist rule. He believed Christians needed to get ready for a time when public church buildings and groups might not exist anymore.

So he encouraged Christians to find ways to keep living out their faith in families and small groups.

His work became part of a bigger effort by Chinese Christians to prepare for hard times.

The goal was not to create a cool new kind of church.

It was about surviving and staying faithful.

This history is important when Americans hear the words “Chinese house church.” The name did not first mean a modern way to save money. It meant believers who kept following Jesus when the normal ways of worship were taken away.

What Persecution Taught the Chinese Church

During the Cultural Revolution, many Christians learned to value things that had become hard to get.

They valued the Bible because Bibles were hard to find.

They valued prayer because they never knew if they could meet publicly the next day.

They valued Christian friends because they needed each other to keep going.

They valued sharing their faith because faith was not something to hide.

They valued helping each other grow because every Christian needed to know how to follow Jesus without always depending on a paid pastor.

In some places, believers memorized large parts of the Bible because written copies were rare.

Some Christians copied Scripture by hand. Others hid Bibles where they hoped the authorities would not find them.

The Bible was not just a book for Sunday morning. It was their spiritual food.

One older believer once told about hiding a Bible in a container because authorities were searching homes. Stories like these show how precious the Bible became to people who were being persecuted.

Their suffering became like a classroom.

The Holy Spirit was their teacher.
The Bible was their textbook.
Life itself was their classroom.

This does not mean suffering is good. It means God can still shape His people even when they suffer a lot.

Prayer Before Programs

One of the biggest lessons I learned from Chinese house churches is how important prayer is.

Many early gatherings did not start with fancy programs. They started with prayer.

Believers prayed for their families.

They prayed for their churches.
They prayed for people who were suffering.
They prayed for others to be saved.
They prayed for God’s will.

In some places, Christians met very early in the morning to pray. In other places, they prayed late at night. Fasting and prayer were also common.

I have seen Chinese believers pray for one or two hours with great focus.

They did not always say, “God, give me what I want.”

Often they said, “Lord, what do You want to do?”

That difference matters.

Prayer is not a trick to make revival happen. Revival is God’s work. But a church that prays is a church that knows it needs God.

The simple truth is this:

Without prayer, we cannot expect a strong spiritual life.

Hunger for God’s Word

The second lesson is hunger for the Bible.

When the Bible is easy to get, we can easily take it for granted.

When Christians know that owning a Bible might cost them their freedom, the Bible becomes precious.

Chinese believers copied Scripture, memorized it, listened to Christian radio, recorded sermons, and shared Bible teaching with each other.

This created a culture where regular Christians were expected to know the Bible.

The result was not always perfect teaching. House churches also struggled with weak training and wrong ideas.

But the hunger was real.

American Christians have almost unlimited access to Bibles, sermons, books, podcasts, conferences, and study tools.

Our challenge is different.

We have the Word.

Do we hunger for it?

A church can have great programs and still be weak if God’s people do not know God’s Word.

Every Christian Must Become a Disciple

Another lesson from the Chinese house church is that ministry cannot belong only to paid pastors.

In many Chinese house churches, regular believers learned to share the gospel, pray for others, care for new believers, lead small groups, and teach the Bible.

This does not mean everyone has the same job.

The New Testament clearly teaches that people have different gifts and different ways to serve.

But every Christian is called to follow Jesus.

Ephesians 4:12 talks about preparing God’s people “for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

So the pastor’s job is not to do everything.

The pastor must help God’s people get ready to serve.

A healthy church does not create an audience.

It creates disciples.

Discipleship Is Life on Life

One strength of a small group is that people can know each other better.

In a large church, someone can come for years and no one really knows what is happening in their life.

In a small group, it is harder to hide.

People can share their struggles.
They can admit their weaknesses.
They can pray for each other.
They can encourage each other.
They can correct each other kindly.
They can be happy together and sad together.

Romans 12:15 says: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

This is not just a Sunday activity.

It is Christian life.

The goal of discipleship is not just passing on information. It is helping one life build another life in Christ.

Paul’s relationship with Timothy is a good Bible picture of this kind of discipleship.

Mature believers should help newer believers grow.

Parents should help their children follow Jesus.

Older Christians should encourage younger ones.

Church leaders should prepare believers to serve.

Life should build life.

Sharing the Gospel as a Way of Life

Chinese culture also makes it natural to invite people into your home.

Inviting someone for a meal can open the door for talk, friendship, prayer, personal stories, and sharing about Jesus.

I remember how my husband and I prayed before meals when we visited China. A young relative noticed. Later, when he came back to America, he felt strange eating without saying “Amen.”

