CHINA PASTOR: “This Could Be Our Last Sunday Together”

VOMRadio

The Voice of the Martyrs

Christianity, Martyr, Vom, Persecution, Gospel, Pastor, Persecutedchurch, Apologetics, Islam, Christian, Church, Missions, Missionaries, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Just before Covid shut down the Peoples Republic of China, Pastor Pan Yongguang and members of his congregation, known today as the Mayflower Church, made the difficult decision to leave their country. After 16 families from the congregation arrived in South Korea in 2019, relatives and other family members still in China faced increasing pressure from the communist government, especially when members of the church went public about the persecution they’d faced and their decision to leave China.

Listen as Pastor Pan shares about his life before he became and believer, how he came to faith in Christ, and how the Lord raised him up to be the pastor of the church he was baptized in. Before Pastor Pan considered personally following Christ, he knew people in China must pay a price for being a Christian. He says, “That’s a special part of Chinese Christians. They know they have to pay a price.”

The roots of the decision to leave China trace back to a day in 2018 when Pastor Pan had lunch with Pastor Wang Yi, who is now serving a nine-year sentence as a prisoner for Christ. Christian persecution was rising in China. Wang Yi knew he faced imprisonment for his faith; he challenged Pastor Pan to prepare himself to go to prison as well. Pan will share about the regular visits he received from police after Wang Yi’s arrest.

Pastor Pan and his church members had a decision to make. Should they leave China, or should they stay? Many had good jobs in China, but they worried about raising their children in Godly truth amidst communist pressure and indoctrination. After a year of discussions, knowing each Sunday could be their last one together, they felt unified in the decision to leave China.

Today, Pastor Pan and the Mayflower church are educating their children to follow Christ as they wait to receive refugee status from the United Nations and resettlement in a free nation. Pray for favor for them in the UN refugee application process. Pray also for family members still in China, who constantly face threats and intimidation.

Never miss and episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or you can listen each week in the new VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The Gospel of Luke tells us large crowds were following Jesus.
0:05.5	He wanted to challenge them to count the cost of following him and not just get swept
0:11.9	up into the crowd.
0:14.3	So Jesus said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
0:22.2	He went on to say every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be
0:26.9	my disciple.
0:28.5	Our brothers and sisters in China understand this verse at a deep level.
0:33.3	Here's Pastor Pan from the Mayflower Church.
0:37.5	Chinese Christians know that they have to pay price for their religion.
0:45.5	Maybe that's because that everything calls something in China.
0:53.2	Jesus never promised his followers an easy path.
0:56.5	In fact, he told his disciples that the world would hate them.
1:00.0	He sent them out as sheep among wolves.
1:02.8	Jesus' words came true in the life of the apostles, and they're still coming true
1:06.9	today in the lives of his followers around the world.
1:10.0	Join host Todd Nettleton as we hear their inspiring stories and learn how we can help
1:14.8	right now on the Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network.
1:18.1	Welcome back to the Voice of the Martyrs Radio.
1:20.2	My name is Todd Nettleton.
1:21.5	This week's going to be a little bit different from normal here on Vioen Radio.
1:26.0	Our guest is not in our studio in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
1:29.2	We're going to listen to an interview that I conducted recently with the pastor of a church.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Voice of the Martyrs, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Voice of the Martyrs and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.