Faith in the Wildernessis a powerful and moving collection of sermonic letters and I am glad to recommend it. I am quite sure that if you take the time to read it, you will be both blessed and encouraged. Best of all, you will be better equipped to endure pandemic, persecution, and whatever else providence may have in store for you and for all of us.
—Tim Challies
I cannot recommend this wonderful collection of sermons enough. Its exhortation to all who read can be summarized by one sentence in the second sermon: ‘Christians are those who worship God without regard for their own lives.’ May this characterize the way all of us live! Rising out of the soil of suffering, these sermons brim with biblical wisdom, gospel clarity and comfort, and unquenchable Christian hope. Feed yourself on the riches here; you will be thankful that you did.
—Paul David Tripp, pastor; speaker; author, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
Faith in the Wilderness is a timely resource for Christians in the freer world, marking a significant moment in church history. Saturated with knowledge of endurance under cultural and political hostility, our Chinese Christian family has delivered much more than a rich repository of scholarship; they’ve given all Followers of the Way reflections on survival and flourishing to help shape the next generation of global Christians into the image of Christ.
—K.A. Ellis, director, The Edmiston Center for the Study of the Bible and Ethnicity
Being a Christian today involves listening and learning—especially from pastors who preach faithfully, regardless of their often challenging circumstances. This is why preachers over thousands of years in thousands of places have passionately proclaimed the truth and beauty of God’s word, urging followers of Jesus to remain faithful in the midst of suffering and persecution. The preachers who contributed to this volume are well acquainted with suffering and brokenness. Yet they do not lose heart nor hope. For they know that the way of Jesus is the way of the cross-suffering and then glory. So, whether you’re in Beijing or Boston, Chengdu or Chicago, listen and learn, for you will be encouraged and edified.
—Julius J. Kim, president, The Gospel Coalition
The value of these meditations is that together they boldly demonstrate how common it is for Scripture to align faithful Christian living with the way of the cross. That includes both the unique substitutionary elements of Jesus’s death, and the example it sets for the followers of Christ—and never less than both. On the one hand, ‘He himself bore our sins in his own body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness’ (1 Peter 2:24); on the other, ‘To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps’ (1 Peter 2:21). The Chinese church is being powerfully called to bear witness to these twin truths before their brothers and sisters around the world.
—D. A. Carson, emeritus professor, New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; founder of The Gospel Coalition
How much we Western Christians, so prone to complain about our paltry hardships, need the voice of fellow believers in the global church who know what real suffering is—suffering of which state persecution is just one variety. These sermons speak of a faith that took root in China centuries before Europeans even set foot in the Americas, and a faith that has been tested throughout by unremitting suffering right up to the present day. Relentlessly biblical, refreshingly direct, and down-to-earth practical, these sermons challenge our complacency and self-pity with Christ-centred gospel faith, hope, and joy. I know I will read them again because I need this voice in my ear to counter the cacophony of our culture or the sugar-coated shallowness of consumer Christianity.
—Christopher J. H. Wright, global ambassador, Langham Partnership
All Christians are called to rejoice in suffering that produces perseverance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3). Yet, in affluent societies where the goal of life and religion is avoidance of all discomfort, we struggle to understand the cross we are to bear to treasure the cross of Christ. The Chinese leaders who have endured persecution and deprivation to write of Faith in the Wilderness bring needed perspective to believers worldwide—especially those in Western culture. By the irrepressible joy that is threaded through their writings, these leaders prepare us all to live in a fallen world, where some form of affliction is unavoidable, by the power of the Savior whose grace is sufficient, satisfying, and eternal.
—Bryan Chapell, author, Christ-Centered Preaching
Those of us who live in the freedom of the West find it difficult to imagine what it must be like to live as a Christian under the Chinese Communist Party. When we consider the challenges of a deadly pandemic added to the difficulties of ongoing persecution, we wonder how our faith would hold up under the pressure. Faith in the Wilderness invites us to sit under the preaching of Chinese pastors seeking to call their people to live out genuine faith in these challenging circumstances. And as we do, we hear a call to endurance of suffering empowered by our connection to our suffering Savior, a call that we need to hear and answer along with our Chinese brothers and sisters.
—Nancy Guthrie, author and Bible teacher
Faith in the Wilderness is an astonishing tribute to the grace of God at work in his people. While many Western Christians view persecution and trials as things to be avoided at all costs, the authors chart a course for all of us to follow as we embrace and overcome the suffering Christ’s followers endure. No sentimentality. No platitudes. This book reveals the crucial role of suffering in God’s plan for the world. I do not know a more sobering but inspiring testimony to Christ’s victory over sin and death, a victory that he graciously shares with all who follow him.
—Richard L. Pratt, Jr., president, Third Millennium Ministries
What a gift to have this book! Those of us in the West have so much to learn from sisters and brothers around the world who serve Christ faithfully, and often at great cost. For far too long we have imagined we are the ones with the answers, with the wisdom and knowledge, but in truth, we often have untested cognitive affirmations and a weak spirituality, not sacrificial insight gained through suffering and prayer. To help us, these meditations are well worth our time to read slowly and be changed by them in the process. I thank God for Hannah Nation and Simon Liu who helped make these accessible, and I am especially grateful to the authors who offered up these meditations in the first place. We are in your debt!