Simple habits can become strong testimonies.

The church does not have to wait for a special outreach event.

Sharing the gospel can happen around a dinner table.

It can happen in a phone call.
It can happen through friendship.
It can happen when a Christian listens to someone who feels lonely.

America has lots of material things, but loneliness is still a big problem.

The church should be a spiritual family where people meet both truth and love.

The Strength of the House Church Is Not Its Small Size

It would be a mistake to think small churches are always better than large ones.

Size is not the Bible’s measure of spiritual health.

A house church can be unhealthy.

A large church can be healthy.

The real question is whether the church is faithful to Jesus.

The strengths I have seen in healthy Chinese house churches include:
Prayer.
Hunger for the Bible.
Sharing the gospel.
Caring for each other.
Personal discipleship.
Sharing the work.
Simple ways of organizing.

These are not just Chinese values.

They are Bible values.

The Money Question

House churches can also run with less money.

Meeting in a living room does not cost as much as keeping a large building.

This can free up money for missions, sharing the gospel, helping the poor, discipleship, and other work.

But saving money should never be the main reason for choosing a house church.

The church is not a business whose goal is to cut costs.

Money is a tool for ministry.

Whether a church meets in a big building or a living room, its money belongs to God and should be used carefully.

The Dangers of the House Church

Chinese house churches also have serious weaknesses.

We should not make them sound perfect.

Because many house churches work outside formal systems, it can be hard to hold people accountable.

Some leaders can become too controlling.

Some believers may not have good Bible training.

Wrong teaching can spread quickly.

Gossip can hurt relationships.

Personal boundaries can be crossed.

Money can be misused.

And strong leaders can sometimes control people’s lives too much.

These dangers are not only in China.

They can happen wherever Christians meet.

The New Testament keeps warning believers to test teaching, think carefully, and hold leaders accountable.

A house church is not automatically biblical just because it meets in a house.

The question is whether its teaching, leaders, relationships, and practices follow the Bible.

A Warning About Wrong Teaching

Some Chinese house churches also had groups that treated strong emotional experiences as proof of being saved.

In some extreme cases, people were pushed to seek long emotional times, visions, heavy crying, fasting, or other physical signs as evidence that they were truly forgiven or born again.

These practices can seriously twist the gospel.

Salvation rests on God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not on how strong a person’s feelings are.

Christians should tell the difference between real repentance and spiritual pressure.

We must also tell the difference between the Holy Spirit’s work and human pressure.

A church that does not teach sound doctrine can easily be fooled.

That is one reason good Bible teaching and leaders who can be held accountable are so important.

Authority Must Be Accountable

Another danger is leaders who have too much control.

In some Chinese house churches, cultural respect for authority can make people afraid to question a leader.

But Bible leadership is not absolute personal control.

Peter told church elders not to “lord it over” the people in their care, but to be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:2–3).

Christian leaders are shepherds under the Chief Shepherd.
They do not own the church.

Whenever a leader claims special power above the Bible, controls people’s personal choices, demands blind loyalty, misuses money, or hurts people, the church must respond with careful thinking and proper accountability.

The same warning applies in America.

Gossip and Privacy

House churches also need wisdom about privacy.

When people meet in someone’s home, family life becomes more visible.

Money differences may become clear.

Marriage problems may become known.

Children may get involved.

Unbelieving spouses may feel uncomfortable.

Gossip can spread easily.

So healthy house churches need clear boundaries.

Private information should stay private.

Personal details should not be collected unless needed.

Concerns should go through the right leaders, not through gossip.

Hospitality must never become an excuse to invade someone’s privacy.

Love needs both openness and healthy limits.

What I Have Seen in America

I have lived in America for many years.

When I first came, my English was limited, and the Chinese church became an important place for friendship.

But as I got to know American Christianity better, I began to see another side of the American church.

America has amazing Christian resources.

There are seminaries, churches, publishers, conferences, Christian schools, radio programs, TV ministries, podcasts, websites, and countless books.

Yet resources do not automatically make people spiritually mature.

I have met Christians who know very little about the Bible even though they have gone to church for many years.

I have seen churches with many activities but very little prayer.

I have seen believers who come every week but do not know how to share the gospel.

I have seen pastors under heavy pressure.

I have seen Christians leave churches because of personal hurts.

These problems should not be used to attack the American church.

The church is made of people who are still being changed by Jesus.

China has its own failures.

America has its own failures.

Neither Chinese Christians nor American Christians should think they are better than the other.

We need each other.

