BRILL Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 ww.brill.

nl/mist

Inner Dynamics of the Chinese House Church

Movement: The Case of the Word of Life Community1

YalinXin
Asbury Theological Seminary, 204 N . Lexington Ave., Wilmore, KY 40390, USA

Abstract
The Word of Life house church movement is considered to be one of the most influential
Christian movements in China for the past three decades, with its network touching all 23 prov-
inces and autonomous zones in China. It is also one of the largest house church networks that
emerged in central China in the past three decades. This paper gears at investigating the inner
dynamics that has underscored the growth and vitality of the movement by incorporating some
insights from studies on historical Christian renewal movements. A variety of categories or mod-
els are employed, such as paradigm shifts, the role of key leaders, its basic structure, system of
training, community, gospel for the poor, dynamic and vitality, through which the WOL move-
ment is closely examined. Hopefully, this paper opens a window of understanding of the Word
of Life movement and yields some insights that may be referenced in the larger hermeneutical
community.

Keywords
Chinese house church, the Word of Life movement, Messengers of the gospel, the Gospel Band,
paradigm shift, dynamic and vitality

Introduction
At 5:30 am on a winter morning in 2005, some twenty students, in their late
teens and earlier twenties are already on their knees for daily morning devo-
tions in a three room apartment in a rural county in central China. After
about two hours' prayer and Scripture reading, they quiedy walk out of the
bedrooms to the sitting room where corn flour porridge, steamed wheat buns,
and pickled vegetables are served as breakfast. Thus begins a new day in their
six-month long biblical and theological training for ministry.

1
This paper is based primarily on research data collected in 2004 and 2005. Data includes
personal and group interviews, as well as participant observation. Interviewees include former and
present leaders, coworkers, common believers, and students of underground seminaries.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.1163/157338308X365350

158 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

This is one of the so-called "seminaries of thefields"within the Word of Life

(WOL) community in China.2 Seminaries like this play vital roles in equip-
ping workers for ministry and supplying to the mission force of the church.
The WOL Church,3 through the devoted ministry of a small number of itiner-
ant evangelists, began to establish house churches in Henan province in the
1970s. It experienced significant revivals and growth in the 1980s and 1990s
when its network stretched all over Henan and into other provinces. Today the
WOL is generally recognized as the largest house church network in China,
with an estimated 20 million affiliated believers (Johnstone 2001:160; Hatt-
away 2003:63; Aikman 2003:86).
Why has the WOL church been growing with such remarkable speed and
size? With all the restrictions and opposition against its existence and develop-
ment, being a huge network of unregistered house churches across China, the
WOL community continues to impact the Chinese population with its unique
way of doing church and evangelism. What is it that has sustained such
growth? What are some of the patterns that we can observe from the expan-
sion of the WOL community in China?

The Story and Inner Dynamics of the WOL

The province of Henan, literally "south of the (Yellow) River," is located in the
central part of the country. It is the most populated province in China, with a
current population of approximately 100 million in a land as big as the state
of Colorado. Henan is also one of the poorest provinces in China, with the
vast majority of its population earning a living by farming. Beggars from
Henan were often seen in the neighboring provinces and people from Henan
in general are looked down upon.

2
The term "seminaries of thefields"was first used in reports on the underground seminaries
by Chinese Church Research Center published in its journal Zhongguo yu Jiaohui (China and
the Church). For details of the reports, refer to Zhongguo yu jiaohui (Sept.-Oct., 1986). In the
WOL community, though, the underground seminaries are simply referred to as theological
education (TE).
3
The Word of Life house church movement is often referred to as the Born Again Sect/Fam-
ily/Community because of its emphasis on the necessity of experiencing rebirth for its members.
It was also called Quanfang weijiao hut (the Full-Scope or All Sphere Church) by the govern-
ment because of its structural conferences that extended all over China. Leaders of WOL, how-
ever, prefer to be known as Word of Life Movement or Church, (ref. Chao 1997: 521-525;
Leung 1999: 177-8; Aikman 2003: 86, 238; Hattaway 2003:63). Among believers within the
WOL and those belonging to other house church networks, Born Again Family is the term most
often used in referring to the WOL.
 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 159

It is from this poor and humble land, nonetheless, that one of the most
dynamic Chinese Christian movements was launched: the Word of Life move-
ment. It began with the evangelistic zeal of a handful of faithful believers three
decades ago and has now grown and spread all over Henan and into other
provinces. Humble farmers felt chosen by God as leaders of the movement
that has impacted a significant part of the Chinas rural population with the
gospel.
Under the leadership of Peter Xu, founder and leader of the movement,
and characterized by its indigenized theology and church structure, the WOL
church distinguished itself as a significant house church movement in the
mid-1980s, Three significant contributions were made by the WOL commu-
nity of believers at this time as the number of house churches increased rap-
idly. These are: (1) the WOL structured itself in different levels of coworkers'
meetings and conferences, whereby house churches in different areas and
regions were connected and interlinked in organization and fellowship; (2) it
developed its own theological training system, through which all new converts
went through some form of basic discipleship training program before some
were selected for further training in the underground seminaries in prepara-
tion for full-time ministry; (3) by studying and reflecting on the Word of God,
and summarizing its experience in ministry, the WOL was able to produce its
own training manual, the Seven Principles.4
As a strong community of faith, revolving around its distinct theology, and
developing along the lines of its theological training system, the WOL went
through difficult times of opposition in the 1980s and 1990s, making use of
the opportunities given as the church continued evangelistic outreach to the
communities close by and further away. By the end of the 1980s, the WOL
church had established more than 3,000 house churches across the country
(cf. Chao 1997:522-3).
Throughout the 1990s, the WOL community continued to grow and spread
outward, feeling called to be ambassadors of the "Great Commission." It
established house churches across the country and its network touched every
province in China with the gospel. Today, the WOL has even crossed the
national boundaries and has established churches, training schools, and fel-
lowships overseas, contributing its part in following the biblical mandate of
spreading the gospel toward the ends of the earth.

4
The Seven Principles are the essential biblical themes identified by the community of believ-
ers in the WOL church in their spiritual and ministerial practice. They are often referred to as the
theology of the cross by observers of the Chinese Church, i.e. Jonathan Chao of China Ministries
International, former Chinese Church Research Center.
160 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

The story of the WOL is a story of how the Spirit of God inspired and
guided faithful followers of Christ, and how those believers responded in faith,
discernment, and action, structuring themselves according to what they felt
was impressed on their hearts and minds by the Spirit. In a little more than
two decades' time, the WOL church has sent evangelists to almost every prov-
ince in China, building a network that was able to sustain continuous growth.
What made the WOL successful is its inner dynamics.

