What holds them up?

The Chinese church was supposed to die out in 1949.

An atheist communist government took power.  Taking away power from the church meant in essence – no meetings, no books, no unregulated worship (a three self church movement which was to regulate the church arose which was looked on as government puppet).

So things went underground, house churches sprung up and the church began to flourish in the midst of suffering – a topic that I am currently researching for some in our church.

Recently a Chinese church leader outlined to Francis Chan “The Five Pillars of the Underground Church” (a group of 100 million believers with no megachurches, or celebrity pastors)?

David Timms reports on the answers in his latest blog posting:

1. Read the Bible, deeply and constantly
2. Pray a lot, personally and collectively
3. Be a missionary; everyone shares their faith
4. Expect the miraculous; know that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead abides with us today
5. Embrace suffering, for the glory of God

The fifth "Pillar" surprised Chan the most.  In a culture that quits all too easily and that whines all too frequently, the idea of celebrating or embracing suffering seems very foreign.

Small things seem to distract us. Big things prove utterly daunting. But brothers and sisters in China embrace their suffering, knowing that this converts into eternal reward (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Perhaps we fail to suffer well because we embraced a gospel of prosperity and favor. When tough times come, when people resist or reject our faith, when things turn sideways in our congregations, we cut and run.

Or perhaps we fail to embrace suffering, because the other four pillars are so pencil-thin in our lives. God’s Word is not planted deeply in our souls, we pray little, we share our faith with nobody, and we have ceased to expect miracles.

What pillars guide our lives and our churches?