His name is Rev. Zhong-Shiyuan, the vice-General Secretary of Yunnan Christian Council. He died on January 18th, 2009, only forty years old. He was in Hunan in January 10-12 this year, accompany a German group visiting a rural area. It was a long and tired journey. Rev. Zhong-Shiyuan guided this German Group, from Shanghai to Hunan, then to Yunnan. After he saw his German friends off, he was sent to the hospital then. But this long and tired journey ended his young life. He left his family and his coworkers, in such an early year of his life, going back HOME. Many years of cirrhosis of liver and a sudden massive haemorrhage of stomach got his last breath.
I cried for his death. He was a good person, once I ate with several people and he was introduced by the president of Yunnan Christian Council to us as a diligent and capable young man. He left a humble impression on me. "My wife's English is better than mine. She can help me in many ways, thank God.” I remember he said. His wife is also a pastor.
I am on the same position as his: vice General Secretary of a provincial Christian Council, I can’t help to think through toward his death. A Chinese pastor's burden might be out of the imagination of a western country's pastor. Besides all of our daily work of taking care of believers, on a provincial level we have a lot of so called "foreign affairs", which means accompany our overseas friends to visit churches. Yunnan’s "foreign affairs" are triple than Hunan's, for they have triple believers, much more than triple minority Christians and beautiful sceneries. It is on the boundary line and next to Tibet. Yunnan is the place where AIDS are the most popular in China because of the drugs trade on the boundary. All these factors have made Yunnan a place captured the eyes of western missionaries. I don't know why but this is a truth that missionaries always want to go to the most rural area. They are so energetic, while Chinese are not so compared to westerners. An Exhausted Chinese pastor can't get any rest after he came back from his journey with the missionaries from the most rural area, except he was ill. He had to go back his daily responsibilities right away because he was so needed. Teaching, preaching, visiting believers were all the things he had to do. If Rev. Zhong had been just a pastor in a church, he would not died so early. But he was a pastor of one church, a teacher of Yunnan Bible School, a coordinator for many foreign missionary organizations (just like a tour guide in a big travel agency), he also had a position in China's Christian Council. He might have been too tired and he might have done all he has to do on the earth as a pastor.
A Chinese pastor is like a panda for our Chinese church, rare and precious. His worth is much more than gold. Such a young pastor, died! His death is speaking to our hearts. What did you hear?
I cried for his death. He was a good person, once I ate with several people and he was introduced by the president of Yunnan Christian Council to us as a diligent and capable young man. He left a humble impression on me. "My wife's English is better than mine. She can help me in many ways, thank God.” I remember he said. His wife is also a pastor.
I am on the same position as his: vice General Secretary of a provincial Christian Council, I can’t help to think through toward his death. A Chinese pastor's burden might be out of the imagination of a western country's pastor. Besides all of our daily work of taking care of believers, on a provincial level we have a lot of so called "foreign affairs", which means accompany our overseas friends to visit churches. Yunnan’s "foreign affairs" are triple than Hunan's, for they have triple believers, much more than triple minority Christians and beautiful sceneries. It is on the boundary line and next to Tibet. Yunnan is the place where AIDS are the most popular in China because of the drugs trade on the boundary. All these factors have made Yunnan a place captured the eyes of western missionaries. I don't know why but this is a truth that missionaries always want to go to the most rural area. They are so energetic, while Chinese are not so compared to westerners. An Exhausted Chinese pastor can't get any rest after he came back from his journey with the missionaries from the most rural area, except he was ill. He had to go back his daily responsibilities right away because he was so needed. Teaching, preaching, visiting believers were all the things he had to do. If Rev. Zhong had been just a pastor in a church, he would not died so early. But he was a pastor of one church, a teacher of Yunnan Bible School, a coordinator for many foreign missionary organizations (just like a tour guide in a big travel agency), he also had a position in China's Christian Council. He might have been too tired and he might have done all he has to do on the earth as a pastor.
A Chinese pastor is like a panda for our Chinese church, rare and precious. His worth is much more than gold. Such a young pastor, died! His death is speaking to our hearts. What did you hear?
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