Paradigm Shift — Rediscovery of the Gospel

At the heart of the WOL movement at different stages of its history is the
discovery that a fresh understanding of the nature of the gospel brings about
renewed vitality and growth to a Christian community. This is one of the
foremost characteristics that Howard A. Snyder has identified as common in
most Christian renewal movements. "This often constitutes a sort of experien-
tial and conceptual paradigm shift in which the experience of God becomes
central rather than secondary or absent. Often connected with this is a vision
for the recovery of the dynamic of the New Testament church" (Snyder
2004:219). This "rediscovery" has to do with the "aspects of the faith which
were at the time obscured" (Snyder 1997:269).
The social and cultural unrest in China from the 1970s to the 1990s does
not explain the emergence and growth of the WOL movement. Peter Xu and
his coworkers were the primary agents through whom was brought into being
of what it is the WOL community as it is today. In other words, these Chris-
tians of the WOL, in the given unfriendly environment and time, identified
or "rediscovered" what was important for the church and its mission in the
world and therefore engaged their focus and energy into this dynamic and
made a great difference.
In the history of the WOL movement, at least two stages of such paradigm
shifts can be clearly identified, which led Christians of the WOL to coming to
a new understanding of the nature of the Christian faith and what it meant for
them for that particular period of time in history. These two stages are: (1) the
identification of centrality of the cross in the life and ministry of the church as
a community of believers, and (2) the realization of the importance of Chris-
tian unity and united witness. Significantly, these paradigm shifts involved a
fresh understanding of the heart of the gospel and a shifted focus of the min-
istry of the WOL church.
Centrality of the Cross. The change of governments in China since 1949
posed a significant challenge to all spheres of Chinese society. In the sphere
 Y Xin ¡Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 161

of religious beliefs and activities of the Chinese people, Christianity in par-

ticular, a radical change took place, requiring the adjustment of the Chris-
tian community to the new environment (cf. Kindopp 2004:122-6). In the
face of change, however, Christians made different choices: some chose to
cooperate with the new regime, acknowledging its authority and leadership,
while others chose not to cooperate (cf. Bush 1970:214). Whatever choices
one made at the time, they incurred great implications over time. Those who
decided to cooperate with the new regime had had to accept the guidelines
from the government in such matters as the direction and the role of the
church in China. Others who decided to alienate themselves from the new
regime and those "compromisers" of the church had also to face the reality
of being targeted and opposed (cf. Bush 1970:214-9; Lyall 1973:126-34).
It was exactly these choices that split the church in China, even to the pre-
sent time.
In the 1960s when Peter Xu felt called of God to be an evangelist and
started to engage in itinerant evangelistic activities, he perceived the differing
reactions as a phenomenon of the Protestant community to the challenges of
the government in China, which he describes: "Some died for the sake of the
Lord; some were imprisoned; some escaped from China; some compromised
their faith in fear; some betrayed the Lord and friends. Few dared to openly
confess that Jesus is Savior" (Xu 2004). What was the root of the problem for
those who could not withstand trials such as the Cultural Revolution?5 This
question gradually shaped his theological reflection to a deeper level.

The fact that, after the trials of the 50s through the 70s some Christians went backslid-
ing and some even recanted their faith, enables us to identify what a shaky foundation
they had built for themselves. And we cannot help wondering whether these Chris-
tians ever truly received salvation through Jesus Christ. This provided us with histori-
cal reflection, probably the kind of insight one could only get in Communist countries.
We could not afford to take lightly faith, salvation truth, and experience. New life in
Christ has to be established for any true Christian. (Xu 2004)

5
The Cultural Revolution was called forth by the Chinese Communist Party in 1966 and
officially ended in 1976 with the arrest of the "Gang of Four." During the Cultural Revolution,
campaigns were launched against the old ideas, culture, customs and habits. Religion then
became part of the old culture and custom and was under massive attack. All churches were
closed down, Bibles were burnt, and church properties were destroyed. All religious personnel
were either forced to change their profession or sent to "reeducation" in the countryside. Many
Christians suffered, ministers were sent to labor camps, and Christian leaders were imprisoned.
It was considered to the darkest period of time for the Church.
162 Y Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

Gradually toward the end of 1970s, Peter Xu and his coworkers started to shift
their teaching emphasis on the theology of the cross, a theme that was to be
further elaborated in the WOL training manual in the 1980s. For leaders of
the WOL, the nature of the gospel not only revealed the way of salvation
through Jesus Christ, but also demanded that believers follow the way of the
cross exemplified in Christs incarnation, ministry, death and resurrection as
recorded in the Scripture. In following the way of the cross, believers needed
to recognize the nature and destruction of the "adulteress,"6 so that they may
be able to live a pure and holy life, as the bride of Christ, completely devoted
to him. In the beginning of the 1980s, this theological shift was included in
thefirstWOL manual - the Seven Principles (in two volumes), which served as
the principles of spiritual practice for Christian believers, a basic curriculum
for training workers, and guidelines for Bible Study and the ministry of the
church.
Thefirstvolume of the WOL manual (hereafter, WOL Manual I) lays out
in a systematic manner biblical references, doctrines, and theological reflections
on the theme of salvation through the cross. It includes twenty-one lessons in
three units (over 100 pages): Unit One, Gods creation and redemption - the
preparation for salvation; Unit Two, the redemption of Christ - the fulfill-
ment of salvation; Unit Three, the Holy Spirit and redemption - the execution
of salvation.
The theme of the cross continues into the second volume (hereafter, WOL
Manual II), where the manual implores into the biblical truth concerning the
way of the cross:

The way of the cross is the way of spiritual growth for saved Christians (cf. 1 Peter 1:6-7;
Romans 8:17). On this way, there will be not only external opposition, difficulties,
and suffering (cf. Hebrews 10:32-6; 11:33-40), but also internal crucifixion, dealing
with, breaking, losing, and denying (Mark 8:34; Luke 9:24; Romans 8:13; John 12:25).
This way is the weeping valley (cf. Psalm 84:5-7) that Christians need to pass through
on their way to Zion to meet God, and is also the overflowing cup of blessing, the
valley of death with the presence of God, and above all, is the only way through which
Christians get to the God of glory (Isaiah 35:8; 43:1-2). (WOL Manual 11:36)

In terms of the necessity of walking the way of the cross, the Manual recog-
nizes that this was exemplified by the Lord Jesus himself in word and deed

6
The third principle in the WOL training manual was titled "Discerning the Adulteress," in
which it primarily deals with two aspects of spiritual adultery: the union of state and religion,
and the inner idolatry tendency of humans.
 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 163

