Yujian Hong[1]
It has been 20 years since Rev. Jonathan Chao passed away and left China Ministries International (CMI), which he founded. But for me, Pastor Chao is like one of the heroes of faith recorded in the Bible: "And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks." (Hebrews 11:4 ESV). The reason he has impressed me so firmly probably has to do with my personal background. I grew up during the Cultural Revolution and came to the US for graduate studies in the 1980s. Not long after, the Tiananmen Square massacre crushed my nationalistic pride, and soon, my pursuit of science and democracy was also disillusioned in my academics. It indeed was by God’s great mercy that I came to know Christ in the middle of these crises and became a Christian during the first wave of conversions among Chinese students in the early 1990s.
I used to think Christianity was just like other religions: created by people as an escape from the troubles and sufferings of this world. But God opened my eyes to see that the treasured accomplishments of science and democracy in Western civilization were actually the products of Christian faith. Communism in China and the political correctness prevalent in the West are rooted in human rebellion against God and the arrogance of self-reliance, thinking that one can create an ideal society. Only by the light of the Gospel can the utopian nature of evil be exposed and the people awakened. The Great Commission given to the church by Jesus is essentially a spiritual battle. It will require discernment of the devil's schemes at the cultural and intellectual levels to address and overcome them effectively. As Paul said, we must "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). Though I was a new Christian and spiritually immature I was deeply convicted by this vision. I published my testimony titled Knowing Jesus Christ in the Pursuit of Freedom and Democracy, and I was excited to share that vision and seek advice from some senior church members. However, to my surprise, while most of them cared for me deeply, they disagreed with my views. They advised me that since I had become a believer, I was set apart by the Lord. They recommended that I should focus on reading the Bible and praying, staying close to the Lord and not getting involved in worldly affairs, especially politics. But in my view, while Christians should certainly read the Bible and pray, why shouldn't we also establish a holistic Christian worldview? Originally, the fundamentalist factions within Chinese churches emphasized salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ and personal justification by faith, which are indeed valuable. However, due to a traditional anti-intellectual tendency, they do not emphasize the study of doctrine and theology. Furthermore, because of the sacred-secular dichotomy, they do not support the idea that the church should have a cultural mission in addition to its evangelical mission in the world. Their advice made me feel like someone had poured a bucket of cold water over my head, making me feel confused and lonely as I began my ministry journey.
However, God's grace was sufficient. The second year after I became a Christian (1992), I was called to study at Regent College. I was fortunate to study Systematic Theology under the world-renowned theologian Professor J. I. Packer. This gave me a solid foundation in Reformed theology as a new believer. In the tradition of Reformed theology, holding fast to the doctrine of the complete revelation of Scripture is crucial to building up the Church. The view of Chinese churches that denies a cultural mandate is precisely what Reformed theology opposes.
I am even more thankful that I had the privilege of knowing two senior leaders in the Chinese church. One is Rev. Stephen Tong, the most well-known revival evangelist and theological thinker in the global Chinese church. The other is Rev. Jonathan Chao, a pioneer of theological education and church history in modern China. What they have in common is that they are guided by a full Reformed gospel faith, and they both have a deep understanding of China's cultural history and the nature of the communist regime. In our fellowship, I felt an immediate connection and resonance. I believe the Holy Spirit moved me to follow and engage in their ministries, emulating them as my mentors and role models on my journey of faith and service. God has greatly used these two servants in the contemporary Chinese church. I saw how God used them to guide the rebuilding of the broken Christian “house church” movement after the Chinese Cultural Revolution. I can say without exaggeration that it is because of the gospel revival and evangelical ministry led by Rev. Stephen Tong, who was raised overseas and guided by a Reformed faith perspective, combined with the leadership training ministry guided by the 'Three-fold Vision' introduced by Rev. Jonathan Chao, which deeply engaged with the Chinese mission field, that the ministry direction of the Chinese house churches was greatly influenced and renewed, especially those emerging urban house churches. An outstanding example of this would be the Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Presbyterian Church, established and pastored by Pastor Wang Yi, who is now suffering imprisonment for the Lord. Pastor Wang Yi himself, in his newly published book History of Chinese House Churches, greatly praised the spiritual leadership of Rev. Tong and Rev. Chao both to him personally and to the revival and reform of Chinese house churches.
