Within the Forties, following the missiological imaginative and prescient of “Again to Jerusalem”, a bunch of visionary Chinese language Christians set out with a coronary heart to evangelize Muslims and try to go by way of China's northwestern provinces and neighboring international locations.
He Enzheng and her future husband Zhao Maijia (Mekka Zhao) have been amongst this group of pioneers. Their purpose was to deliver the gospel to Xinjiang, an autonomous area in China the place the Uighurs are the dominant ethnic group. Their efforts planted seeds that proceed to form the non secular heritage of the Chinese language Church and inspire Christians to proceed their mission.
Born in rural Hebei Province in October 1917, He Enzheng grew up in a church in Tianjin and skilled a non secular rebirth at a revival assembly on the age of 15. On the age of 17, she felt referred to as to distant mission fields and pursued this imaginative and prescient at a Bible faculty. After graduating in 1937, no mission alternative to unreached areas materialized, main her to serve regionally and search God's steerage.
He Enzheng joined the mission of the Northwest Bible Faculty in Fengxiang, Shaanxi, educating the Bible and taking good care of feminine college students. The college was based in 1940 by Dai Yongmian (the Chinese language title of James Hudson Taylor II, Hudson Taylor's grandson), with a concentrate on evangelizing the Muslim areas of northwest China. The college performed a key position in coaching the preachers and evangelists who ministered within the space.
On Easter 1943, Ma Ke, the school's vice chairman, together with He and 13 others, obtained a imaginative and prescient to evangelize Xinjiang, a big area within the northwest. They based the “Chinese language Again to Jerusalem Evangelistic Band”, a pioneering, interdenominational Chinese language group free of international missionary management and monetary dependence. Its formation was a pivotal second within the historical past of the Chinese language church, and 5 of its seven members have been ladies.
In 1947, He, Zhao and different members of the Evangelistic Band went on a mission to Shule, the westernmost area of Xinjiang, from Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province. Whereas different northwestern provinces together with Shaanxi, Ningxia, Qinghai and Gansu established church buildings, Xinjiang was nonetheless unreachable. The journey from Xining to Shule was about 3,000 kilometers (about 1,800 miles). Regardless of the arduous journey and consciousness of the potential risks, the band moved ahead in religion, supporting church buildings alongside the way in which and infrequently stopping to assist native authorities. They withstood challenges, together with bandit assaults, sustained by their religion and God's provision.
Nonetheless, their journey got here to an abrupt finish once they have been stopped by troops despatched by the governor of Qinghai province, the Muslim warlord Ma Bufang, who was against the Christian missions within the northwest. All however Zhao, who stayed behind to deal with the camels and items, have been despatched again to Xining. Regardless of this setback, he was undeterred. She returned to Lanzhou, Gansu, continued her ministry, and realized Arabic to arrange for future missions.
Within the spring of 1948, Zhao ventured from Gansu to the town of Hami and have become the primary Han Chinese language missionary in southern Xinjiang. That very same yr, He Enzheng additionally went to Xinjiang, the place she lastly reached Urumqi and served in its solely church.
In 1953, after the Communist Social gathering took energy to rule China, he and Zhao determined to get married in southern Xinjiang. As he ready to go to Shule to hitch Zhao, some tried to dissuade her by saying, “The state of affairs is now tense and lots of have been imprisoned. Zhao might face arduous labor, if not loss of life. It’s sufficient for him to endure; why do you have to additionally bear the burden?”
She replied, “The door to southern Xinjiang has simply opened and a church has been established. If Zhao dies, what is going to occur to the church? He dedicated himself there; if he isn’t afraid to die, how can I be afraid? If he’s despatched to pressured labour, I can deliver him meals; if he dies, I can proceed his work.”
After their marriage in Shula, the couple served in Shach and Kashgar, the place they encountered opposition to their evangelistic work from Muslim leaders. Furthermore, the native communist authorities suspected them of being counter-revolutionaries or spies for Western international locations and consistently pressured them to admit. Amid these harsh circumstances, he defined, “Wherever we went, folks have been form to us, however we couldn’t evangelize brazenly, which was troublesome for us.
The state of affairs was more and more precarious. The church buildings they based have been pressured to shut and there was no place for them to serve, in order that they needed to take different jobs. Zhao took an accounting place whereas his spouse discovered work in a garment manufacturing facility and a kindergarten. Though they may not preach brazenly, they served the folks with a coronary heart for God wherever they have been, incomes the respect of the native folks.
In 1966, on the eve of the Cultural Revolution, He, guided by divine revelation, left Xinjiang together with her two sons. They returned to Shanxi and Beijing for 2 years to keep away from the extreme persecution in Xinjiang. Nonetheless, Zhao remained in Shache. He was branded a spy, traitor and counter-revolutionary, enduring harsh criticism and preventing. After the Cultural Revolution led to 1976, Zhao remained within the area and continued his accounting work till his retirement in 1987.
After the Cultural Revolution ended, He Enzheng returned to the Xinjiang area together with her youngsters and at last met her husband. Each served faithfully at their workplaces. In 1989, Zhao suffered a stroke that severely restricted his means to stroll and converse. Nonetheless, till his loss of life in 2007, he was all the time moved to tears at any time when he heard these phrases Again to the Jerusalem Evangelical Band. He Enzheng continued to diligently share the gospel in southern Xinjiang till she died in 2014 on the age of 97.
Relating to the evangelistic band's ambitions, he stated:
Sixty years in the past, we fortunately set out on this path. We’re nonetheless right here, we don't see a lot fruit… however I firmly consider that the one who started a superb work in us will carry it to completion. … Zhao Maijia and I’ll die right here. We by no means deliberate to return alive, however we are able to see that others will observe. … I pray that the Lord will proceed to name different brothers and sisters with the identical Spirit that referred to as us to complete this work collectively.
Though Zhao and On didn’t see the total success of their unique imaginative and prescient, their religion and sacrifice impressed many Chinese language Christians to dedicate their lives to the mission. At the moment, the mission to “deliver the gospel again to Jerusalem” by way of Xinjiang and the Muslim areas of Central Asia continues in varied varieties in each Chinese language and Western church buildings.
Editor's Be aware: The Chinese language model of this text is republished with permission from Notable Girls in Church Historical past, ed Abroad Campus Ministries. The creator met and interviewed a number of former associates within the Again to Jerusalem Evangelistic Band, in addition to Pastors Dai Shaozeng (James Hudson Taylor III) and Thomas Wang, who personally heard the testimony of He Enzheng herself.
Edwin Su is the founder and board chairman of Abroad Campus Ministries (OCM) and an knowledgeable on Chinese language church historical past. Ding Yijia is a scholar at Logos Theological Seminary in California and is engaged in full-time scholar ministry in Pennsylvania together with her husband.
Translated into English by Ariel Bi