(Matthew 5:12; Hebrews 11:32-8; Philipines 2:6-11; Hebrews 5:7-8; 1 Peter

2:20-4; 3:18), followed by the apostles (1 Corinthians 4:9-13; Acts 4:1-7,
13:21, 5:17-29,33,40-42, 6:8-14, 7:54,60, 9:23-25, 12:1-11, 13:50-52,
14:19, 16:19-26, 17:2,5-6, 18:12, 20:22-24, 21:12-13,30-36, 22:22-24,
23:13-15; 2 Corinthians 11:23-29; Hebrews 10:32,13:3; 2 Timothy 1:11-12,
2:9; Colossians 1:24; Romans 8:35-39) (cf. WOL Manual 11:38-9).
The rest of the manual deals with the other five principles: discerning the
adulteress, establishing the church, supplying for life, interlink and fellowship,
and frontier evangelism. In each of the principles dealing with the nature and
ministry of the church, pervasive biblical references are provided as basis and
support for the argument.
It is also evident that the first two principles, namely, salvation by the cross
and the way of the cross, occupy the center of the WOL theology and practice
and as such, they are foundational to fruitful mission and ministry of the
church. Church historians attribute the phenomenal growth of the house
church communities in China to the recognition of the necessity of suffering
and the willingness to suffer for Christs name (cf. Chao 1993:32).
United Witness. Since the 1980s when China opened its door to the outside
world, the church in China has had the opportunity to meet Christians from
overseas, having fellowship with them, benefiting from their biblical and theo-
logical teaching and training, receiving Bibles and Christian literature, and
working together in ministry. One problem, however, began to surface almost
immediately: denominationalism started to grow among the WOL commu-
nity as some leaders started to embrace different denominational emphases
and formed their own groups. As a result, what used to be one community
of house churches split into several groups, with each persisting in its own
theological understanding. Over time, fellowship became impossible with fel-
low believers outside their respective group and theological crossfire arose in
the original "greater" WOL community. Eventually these denominational
groups within the WOL developed into several significantly large house church
networks.
All networks were growing significantly and yet fellowship between them
ceased. This situation went on basically until the mid-1990s when Brother
Yun, who had been in partnership with Fangcheng Network since the split,
stood out and proposed the need for unity among the house churches. Peter
Xu was the first one to respond positively and took actions in reconciling the
broken fellowship between former coworkers. At a fellowship meeting in
1995, Peter Xu took towel and water and washed the feet of his former cowork-
ers as humble expression of sincerity (cf. Yun 2000). Together, these leaders
164 Y Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

repented before God for the damage this disunity had done to the body of
Christ and asked God for opportunity to restore fellowship and unity in wit-
ness. Peter Xu recalls,

God used Brother Yun to bring unity among the leaders of the various house church
networks. This was no easy task for years of silence between us had created unseen
walls of bitterness and hostility. But God performed a series of miracles that led to a
meeting of the leaders of several house church networks in 1996. This was the first
time many of us had seen each other for years. At thatfirstmeeting the Lord broke
through our stubbornness and pride and there were many tears of repentance. We all
confessed our bitterness to each other and asked for forgiveness. (Hattaway 2003:65)

Since then, more fellowship meetings were organized across the house church
networks as leaders started to work out issues and disagreements for the sake
of the unity within the body of Christ. There were also coordination of minis-
try among different house church networks, especially in areas where their
pastoral districts overlapped (cf. Chao 2003:3). Although not everyone in the
WOL community was ready to reconcile the broken relationships with former
coworkers and thus they lagged behind in this effort, the unity movement has
brought genuine renewal among the house church community at large. This
has made united witness, at least among the house church community in
China, a reality and a blessing.

The Role ofKey Leaders

Peter Xu was born in a Christian family. His grandparents and parents were all
Christians. Because of lacking male descendents in the family at the time when
Peter s parents were married, Peters grandmother prayed to God for a grand-
son. The Lord listened to her prayer and Peter was born into the family as his
parents'first-born.When Peter was born, his grandmother wrapped him in
white cloth and dedicated him to God, saying: "I dedicate this baby to the
Lord Jesus, and through Jesus as the mediator to the LORD. This baby is the
baby of the LORD." Peter Xu stated with gratitude, "God listened to my
grandmothers prayer and has kept me for the past 64 years. I have never left
the LORD" (Xu 2004).
Having grown up in such a Christian family, Peter Xus whole being was
immersed in the Word of God, prayer, and worship. Every evening there was
family worship in his home. Peter Xu recalled how he would stand by the door
and watch while his mother read the Bible, his uncle and his family sang
hymns, and his grandmothers brother preached from the Word of God. Peter
thus cultivated a heart of trusting and fearing God from an early age.
 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 165

At about 20 years of age, because of his involvement in organizing small

groups among fellow students at a vocational school, Peter Xu was forced to
leave his home town and started a life in exile, following the will of God. This
was the beginning of Peter Xu s missionary journey.
In the 1960s and 1970s, China was in the height of the Cultural Revolu-
tion, when all religions including Christianity were declared to be supersti-
tions and therefore forbidden to exist. Churches were closed down, Bibles
were confiscated and burned, and ministerial personnel were sent to labor
camps for reeducation. "No one dared to openly confess Jesus is Lord" (Xu
2004). As Peter Xu wandered around trying to find jobs and a safe place to
stay, he kept his eyes open for opportunities to connect with believers, with
whom he would establish a house church for worship and evangelism. He
would then move on to a different location to start another house church.
In the 1970s, there were a series of small scale revivals going on in central
rural China where the gospel was spread and took root. These were typically
emerging house church meetings in different localities, where believers and
seekers started to meet together for worship and fellowship, and later began to
reach out to the community. As a result, these house churches experienced
rapid growth and demonstrated incredible vitality. Commonly known as
"revival furnaces," these house churches, like furnaces in a cold winter night,
drew people together for heat. Without notice, the "revival furnaces" spread
outward and more "furnaces" were created. God worked wondrously. The
Gospel spread from family to family, neighborhood to neighborhood, region
to region. Every Sunday, even the students in primary schools came to join the
worship meeting, singing hymns and praying together.
Witnessing the Spirit of God working so mightily in China, Peter Xu went
from one "revival furnace" to another. These "revival furnaces" were separate
from one another and there were no connections between them. "At the time
when it was extremely difficult to connect with fellow Christians, 'revival fur-
naces' did not have horizontal relationships. Their relationship was vertical,
and independent. Because I was a 'wanderer,' who had no home to return to,
I became a connector and a seeker" (Xu 2004). Thus, from the beginning of
his ministry, Peter Xu identified the importance of interlink and fellowship
within the body, a distinct and consistent mark of the WOL community.
Because of Peter Xu s Christian background and experience in ministry, he
was well received and respected wherever he went. And so he went, continuously,
from this "furnace" to the other. The preaching and teaching of this period of
time focused on the theme of salvation through the cross, how to reject evil
and live a new life in Christ, necessity to suffer and witness for the Lord, and
some basic doctrinal truth (cf. Chao 1993:62-63). Other times the gatherings
166 Y.Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

were simply prayers and testimonies of God s miraculous deliverance and

power in the life of these Christians. Over time, some young believers would
follow Peter Xu wherever he went. So some twenty to thirty people walked
together from meeting to meeting. "It was like a fire burning wherever we
went," one coworker recalled (Elder TG 2005).
Once Peter Xu and his coworkers arrived at a place where a small-scale
meeting was already going on. When brothers and sisters heard that Peter Xu
had just arrived, they quickly spread the news and people started to come in
hundreds. "This was the work of the Holy Spirit who pressed on believers the
eagerness to meet brothers and sisters in the Lord, to have fellowship, to listen
to the Word of God read, and to gather together. Like gathering around a fire,
the more the people gathered around, the bigger the fire, and the more heat it
produced" (Brother TY 2005). That gathering was in the mountainous area.
People came from all directions, some from even 10 miles away. Peter preached
forfivestraight days and nights with hardly any sleep, totally submitting him-
self to the Lord who gave fresh strength and sustained him. Peter rendered all
glory to God,