As we commemorate the 40th anniversary of China Ministries International, established by Rev. Jonathan Chao, his numerous contributions to contemporary Chinese house churches are truly evident. I especially want to thank God for two things Rev. Chao accomplished. First, God raised up Rev. Chao in the late 1970s to seize the historical opportunity when China was just entering the "Reform and Opening Up" period. He established the Chinese Church Research Center in Hong Kong, guided it with pure faith, and summarized the Chinese church with a historical perspective, connecting the reconstruction and training of mainland house churches after the calamities of the Cultural Revolution with the historical tradition of the global Reformed evangelical movement. One of the notable landmark achievements is Pastor Chao's facilitation of the publication of the Statement of Faith of House Churches in China in 1998. This historic document laid the foundational groundwork for orthodox theology to become mainstream in today's Chinese church. Second, God led Rev. Chao to establish the "Three-fold Vision" mission for China Ministries International: "Evangelization of China, Kingdomization of Churches, and Christianization of Culture." In my view, this vision is absolutely his most precious spiritual legacy left for both China Ministries International and Chinese house churches, as it pointed out the correct direction for them to take to advance on the path of the Reformed gospel. Rev. Jonathan Chao was not only a scholar who upheld pure faith and possessed profound theological, historical, and cultural literacy but also a devout and humble pastor who loved people's souls. As I mentioned in an earlier memorial article, many of us from the early generation of mainland Chinese pastors in North America were once cared for and guided by Rev. Chao. More importantly, Rev. Chao was a courageous strategist in China's mission field and a servant leader who led by example, fearlessly going to the front lines of the gospel battle. While Rev. Chao often appeared well-dressed at overseas conferences, passionately delivering insightful research reports, he also tirelessly made hundreds of personal trips to China, visiting urban and rural house churches, training church leaders, experiencing personally the suffering and testimonies of churches under persecution, and boldly reporting the government's atrocities in attacking Christianity. Rev. Chao had come to Vancouver multiple times to hold seminars, not only allowing me, his junior, to be his responding speaker, but also inviting me in 2001 to become a board member of China Ministries International Canada in 2001, which made me feel both honored and overwhelmed. Rev. Chao hoped I could go with him to China, especially Henan and Anhui provinces. I thought that day would surely come when we would work together in China's mission field under Rev. Chao's leadership, holding high the banner of the "Three-fold Vision." On November 22, 2003, when Rev. Chao appeared at the Vancouver board meeting wearing a wig, I learned that he had been undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma for some time. Perhaps seeing my shocked expression, he immediately comforted me with his characteristic humor. Indeed, with Rev. Chao carrying such great responsibilities, how could God not protect and heal him? Because China's mission field needed him so much, we just needed to pray more for Rev. Chao. However, who could have imagined that less than two months later, the news would come of Rev. Chao's passing in California on January 12, 2004? This caught me completely off guard and pierced my heart deeply. The pain of Rev. Chao's unfulfilled aspirations, his untimely death, and our sudden loss of a mentor's guidance can be described with Elisha's cry when he saw Elijah taken up by God: "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" (2 Kings 2:12).
Jesus said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24). These words of Jesus couldn't be more fitting when applied to Pastor Chao. In his memorial article for Pastor Chao, Pastor Tong pointed out: "He is a person with profound insight, who understands what is right, and his Christian faith is inseparable from his life. He upholds certain and unshakable principles of truth regarding the development of the church and the authorities in power. Therefore, he has unique perspectives on the study of the Chinese church. He holds an extremely esteemed position in the Chinese church." From a human perspective, Pastor Chao indeed left us too soon. His departure is an enormous and irreplaceable loss for overseas Chinese churches, persecuted house churches in mainland China, and especially for China Ministries International. But God lets us know that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). I believe that God allowed Pastor Chao, like Paul, to sacrifice himself for the Lord, keeping the faith throughout his life, finishing the race, and fighting the good fight. God has reserved the crown of righteousness in heaven for Pastor Chao. On earth, God will also raise up many seeds inspired by Pastor Chao's life to take up the banner of the "Three-fold Vision" and continue moving forward. Of course, the reality before us doesn't allow us to be so optimistic. When Pastor Chao was alive, most overseas Chinese churches stood with the persecuted house churches. It didn't deal with the government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). However, after Pastor Chao's passing, the situation began to change. Some Christian organizations and seminaries in Hong Kong and Taiwan moved from maintaining low-profile interactions with the official TSPM and its affiliated organizations to establishing open cooperative relationships. Conversely, as the Chinese government's persecution of house churches has intensified in recent years, some overseas Chinese churches (organizations) have not only withdrawn their various services to Chinese house churches for safety reasons but also dare not (or find it inconvenient to) speak up for the suffering members even overseas. As for the "Three-fold Vision" ministry proposed by Pastor Chao, it has become even more sensitive within the Chinese churches both domestically and overseas. Because in the eyes of the Chinese government, each aspect of these three visions hinders the implementation of the Communist Party’s religious policies and its total warfare within the Chinese churches. We use the vision of "Evangelization of China" to spread the complete and pure gospel throughout China. It is to resist the Communist Party's attempt to alter the essence of the gospel truth through its "Christian Sinicization" agenda. We propose the "Kingdomization of Churches," declaring that God's church must grow in Christ to become like the kingdom of heaven rather than being reshaped by the CCP to conform to socialism. If the first "two-fold vision" is about preserving God's gospel and God's church from being captured by the world, then our "Christianization of Culture" is more like the church launching an offensive toward the world. The essence of "Christianization of Culture" is, first, to use God's word to demolish every stronghold that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, including humanism, political correctness, scientism, communism, nationalism, progressivism, etc. The second is to lead social trends through Christians' salt-and-light behavioral model. All believers are priests in various social sectors, doing everything for the Lord, making Christ "preeminent in all things." Because the "Three-fold Vision" ministry is a comprehensive spiritual warfare launched for the sake of the gospel, exalting Christ alone as King, and against the CCP's atheistic communist ideology, it's not surprising that it has become a thorn in the government's side and a key target for suppression. This harsh reality facing China Ministries International (CMI) in the post-Pastor Chao era indeed poses great challenges. Can CMI still openly raise the banner of the "Three-fold Vision" and carry out gospel training ministry for mainland house churches?