—Kelly M. Kapic, author, Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering
The voices of house church leaders have long cried out in the wilderness yet have been silenced. This book finally makes a way for them to be heard. I could not put it down. These sermons humanize theology, interweaving personal and biblical narratives, beautiful to the ear and the heart. They speak not as theorists who abstract propositions for the church’s consumption but as prophets who personally inhabit the story they tell. Their message is concrete and convicting, challenging both our perspective and practice. Blending insights from C. S. Lewis, Chinese writers, and church history, these pastors give us a much needed model for preaching and theologizing. They call us to repent and rejoice in the One who reigns over all nations.
—Jackson Wu, theologian-in-residence, Mission ONE; author, Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes
Christianity, which began in West Asia 2,000 years ago, is today growing steadily in East and Southeast Asia. This collection of sermons from Chinese pastors at the beginning of the global pandemic offers Christians around the world an inspiring view into the lives of persecuted yet resilient leaders who are demonstrating the faith. Listen carefully to these precious members of your global Christian family and your own faith will be both challenged and built up.
—Todd M. Johnson, co-director, Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
A book for such a time as this! As the church in the West collapses from its idolatrous pursuit of materialism, individualism, and power, Faith in the Wilderness provides words of exhortation from the margin—the leaders of the persecuted church in China. Those of us in the West need to sit at the feet of these faithful servants, asking God to use their powerful words to cut us to the heart, to draw us unto repentance, and to revive us again.
—Brian Fikkert, president, Chalmers Center, Covenant College; coauthor, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself
As Hannah Nation writes in her introduction, ‘If we want revival in our communities, then let us learn from those currently being revived.’ These compelling messages from China are a precious gift to Christians around the world whose hearts are crying out for revival. Forged in the crucible of intensifying government repression amidst a global pandemic, the faith of these pastors is a powerful testimony to the enduring hope we share in Christ.
—Brent Fulton, founder, China Source
The Chinese church understands suffering in ways that most of us cannot even imagine. These stirring, biblically-saturated meditations from Chinese pastors, exhorting their people to faith amidst persecution and the pandemic, reminded me of how precious and powerful the gospel is. Read this book and be encouraged that even in great trials, our hope and joy is unshakeable in Christ.
—Vaneetha Risner, author, Walking Through Fire: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption
Faith in the Wilderness brings together a collection of Chinese house church voices which is a needed antidote to some of the unnecessary accruals in Western Christianity today. First, this book eschews triumphalism or nationalism in favor of an acknowledgment that suffering is real and necessary for the Christian. But second, processing this in a healthy way is also key, as the writers ultimately lead us to hope. This is a kind of Reformation, back-to-the-beginning book, in the sense that Christianity's roots were originally Eastern, not Western. So the Chinese mindset, borne not only of an honor and shame collectivist sensibility but also in a context in which Christianity is marginalized, rings authentically true.
—Allen Yeh, associate professor, Intercultural Studies and Missiology, Biola University
The explosive growth of the church in China has been documented in many publications. Those of us in the West have been eager to know more about the work of the Spirit among our brothers and sisters. However, we often find missiological descriptions and analyses. While such work is needed, a glimpse into the hearts of church leaders is greatly desired. Nation and Liu have filled a gap in the literature by providing a great resource containing Chinese voices. These messages, proclaimed during a difficult time in world history, are biblical, encouraging, edifying, convicting, and practical. Though you may not agree with every hermeneutical aspect, there is much, so much, we can learn from these words of exhortation as we wait for the day of the Lord.
—J. D. Payne, author; missiologist; professor, Christian Ministry, Samford University
The house church in China reminds us of an essential truth of the gospel in that suffering unites us with Christ in his own life and ministry. The spiritual insights coming from the suffering house church in China today uncovers the hidden truth of the early church and biblical Christianity throughout the ages. The church in China while under persecution not only persevered in their faith but developed an apostolic missionary passion and boldness of sacrificial martyrdom. Their suffering lives are a living testimony to their oppressors and the world of the worthiness of their Lord Jesus Christ and the truthfulness of the gospel.
—David Ro, director, Christy Wilson Mission Center at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; regional director, Lausanne Movement in East Asia
We are often such ‘citizens’ of our particular time and place that we cannot discern which aspects of our culture, even Christian culture, are good and true and which are fallen and passing away. What is needed is a trustworthy voice from outside to speak to us about what is genuine and eternal. Faith in the Wilderness provides just such a voice. The sermons collected here may be more needful in my Western Christian context than they were in their original Chinese setting. In reading these messages, I felt exposed, challenged, and uplifted. They were simultaneously surprising in approach and application, and yet strangely familiar in faithful dependence upon Scripture. Ultimately, this book reminded me that the main business of Christianity—of sin, suffering, faith, hope, and love—is serious business, indeed! It deserves a very wide reading.
—John Dickson, author; historian; Distinguished Fellow in Public Christianity, Ridley College
Two words: Incredible faith. I was simply blown away by these words from leaders in the Chinese church. These sermons are a clear call to trust God in times of trouble. I am thrilled that the whole world can now glean comfort and encouragement from these words which have so bravely been preached to the Chinese church. I can’t quantify how my heart was affected by reading these entries. It is probably best to say that they melted my heart and made me turn to my Savior immediately in both repentance for my lack of trust in him and for peace in my own times of trouble. I can't commend this book to you highly enough. Read it, reflect on it, repent of any sin, and rejoice that our God is a mighty and loving God.
—Dave Furman, senior pastor, Redeemer Church of Dubai; author, Being There and Kiss the Wave