The Holy Spirit worked mightily, imprinting His own word on the hearts of the peo-
ple, who, when understanding the love of God in Jesus and seeing the sins of their
own, wept heartily, confessing their sins, and repented. When they wept, we leaders
went to kneel beside them and saw how the Holy Spirit was moving them. For exam-
ple, when they felt the love of God and their own sinful nature, we reminded them of
the work of Christ on the cross and declared to them God's forgiveness of sin. When
they received the confirmation of their sins being forgiven in the word of God through
our declaration, they were comforted in their hearts through the work of the Holy
Spirit. Together we witnessed the work and power of the Holy Spirit, delivering many
and giving them peace, joy and comfort. (Xu 2004)

On another occasion, Peter Xu and his coworkers, including Brother Yun,7

preached for 13 consecutive days and nights, and were instrumental in bring-
ing great revivals to one of the regions in Henan. The team moved to a differ-
ent area every day and drew large crowds everywhere they went. Every day
there were several scores to over a hundred people being baptized. Without
much time for rest and preparation, Peter Xu and his coworkers recognized
that it was God who sustained their strength and empowered their messages
(cf. Brother TY 2005).

7
Brother Yun was one of the closest coworkers of Peter Xu and the author of The Heavenly
Man - God Loves China (China Care International Ltd., 2000).
 Y Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 167

Sometimes, Peter would send some of his coworkers to itinerant visitation

and evangelism, engaging them in teaching, encouraging, comforting, and
evangelizing. In the process, devoted Christians among house churches in
various areas were selected as either elders or teachers of the local house
churches or itinerant evangelists. At other times, Peter would take his cowork-
ers along in his itinerant visitation. This form of evangelism and establishing
house churches, however, was not limited to the WOL in Henan, though. It
was a fairly common practice among other house church groups in Shandong,
Hebei, and Anhui (cf. Chao 1993:63).
As an answer to the prayers of his grandmother, Peter had been separated
for God s service from an early age. He would devote himself to ministry for
the rest of his life, as an evangelist, a pastor, teacher, mentor and leader. In the
40 or so years of ministry, he experienced homelessness, separation from his
family, was chased, arrested, beaten and imprisoned by the authorities, suffer-
ing in many ways for the sake of the Lord. And yet he felt privileged to be
called of God to ministry and was willing to suffer for his faith. As such, Peter
Xu was mightily used by God in bringing revival and renewal to the Chinese
Christianity.

Basic Structure of the WOL

The growth of the WOL was phenomenal toward the end of the 1980s.
According to statistics compiled by the Chinese Church Study Center based
in Hong Kong, by 1988, the WOL had established more than 3,000 house
churches in central and northern part of China with 500,000 to 600,000
Christians scattered in 20 provinces (Chao 1997:522-3). The itinerant evan-
gelists (locally termed Messengers of the Gospel, hereafter MGs) were con-
tinuously sent to different regions of China to evangelize and establish house
churches. As the church expanded, an organizational structure was gradually
established for the sake of coordinating ministry and fellowship across areas,
regions, and provinces.
The basic organizational structures started with the house churches as
the essential units established through evangelism. Seven house churches
formed a coworkers' meeting which met monthly. The seven leaders from the
seven house churches would meet and have fellowship once a month, sharing
relevant issues, coordinating the work of the seven house churches, and dis-
cussing how the ministry could be further developed. There was a representa-
tives' meeting in which one to three selected members from the seven house
churches participated.
168 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

Over coworkers' meetings are the area coworkers' meetings: seven cowork-
ers' meetings formed an area. In some cases, an area can be further divided into
a small area, a mid area, and a large area. An area meeting consisted of seven
coworkers from each coworkers' meeting. Seven areas formed a pastoral dis-
trict, and seven pastoral districts formed a pastoral region. There was also one
to two annual general conference(s) involving representatives from all seven
pastoral regions.
Elected elders of the established house churches in each area meet monthly,
which was called the Area Conference. There were sent MGs in every pastoral
region, district, and area, and they met once a month, which was called Sys-
tem Meeting. There were two retreats for teachers in theological education
annually. Depending on need, there were flexible joint meetings consisting of
representatives from the three constituent parts of the WOL church - under-
ground seminaries (locally termed "theological education"), the Gospel Band,8
and established churches, in which the ministries and work of the whole WOL
family were coordinated. Figure 1 presents an overview of the WOL organiza-
tional system.
As organized as it looks, the WOL structure is highly mobile and versatile,
due to the circumstances it finds itself in. Coworkers' meetings were con-
stantly relocated, postponed, or canceled. And yet this structure continues to
function. As the basic units in the WOL organization structure house churches
were able to provide believers with the opportunities of discipleship through
the various meetings for consolidation of faith and growth. When believers
became mature in faith, ministry of the church expanded as the result of more
participation. Coworkers' meetings of different levels coordinated ministry of
their respective areas, identifying potential leaders for further training, resolv-
ing issues in ministry, and channeling the ripples of renewal throughout the
network. Regional and general conferences supervised closely the overall min-
istry and operation of the WOL in each regions, gathering feedback in minis-
try from each level of the structure, summarizing theological reflection and
ministerial experience, and giving direction and guidance to the movement.

8
The Gospel Band, one of the three essential constituent parts (established churches, theo-
logical education, and the Gospel Band) wasfirstof all responsible for organizing and executing
theological education among the WOL, which included the responsibilities of accepting stu-
dents for theological training, training them, and eventually sending them out to frontier mis-
sion. Secondly, the Gospel Band had under it thousands of evangelists who were doing the work
of evangelism in various parts of the country constantly.
 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 169

/r r \ < General Conference

Pastoral Regions

Pastoral Districts

Area Coworkers' Meetings

Coworkers' Meetings

House Churches
\

Figure 1 : W O L Organization Overview

The primary significance of this structure seems to be its obvious emphasis on

interlink and fellowship, which is not only a biblical mandate as fellowship
within the body, but also necessary in sustaining such a large network of house
churches, coordinating ministry in all levels of the structure, guarding against
heretic teachings from influencing the house churches within the network,
and continuing the missionary expansion of the W O L . In fact, as one of the
Seven Principles, "interlink and fellowship" gave theological basis to the cre-
ation of the W O L structure, a name that was often used in the W O L when
referring to this networking (cf. Chao 2003:2-3).