When I was invited as an individual to conduct training on the cultural mission of the Christian faith for mainland house church workers in Hong Kong from 2011 to 2013, I mentioned the late Pastor Chao's "Three-fold Vision." However, I found that the new generation of young ministry workers knew very little about it. Nevertheless, they were eager to receive more information on this topic. I believe God gave me a vision: why not openly raise the banner of the "Three-fold Vision" under the name of China Ministries International to launch a training ministry for mainland house church workers? So I shared this vision with Dr. Samuel Chao, president of CMI USA, and Dr. Thomas Chen, president of CMI Canada, and expressed my willingness to serve as the "Director of Three-fold Training Center" as a volunteer if CMI approved. I was grateful that the proposal received strong support from both presidents. They believed that even if this proposal didn't receive unanimous approval from the CMI International Federation, at least the CMI in the US and Canada could join forces to launch this ministry. So Pastor Samuel Chao and I, as co-chairs, along with Pastor Bob Fu from ChinaAid, planned and prepared for this ministry together. Thanks be to God! Finally, in the tenth year after Pastor Jonathan Chao's passing, on June 20-23, 2014, the first Three-fold Vision Retreat, hosted by CMI North America, with the theme "Living in the full Christian Faith," officially opened at Hong Kong Baptist Assembly. A near-capacity group of almost 400 church ministry workers from various parts of China attended. Subsequently, on March 6-9, 2015, the second Three-fold Vision Retreat was held at Wu Kwai Sha Youth Village in Hong Kong. The theme was "Living out the full Christian Faith." Due to malicious hacking of the organizer's registration website, creating many fake registrations, the number of attendees from churches across China exceeded the limit by nearly 400, reaching a total of 1,400. This temporarily created difficulties in arranging accommodation and meals. Thank the Lord! One of the participants was a brother in Christ from Wenzhou in the tourism business. He immediately contacted hotels in Hong Kong and the bus services, helping to alleviate the pressure on the hosting venue. This conference was greatly used by God, with messages from Rev. Stephen Tong, renowned American theologian Dr. Wayne Grudem, and Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church (who is still imprisoned for the Lord). They greatly encouraged the attending fellow ministry workers, making the various inconveniences caused by the overflow of participants seem trivial. Because the scale and influence of this camp drew closer attention and investigation from government authorities, we decided to reduce the scale of the third Three-fold Retreat the following year, conducting registration in secrecy so participants wouldn't be intercepted and could attend without problems.
Thanks be to God, the third Three-fold Retreat was held at Hong Kong Baptist Assembly on April 5-8, 2016. The theme was "Courageously Defending the Truth." Nearly 400 mainland house church fellow ministry workers attended. Rev. Stephen Tong, Westminster Seminary President Dr Peter Lillback, and Pastor John Sanqiang Cao were invited as keynote speakers, powerfully preaching God's precious truth, and greatly encouraging the congregations. However, we later learned that many participants, after returning to the mainland, received severe warnings from public security and national security officers: they were absolutely forbidden from leaving the country to attend such "Three-fold Vision" gatherings in the future, or they would face consequences. This situation was unusual, not only reflecting the Chinese government's comprehensive intensification of pressure on house churches but also showing that they viewed the "Three-fold Vision Retreats" as a direct threat, taking an intimidating stance to prevent attendance at all costs.