Why I Believe Chinese Christians Have Something to Give America

The Western church brought the gospel to China.

Now I believe Chinese Christians can bring something back to the West – not a new gospel, not a new teaching, and not a replacement for the American church.

We can bring personal stories.
We can bring a fresh love for prayer.
We can bring hunger for the Bible.
We can bring a culture of welcoming people into our homes.
We can bring a willingness to share the work of ministry.
We can bring stories of not giving up.

Most of all, we can remind each other that the church belongs to Jesus Christ.

I do not believe the future of the American church depends on copying the Chinese house church model exactly as it is in China.

Instead, I believe American Christians should return to the Bible foundations that Chinese house churches had to rediscover in hard times.

Prayer.
The Bible.
Discipleship.
Sharing the gospel.
Fellowship.
Sacrifice.
Holy living.
Mission.

My Own Journey Back to the House Church

My own story has made this very personal.

I grew up in China during a hard time in its history.

My family was not Christian.

Yet from childhood, I knew deep inside that God existed.

As a young woman, I finally went to a Christian church and was baptized.

My faith later caused conflict with my job and my family. For a while I moved away from the church.

But God drew me back.

I remember standing in a church and looking at the cross. I was overwhelmed by the truth that Jesus had died for me.

I began to cry.

I knew I had wandered away, but I also understood again how deep God’s grace is.

From that point, my life changed.
I began studying the Bible.
I listened to Christian radio.
I served in the church.
I shared the gospel with friends.
I began to want more Bible training and ministry.

Eventually, God led me into marriage with an American Christian man who shared my desire to serve Jesus.

In 2001, I came to America.

I did not know then how God would use my life in this country.

Coming Back to America with Thankfulness

Several years later, I began to feel a burden for Chinese people living around the world.

But slowly, I began to see America differently.

I had first come here as someone who received.

Now I began to ask:
What can I give?
How can I serve?
How can I pray?
How can I share Jesus?

One day while praying, I found myself crying out:

“God, I want to preach the gospel. I want to share Your Word.”

Soon after, I was invited to a house church gathering in America.

When I saw the words “house church,” I was deeply moved.

It felt familiar.

It reminded me of the Chinese believers who met in homes, prayed together, studied the Bible, and encouraged each other.

I realized I did not have to go back to China to serve Jesus.

God had brought me to America.

And maybe part of my calling was to serve the American church.

“Do Not Give Up on America”

During one prayer gathering, several of us knelt together and cried out to God for America.

We prayed:
“God, do not give up on America.”
We confessed our sins.
We prayed for the church.
We prayed for families.
We prayed for revival.

My husband, who does not speak Chinese, was deeply moved by the atmosphere of prayer.

That experience reminded me that the deepest need of the American church is not another program.

It is not another building.
It is not another ministry brand.
We need Jesus.
We need His Word.
We need to turn back to Him.
We need prayer.
We need disciples who actually follow Jesus.

What I Believe About the Future

I believe God can bring spiritual renewal to America.

I do not know exactly what that renewal will look like.

It may not look like the revivals of the past.

It may not happen through one denomination or one ministry.

It may take place in large churches, small churches, homes, campuses, workplaces, families, and online groups.

But wherever real followers of Jesus are formed, the church is being made stronger.

Haggai 2:9 says: “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house.”

The final hope of the church is not any particular model.

It is Jesus Christ.

He is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Methods may change.
Buildings may change.
Cultures may change.
Generations may change.
But Jesus does not change.

The Love Goes Both Ways

More than 100 years ago, Western missionaries crossed oceans to bring the gospel to China.

They did not know exactly what would happen.

They prayed.

They gave up a lot.

Some died.

But their work produced fruit.

Today, Chinese Christians live in America.

Some of us have received Bible training here.
Some are serving in American churches.
Some are starting new churches.
Some are praying for this nation.
Some are sharing the gospel with their American neighbors.

The direction of ministry has changed, but the gospel has not.

I came to America carrying thankfulness.

Now I want to give that thankfulness back through service.
I want to pray for America.
I want to love the American church.
I want to share the gospel.

And I want to see Chinese and American Christians serve Jesus together.

The answer is not Chinese Christianity replacing American Christianity.

The answer is Christians from different cultures returning together to Jesus.

The church belongs to Him.
The mission belongs to Him.
The gospel belongs to Him.
And the glory belongs to Him.

I received the gospel through the sacrifice of others. Now I want to spend my life helping others receive it.

That is how I hope to give my love back to America.

You can read more about Wendy Click by following her on Facebook. Search “From China to America house church”.

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