System of Training and Theological Education

In the 1980s, a system of training gradually came to shape in the W O L com-

munity. Because the environment in China did not allow people to conduct
ministry openly, Christians in the W O L served the God in clandestine and
yet orderly way in the given circumstance. First of all, the church in various
areas conducted evangelistic meetings, to which believers invited families and
friends and in which the good news of Jesus Christ was shared with those
attending the meeting. A typical evangelistic meeting usually lasted three to
five days, in which the preacher would address questions concerning the mean-
ing of life, i.e. (in their own words) "where did humans come from in birth
170 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

and where were they going in death? What state were they in right now, and
what should they do next?" "Through the speaking of the biblical truth, we
helped the people realize the truth about themselves. When they realized their
situation and how dangerous their positions were, they started to seek a way of
salvation, and there was one available" (Elder TR 2005).
Seekers from evangelistic meetings were then led to the "Life Meeting". The
content of the "Life Meeting" included: God s creation, the human fall, the
judgment of sin, the consequence of judgment, the love of God, salvation
through Christ (the birth, ministry, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, sec-
ond coming of Jesus Christ, with focus on the Cross), the work of the Holy
Spirit, repentance, belief, being born again, righteousness, salvation. A typical
"Life Meeting" lasted about seven days, with intensive teaching on the above
topics.

When seekers, under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, understood in their heart
and mind the reality of human sin, the love of God in Jesus Christ, the salvation
through Jesus Christ, they accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and received
salvation, just as the Israelites looked up to the bronze snake in faith and were healed.
When people were clear about their salvation, the whole being was renewed and they
were totally different! And a desire of seeking God started to grow in their hearts
because of the Spirit within pressing them forward. (Xu 2004)

Having gone through the "Life Meeting," those who responded in faith would
be led to another meeting called the "Truth Meeting" for another seven to
fifteen days, where the preaching revolved around the Seven Principles. Those
who were deemed to be called would then be sent to the short-term training
classes, which were later called pre-TE (preparatory class for formal theologi-
cal education), in which, for forty days, thefirstvolume of the WOL manual,
"Salvation through the Cross," was dealt with in a systematic manner. When
these believers graduated, they had already mastered the essential tools for
evangelistic outreach. And often they would, with the support of experienced
co-workers, lead evangelistic meetings and "Life Meetings." Some even par-
ticipated in leading the "Truth Meetings." Such ministerial exercise would
usually go on for about six months before these new workers were called back
from the fields to thefirstgrade of the "seminary of thefields"(locally termed
Theological Education, hereafter, TE-1) for three to four months, where the
Seven Principles were dealt in a more systematic and detailed manner. On grad-
uation from TE-1 they were sent out to thefieldsto lead evangelistic meetings,
"Life meetings," "Truth meetings" and short-term training classes. These min-
 Y.Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 171

isterial practices (almost like internships) usually went on for about a year
before these TE-1 graduates were once again called back to TE-2 for another
6 months, where they would be engaged in studying each book of the Bible.
Students, after completing TE-2, were able to grasp fairly well the content of
the Bible: the background, authors, themes and outlines of each of the books,
the Christology in each of the books, church history, and basic apologetics.
Students graduating from 2nd grade TE were also qualified as MGs (Xu 2004,
Elder TG 2005, Elder TR 2005, Brother J. 2005; cf. Chao 1993:90-91).
Since the 1980s China was in the process of economic reform and an open
door policy, which encouraged communication and interchange between the
West and China. Western theology was introduced to China through overseas
missionary organization personnel and trainers. A third grade TE was created.
"The third grade TE was based on our Chinese indigenous theological train-
ing, which was brought into being under the guidance of the Spirit of God,
while absorbing and inheriting from the rich historical legacy and foundation
of western traditional theology," one of the leaders said. The WOL was much
enriched at this time, being able to dialogue with the parts of the same body
vertically and horizontally. With the support of some overseas Christians some
selected coworkers were able to study in overseas seminaries.9 In this way,
theological education in the WOL was connected with international theologi-
cal education for mutual enrichment.
This system of gradually became stabilized toward the beginning of 1990s
and was able to function tremendously in the continuous development of the
WOL community. It directly undergirded the dynamic missiological cycle of
the WOL movement (see Figure 2). Training of various levels provided with
essential means of discipleship of new believers and speedy supply of workers
to join the cycle for the continuous evangelistic outreach and expansion of the
WOL network. It has been an essential part in the growth of the WOL com-
munity, without which the cycle could not have been in motion. Through TE
training, there were not only increased numbers of workers in the churches,
but also the quality of the whole congregation improved as well. TE training
is regarded as the primary reason behind the revivals of the house churches
(Chao 1993:84-85).

9
The author interviewed several former MGs who had just come back from their seminary
studies at a seminary in the Philippines.
172 Y Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

D
Joining the Gospel
Frontier
Band
evangelism

Receiving TE People coming to

α
training faith in Christ

Believers Going through

responding in faith Life/Truth
meetings

Figure 2: The WOL Dynamic Missiological Cycle

Sense of Community and New Forms of Community

For more than two thousand years Confucius teachings has been deeply
imbedded into the fabrics of Chinese culture: family relationship, kinship rela­
tionships, social relationships, and even political systems. His doctrine on the
Five Cardinal Relations has been the foundational structure upon which the
traditional Chinese family organization was built, stressing on "loyalty between
members of the family and to the whole family as a group. The central feature
of traditional Chinese society as a whole was that the individual s loyalty
toward the family transcended all his other social obligations and that the fam­
ily was the determining factor in the total pattern of social organization" (Yang
1959:166). This is especially true in rural China, where cultural change has
not been as significant compared to the more urbanized regions.
 Y Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 173

But when the WOL house churches started to emerge among the rural
population, they posed a great challenge to the social structure that used
to stabilize around the family. First of all, the center of loyalty was shifted
toward Jesus Christ who is the head of the Church; then the "family" was
significantly enlarged to include not only blood relatives, but people of
faith. Within this new form of 'family," the relationship became simplified,
for all are brothers and sisters with Christ as the head of the household. In
the Chinese rural environment, this new form of community alone turned
many heads.
The primary content of house church gathering during the early stage was
prayer, Bible Study and preaching by the itinerant evangelists. When believers
in a house church started to mature in faith, some committed Christians
would dedicate themselves to the ministry as evangelists, teachers, or local
elders with the blessing of the itinerant evangelists and other coworkers. This
was often done after a period of time of discipleship when committed believers
accompanied the itinerant evangelists on the evangelistic tour and involved
themselves in the work of the ministry (cf. Chao 1993:63-4). The traditional
Chinese way of apprenticeship involved the apprentice or the student formally
requesting the master for acceptance through the necessary ritual. With the
masters consent, the apprentice would start by observing the master in his
assigned task, and the master instructed where necessary. This was quite simi-
lar to the biblical Paul/Timothy discipleship model and was evident in the
WOL discipleship training.
Much of the early form of house churches within the WOL remains over
the years, although contextually, house churches have gradually developed
more diverse kinds of meetings. Today if people go to one of the house church
gatherings within the WOL, they will most probably meet with thirty to fifty
believers and seekers. In more remote rural area, Sunday worship often draws
an attendance of several hundred, while other meetings during the week often
involve twenty to forty believers in different homes.
The small group model of church life is not exclusive to the WOL. The
majority of non-WOL-affiliated house churches share a similar feature.
Researchers argue that in the Chinese context, "church life is often experi-
enced in small groups that feature close relationships and family ties" (Wesley
2004:35). The WOL is no exception. The house churches, first of all, consist
of immediate believing family members from the neighborhood: grandpar-
ents, parents, uncles, aunts, and children, and their friends or Guanxi™