It's worth mentioning that Pastor Cao, one of the speakers, was arrested on March 5, 2017, when returning to China from missionary work in northern Myanmar. He was charged with "organizing illegal border crossing," though he had established multiple Bible schools and drug rehabilitation centers in the mountainous regions of Yunnan, Myanmar, and Thailand. He suffered imprisonment for the Lord for 7 years and was finally released on March 5, 2024. The authorities directly sent him back to his hometown in Changsha so that fellow believers couldn't meet him at the Kunming prison gate. However, his ID card and household registration were not returned, making him unable to apply for a phone, communicate with the outside world, use transportation, or see doctors, essentially moving him from a small prison to a larger one.
In 2017, we still held the event despite the pressure, as it was also the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation. We persisted in holding the fourth “Three-fold Vision Retreat” on September 12-15, 2017, at the Hong Kong Baptist Assembly. The theme was “Reformed Faith and the Three-fold Vision”. As expected, this time, the retreat faced even more severe blockades from authorities. Not only was Pastor Wang Yi prohibited from leaving the country for the first time and blocked at Chengdu airport, but while around 350 people from mainland China had registered to attend, less than 150 actually participated. Most of the 150 people were first-time attendees who were not yet on public security and national security blacklists. As for those who had attended previous "Three-fold Vision" retreats, some didn't dare to participate after receiving warnings; some had their tickets forcibly canceled after ignoring those warnings; and many were directly confined at home or stopped at border checkpoints.
We must thank the Lord, although people were bound, God's word was not. Although Pastor Wang Yi couldn't attend, he still sent his three sermon videos to be played at the conference, even interacting with the retreat participants through video and answering questions. Pastor Wang Yi's faithfulness to the Lord and fearless courage moved everyone at the retreat. The retreat concluded with prayers for Pastor Wang Yi and many mainland China pastoral workers who were blocked, and with emotional farewells among participants. Because everyone had a premonition then: facing increased mainland blockades, the fifth "Three-fold Vision Retreat" in 2018 might not be possible. This premonition was later proven true. In early 2018, the Chinese authorities issued new, stricter religious regulations. On December 9, 2018, Chengdu police arrested Pastor Wang Yi and his wife, along with over 100 Early Rain Church members and workers, putting Chinese house churches under even more severe persecution. Even Hong Kong, originally under the CCP's "One Country, Two Systems" promise, was overtaken by the "Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL)" in June 2020. The good days of Hong Kong serving as an overseas base for training mainland house churches seemed to have ended. We can only place the future development of CMI's "Three-fold Vision" ministry in prayer and the Lord's hands. However, looking back now, what comforts me most is that before the darkest hour finally arrived, we had seized the last opportunity to raise Pastor Chao's "Three-fold Vision" banner publicly in Hong Kong for four consecutive years, fighting the good fight for the Lord.
Finally, I am grateful that God led me to experience His immense grace and power in these four "Three-fold Vision" retreats. As a pastor who has been in ministry for many years, although I am often invited to be a speaker at evangelistic meetings and ministry seminars worldwide, those tasks are relatively straightforward. I only need to focus on preparing the messages I need to deliver. However, with taking care of the mainland ministry of "Three-fold Vision" launched by CMI in Hong Kong, and with the pressure of shepherding my own church, I had to simultaneously bear the dual responsibilities of preparing retreats in a foreign land and being a retreat speaker. This was definitely beyond what I could handle. Thank God that in the preparation and organization of the retreats, CMI USA and ChinaAid Association have provided strong support in terms of finances and human resources. Dr. Samuel Chao, the president, tirelessly attended every retreat, welcoming pastoral workers from mainland China on behalf of the organizers. Mrs. Lorna Chao particularly led marriage and family seminars in the second and third retreats, which were extremely well-received by the participants. With limited resources from CMI Canada, in the latter three retreats, three sisters in Christ from my church, Faith Chinese Baptist Church, who had a burden for China missions, volunteered to handle retreat registration and reception work. Thank the Lord, two of them have now gone on to full-time ministry, while the other one still takes care of the finances of the Three-fold Vision ministry. Finally, I thank the Lord for enabling me to deliver thirteen messages centered around the theme of "Three-fold Vision" in China during these four retreats, commemorating the invaluable spiritual legacy that Rev. Jonathan Chao left for the Chinese church, and bringing the spark of "Three-fold Vision" into the mission field of the new generation of Chinese house churches. (August 5, 2024, Vancouver, Canada)
Rev. Hong has served as the Senior Pastor of Faith Chinese Baptist Church in Vancouver since May 1996, and he is also on the board of China Ministries International-Canada. ↩︎