10
Guanxi means connections, a more prevalent network of relationship extending beyond
174 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

The WOL links the house churches together through its unique structure.
There is a distinct identity within the WOL community because the basis of
the WOL teaching is the Seven Principles concluded through the study of the
Scripture and experience from ministry Most, if not all, of the preaching and
teaching of the house churches within the WOL community are based on the
Seven Principles. All believers go through the first two principles - salvation
through the cross and the way ofthe cross - at the very beginning of their walk in
faith. Revivals often start from one of the house churches in a certain WOL
pastoral area and spread to the neighboring areas and regions.
The house churches normally meet at least a couple of times a week involv-
ing the whole congregation. Sunday worship is the primary event of the week
when the whole local house church congregation show up for worship. Other
meetings take place during weekdays: these would include prayer meetings,
Bible Study, testimony meetings, hymns and praises meetings, etc. These are
regular meetings that take place weekly or bi-weekly. More meetings of differ-
ent kinds are planned and scheduled as needed. As indicated in the WOL
manual (2003), there are four primary kinds of meetings within the WOL (see
Figure 3):
Sunday worship usually lasts at least two hours. The singing of hymns takes
about half an hour to an hour (often starting well before the scheduled time
for worship with believers arriving and immediately joining the singing).
There is prayer for about half an hour, testimony sharing about twenty min-
utes to half an hour, and preaching for about an hour.
House church meetings tie believers close together across and beyond social
networks. The fact that groups of people who are not necessarily related to one
another by blood, and who do not share the same family name come together
on a regular basis to have fellowship with one another and pray for one another
is something phenomenal in a society where "each sweep only the snow in
front his own yard and does not care about the frost on other peoples roof."11
The small-group type of meeting provides people with opportunity to speak
out and interact with others; they do not have this in other settings of daily
life. Particularly for women, house churches become the place where they can
let out their emotions and heart-felt needs in forms of prayer and praise to God.
Each house church within the WOL is a full church of Jesus Christ theo-
logically and ecclesiologically, and yet it is not an independent church. Struc-

family and kinship to include friends, colleagues, former schoolmates, etc. It is more popular in
urban areas than rural areas.
11
Chinese proverb which denotes that people should not tab into others' business.
 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 175

/ Regtdar Meetings Spiritual Formation \

/ Sunday Worship Evangelistic meeting \
/ Bible Study Revival meeting \
/ Prayer Meeting Truth Meeting \
/ Testimony meeting Thanksgiving \
/ Hymn & Praises Solemn Meeting \
/ Sunday School
Youth Meeting

I Holy Occasions Coworkers Meeting 1

\ Baptism Area Coworkers Meeting /
\ Communion Regional Coworkers Meeting /
\ Wedding Area Representatives Meeting /
\ Birth Regional Representatives /
\ Funeral Meeting /
General Conference /

Figure 3: Variety of WOL meetings

turally, it is part of the whole community of the WOL. Each house church is
closely knit into the web of the WOL organizational structure through regular
fellowship meetings with other house churches within the WOL that take
place in coworkers' meetings of various levels, despite the fact that individual
house churches might be hundreds or even thousands of miles apart. This
structure is in line with the vision of the movement ecclesiastically, theologi­
cally, and missiologically (Xu 2004; Brother Ρ 2005; Brother J 2005).
Of course, this does not mean that everything takes place precisely accord­
ing to the design in the WOL manual. In fact, it does not. One simple fact is
that China does not provide the perfect environment for the WOL to operate
176 Y. Xin ¡Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

with freedom. All levels of the coworkers' meetings meet clandestinely and at
temporary locations. At certain periods of time when the environment appears
to be unfriendly, meetings have to be postponed, relocated, or cancelled.12
Related to this factor is that it is no easy task to organize such an extensive
network of house churches that have spread all over the country. The fact that
the WOL is a rural house church movement makes it particularly difficult.
Sociologically speaking, because of the lack of mobility in the rural society in
China, the rural population generally has a strong sense of localism (Leung
1999). It is therefore a challenging task to maintain the cross-region house
churches within the WOL network. Nonetheless, meetings go on, ministries
go on, and renewal continues to impact the church.
The small group structure, in the case of the WOL community, the house
church structure, is the norm for the WOL community. In fact, the house
churches are the basic constituent parts of the larger WOL community. For
the WOL community, a house church is a church, part of the body of Christ.
It is where believers, men and women, young and old, meet to worship, to
study the Word of God, to fellowship with one another, to pray for the needy,
to partake of the sacraments, and so on.
Therefore, in the experience of the WOL community, there has been, on
the one hand, the continuity of employing traditional Chinese cultural forms
in ministry, and on the other hand, the introduction of the biblical concept of
koinonia into the new community of faith, which significantly enriches the
family and community in the traditional Chinese sense. As such, the WOL
movement demonstrates a continuous effort of transformation of the Chinese
culture by the power of the gospel.

A Gospel for the Poor

The WOL church represents a community of rural house churches in China,
although its evangelistic ministry has no doubt touched a significant portion
of the urban population as well. Rural populations are considered to be "the
poor or the marginalized" in China, in their economic, educational and polit-
ical status. And Henan Province, where the WOL movement originated, is
considered the marginal of the marginal among Chinas 23 provinces. So,
effective ministry among the poor is no doubt one of the essential elements of
the dynamic growth of the WOL movement. This element is also consistent
with historical renewal movements that often bring the gospel to "the poor

12
This is exactly what the author experienced during the field research in central China.
 Y Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 177

and the marginalized" and therefore "more socially transforming" (cf. Snyder
2004:219 & 1997:280).
The WOL community, as it continues its ministry in the vast rural areas of
China, consists of tens of thousands of house churches all over the country,
united by its administrative structures within its network. Believers are spiritu-
ally bound by their relationship with the Lord and their theological conviction
of the need to be born again in Christ. They are proud of being referred to by
others as the born again family (community). Several times a week, and on
special occasions such as public holidays, believers come together as a house
church, to worship and edify one another in the Word of God. A community
of WOL believers is evidently present and distinct in the larger agricultural
and residential community.
During its initial revival stage in the 1970s, those "furnaces of revival" (see
discussion on pp. 165-66) in the central China area served as places of com-
fort and encouragement, and sometimes healing, for the poor peasants in rural
China who dwelt on the margins of the turbulent society. "Prayers plus prayers,
and the sick were healed; prayers plus prayers, and the evil spirits were driven
out" (Brother J 2005). "In a time of great turmoil in Chinese society, people
saw something different in the Christian believers who were like salt and light
of the world, something that attracted their attention and interest, so that they
themselves came forward for the light and heat" (Xu 2004).
When people began to learn about this Christian faith, they found out,
apart from physical healing and protection from the evil spirits, that they
could now own something they could never have expected: a privileged new
identity, as sons and daughters of the living God. This was in striking contrast
to the promised-but-never-fulfilled identity as "sons and daughters of the new
China." As Leslie Newbigin rightfully affirms, "The Gospel was doing what it
has always done, making it possible for those who were formerly 'no people' to
become Gods people" (1995:142).
Through the work of the itinerant evangelists, house churches are estab-
lished right in the midst of local communities where believing farmers live and
share with their non-believing counterparts. The majority of WOL believers
continue to do farming and engage in other professions as usual and are never
detached from the community where they live. This gives these Christians
opportunity to witness to their faith to the people in the neighborhood. I
personally know of one brother, a garbage cleaner by profession, who wit-
nessed through casual conversations with interested people on the street and
would stayed on the topic of Christianity for twenty or more minutes. Another
sister was highly regarded by her peers in the community, both believers and
178 Y.Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

non-believers, as a mature Christian whom they could always come to for

advice on issues such as finding a proper job, dating, marriage, or family
relationships.
Due to the limitations enforced on the house church community,13 the
WOL has not been able to involve itself in society as a church as much as it
would have desired to. Although there are a number of unofficial elderly homes
and orphanages established and supported by the local WOL house churches,
social involvement is still rarely promoted in the WOL community. But we
cannot put all the blame on their physical limitation as an underground
church. More could have been done if not for the influence of the fundamen-
talist camp that has been in deliberate tension with the liberal camp since the
beginning of the 20th century. As a result, the weight is highly imbalanced
toward the spiritual aspect of the spectrum on the scale of evangelism in com-
parison to social aspect. For the WOL, it is the "new life" found in Jesus Christ
and the willingness to suffer for the sake of evangelization that has been much
stressed in teaching and ministry.
In recent years, however, the WOL has made great efforts to seek opportu-
nities to contribute to the local communities. "Given more freedom, we would
like to be actively involved in the society as salt and light in the world. We have
plans to set up more charitable centers for the poor, elderly, and orphans, but
we have been limited from doing so" (Brother P. 2005).
Missiologically speaking, the WOL purposely spreads its network extensively
around the country, establishing house churches, area and regional coworker s
meetings, so that this web of WOL continues to spread outward, drawing
more and more people into the spiritual community. In this sense, the WOL
will continue to be in close contact with the society and with the poor.

Dynamic and Vitality

The following facts and statistics may help highlight the dynamic and vitality
of the WOL movement:

• The WOL movement, starting from the passion for evangelism of a few,
developed over a span of three decades, developed into the largest house

13
In China there are basically two different kinds of church bodies: the registered church and
the unregistered church. The registered church is also known as the Three-Self Church (orTSPM
Church), which is sanctioned by the state and has legal status. The unregistered church is known
as the House Church (or the Underground Church), which is not recognized by the state and
therefore considered illegal.
 Y Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 179

church family in China, with an estimated membership and affiliation of

20 million Christians.
• It has established house churches in all 23 provinces of China, even in the
remote western part of the country. In the more populated regions in central
China, there are WOL house churches in almost every town and village.
• Area and regional coworkers' meetings, like threads, link the house churches
together so that the vision of the WOL community can be shared by all its
members, and the waves of renewal from one house church or pastoral area
can be channeled throughout the network.
• It is one of the primary participating house church networks in the Back
to Jerusalem (BTJ) movement.14 In recent years, evangelistic teams have
been sent outside of China as part of the movement, channeling the seeds
of revival from China to neighboring countries. Peter Xu has been on fre-
quent speaking tours in the U.S. and other countries, appealing to the
churches in the west to join hands with the Chinese house churches in fulfill-
ing the Great Commission and bringing the gospel back to Jerusalem.
Selected believers from the WOL community have been sent to the newly-
set-up training centers in neighboring countries in preparation for the BTJ
movement.
• Stories of transformed individuals and communities in rural China through
the ministry of the WOL church are bountiful, presenting a significant
influence on the local communities and society at large.

Insights and Applications

As facts and statistics show us, the impact of the WOL community as a rural
church has been significant among the rural population in China. And its
presence in various parts of China continues to be felt and witnessed to this
day. This paper has examined the inner dynamics of the WOL movement that
have undergirded its vitality and growth for the past three decades. The follow-
ing section summarizes some insights from this study.

14
Back to Jerusalem movement was initiated by some indigenous Chinese Christians in
1940s, aiming to send missionaries westward outside China and spread the gospel all the way
back to Jerusalem. The work was interrupted because of wars in the 1940s. It was rekindled,
though, in the mid-90s when one of the early participants of BTJ movement connected with the
house churches in central China and has now become a shared vision of several large Chinese
house church networks including the WOL.
180 Y Xin ¡Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

First of all, we need to recognize the role of the Holy Spirit as the ultimate
cause of genuine renewal and vitality because the Scripture affirms the active
involvement of the Spirit in aspects of life and mission of the church: he is
with his people (Haggai 2:5; John 14:16-17), empowers Qudges 6:34),
chooses leadership for the church (Acts 20:28), guides the church in decision-
making (Acts 15:28), elects and sends evangelists (13:2,4), directs the work of
evangelism (Acts 8:29, 39), grants new life (John 3:5-6, Titus 3:5), helps
believers understand Gods love (Rom. 5:5), empowers them to testify Jesus
(Acts 1:8, 6:9-10), helps them discern truth (ljohn 4:1-6), comforts
(Acts 9:31), controls (Rom. 8:9), gives joy and peace (Rom. 14:17), fellowships
with believers (Philippians 2:1), grants spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:4-11), sancti-
fies believers (2 Thess. 2:13), and gives life to their mortal bodies (Rom. 8:11).
Secondly, because God chooses to cooperate with humans to fulfill his
good purpose, the roles that the WOL believers play in the drama are also
significant. In other words, Christians of the WOL are sensitive to the guid-
ance of the Spirit of God and are able to identify and respond to the signs of
the Spirit of God. This is particularly evident in how the WOL Christians
structure themselves as a new community of faith that contributes to the con-
tinuous dynamics of the life of the church. As such, the WOL experience
offers us insights of how we can be better servants of aGod in his Kingdom:

1. It affirms some of the basic, common patterns of church vitality that are
applicable in all cultures. It offers hope for churches that are not growing
or declining that they need to catch the passion and vision that have
been forgotten - a rediscovery of the heart of the gospel. For the WOL
church, this is the theology of the cross, the necessity of life in Christ,
and the Great Commission as concretely manifested in the life and min-
istry of the community.
2. It challenges churches that are not growing to face the reality that they
need renewal of their vitality, since the church as the body of Christ has
the "inborn tendency to grow." If the renewal cells functioned well in
the historical Christian renewal movements such as Pietism, Moravian-
ism, and Methodism, and are further affirmed by the experience of the
WOL movement, despite the differences in time, culture, and socio-
political context, these should be something that churches today seri-
ously think about in terms of structure.
3. It highlights the importance of theological education in the ministry of
the church. While it normally requires three to four years to train a pas-
tor in the west, it only takes six months of intensive underground semi-
 Y Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184 181

nary training to produce a house church pastor. The explosive growth of

the WOL house church network is greatly aided by its speedy turnout of
workers into ministry. Questions may be asked as to what extent the
present length of seminary training is necessary and adequate, and who
are qualified to provide and receive training. In this area, I believe, the
New Testament provides more affirmation to the WOL training system
than to the western church tradition.
4. It provides us with an excellent example of how this new Christian faith
reality is gained and maintained in community. The uniquely designed
intensive meetings, such as evangelistic meetings (3-5 days), "Life meet-
ings" (7 days) and "Truth meetings" (7-15 days), are a constituent part
of the initial steps to faith and service for the WOL believers. These
meetings provide a context where the arrangements of the themes are
deliberate and well reasoned for the Chinese mind, and where seekers
and believers come in direct contact and communication with the new
subjective reality. When these new believers finish the training and par-
ticipate in the house churches, where teachings and discipleship con-
tinue revolving around the Scripture as systematized in the Seven
Principles, the language of the new faith is reinforced and the new reality
consolidated.
5. It affirms a biblical model of ministry. As believers of the Bible, the
WOL leaders and coworkers identify themselves with the Christians in
the early church, from whose experience they borrow to enrich their
own. The WOL itinerant evangelistic model has biblical precedent.
What Paul and his coworkers practiced in mission then, the believers of
the WOL practice now. As Paul took one or two disciples on itinerant
trips, so does the WOL evangelistic team (usually consisting of two to
three MGs). On the foundation of the biblical model, the WOL Chris-
tians pay attention to the environment in which they minister, along
with contextual development through the establishment of its organiza-
tional structure and training system (see previous discussion).
6. It contributes to the hermeneutical community with the uniqueness of
the Chinese experience, providing learning and insights for churches of
other cultures to reference. Suffering for the sake of Christ, in the experi-
ence of the WOL community, is prerequisite to living a victorious life in
Christ. Effective ministry and mission of the church come naturally out
of, first of all, a genuinely restored life relationship with God through the
experience of rebirth in Jesus Christ, and secondly, organization and
strategic planning. This is consistent with what Richard Lovelace (1979)
182 Y. Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

proposes as the primary and secondary elements of continuous renewal.

Life, or restored relationship, is the first step to active and meaningful
participation in Missio Dei.

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Dynamique interne du Mouvement chinois des glises de maison : Le cas

de la Communaut du Verbe de Vie
On considère le mouvement de l'Église de maison du Verbe de Vie comme Tun des
mouvements chrétiens les plus influents en Chine depuis trente ans, avec son réseau
touchant les 23 provinces et zones autonomes de Chine. C e t aussi un des réseaux les
plus importants d'Églises de maison en Chine Centrale depuis trente ans. Cette étude
est une investigation de la dynamique interne qui a sous-tendu la croissance et la vita-
lité du mouvement. Pour ce faire, elle intègre certains points de vue d'études sur les
mouvements historiques de renouveau chrétien. Elle examine le mouvement à travers
un éventail de catégories ou modèles tels que les changements de paradigme, le rôle des
principaux leaders, la structure de base, le système de formation, la communauté,
l'Évangile pour les pauvres, la dynamique et la vitalité. On espère que cette contribu-
tion ouvre une fenêtre de compréhension sur le mouvement du Verbe de Vie et offre
quelques aperçus susceptibles d'être une référence pour la communauté herméneuti-
que élargie.

Dinámicas internas del movimiento chino de Iglesias domésticas: £1 caso

de la comunidad „Palabra de Vida"
El movimiento de la iglesia doméstica "Palabra de Vida" se considera uno de los movi-
mientos cristianos más influyentes en China en las últimas tres décadas, con su red
extendida en las 23 provincias y zonas autónomas de China. También es una de las
redes de iglesias domésticas más grandes que se ha desarrollado en China central en las
últimas tres décadas. Este artículo se plantea investigar las dinámicas internas que han
sostenido el crecimiento y la vitalidad del movimiento al incorporar algunos resultados
de los estudios de los movimientos de renovación cristiana históricos. Se emplea una
serie de categorías o modelos, como cambios paradigmáticos, el papel de líderes cen-
trales, su estructura básica, el sistema de formación, la comunidad, el Evangelio por los
pobres, la dinámica y la vitalidad, a través de los cuales se examina detalladamente
184 Y.Xin /Mission Studies 25 (2008) 157-184

al movimiento "Palabra de Vida". Se espera que este artículo abra una ventana para
comprender al movimiento "Palabra de Vida" y para aportar algunos resultados que
puedan llamar la atención de la comunidad hermenéutica más amplia.

Interne Dynamiken der Chinesischen Hauskirchenbewegung: Das Beispiel

der Gemeinschaft „Wort des Lebens"
Die Bewegung der „Wort des Lebens" Hauskirche gilt als eine der einflussreichsten
christlichen Bewegungen im China der letzten drei Jahrzehnte. Ihr Netzwerk erstreckt
sich über alle 23 Provinzen und autonome Zonen Chinas. Sie ist auch eines der größ-
ten Netzwerke von Hauskirchen, die in Zentralchina in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten
entstanden ist. Dieser Artikel unternimmt eine Untersuchung der inneren Dynamik,
die dem Wachstum und der Vitalität dieser Bewegung zugrunde liegt durch die Ein-
beziehung einiger Erkenntnisse von Studien der historischen Erneuerungsbewegun-
gen. Der Artikel verwendet eine Reihe von Kategorien oder Modellen, wie z.B.
Paradigmenwechsel, die Rolle von Schlüsselfiguren, ihre Grundstruktur, das Ausbil-
dungssystem, die Gemeinschaft, das Evangelium fur die Armen, die Dynamik und
Vitalität. Damit wird die „Wort des Lebens" Bewegung genau untersucht. Hoffentlich
eröffnet dieser Artikel eine Verständnismöglichkeit für die „Wort des Lebens" Bewe-
gung und für einige Einsichten, die in der weiteren hermeneutischen Gemeinschaft
rezipiert werden können.
 ^ s
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