Editor's Note:

On August 16 last year, the famous house church leader in China, Yuan Xiangchen, returned to be with the Lord. All his life he had lived according to God's will, bearing good witness for Him due to his obedience and faith. Let us take a look at his life and how God has shown His power through his faithful servant.

Saved by Grace

Yuan's family came from Dongguan, Guangdong. He was born in 1914 into a middle class family in Bengbu, Anhui, when China was plagued by political instability. When he was 7, his father sent him to a private tutorial academy for traditional education; he was there until he was enrolled in a church school for Primary Four. By 1930, he had a chance to hear the sermons by Wang Mingdao but he did not believe in God. He thought hard about life issues and searched desperately in vain for answers. One night in 1932, enlightened by God, he confessed his sins and got a new life in Christ. After that, he fervently shared the life-saving gospel with his classmates and neighbours.

God gave him a passion for preaching and awarded him with much fruits. In 1933, he was baptised. The same year he attended a vocational school run by the YMCA, where he experienced a close, sweet relationship with the Lord.

Responding to God's Calling

When he was at year 2 in the school, at the age 20, he quit his studies to take up God's calling for him to be a preacher. His decision was met with strong opposition by his family. Still, yielding to God, he signed up for the theology course in the Far East Theological Seminary. During that time he also attended Bible study meetings held by the renowned evangelist John Sung, which greatly enhanced his spiritual lives. Upon his graduation, he served in the Tianjin church and in 1938 married his childhood friend Liang Huizhen. In 1940, he followed an American pastor to serve in the villages in Hebei, taking along his wife and several-months-old son and discarding the comfortable life in Beijing. The Sino-Japanese war was on then, and as people were not feeling peace in their hearts, many were receptive to the gospel during the pair's evangelistic tours. Yuan's body was with fleas because of his long exposure to the rough life in rural areas. God trained him up during this time in the "wilderness", preparing him for his later work.

Conversion of the Whole Family

During the Japanese occupation, the pastor and his family were locked in a concentration camp. But Yuan kept on with his ministry, out of a conviction that God wanted him to work in the villages. His service was at a maturation stage from 1942 to 1945. He found the God-inspired way for preaching: not to rely on anyone, any organization but to rely on God alone. In 1946, because his mother was seriously ill, he returned to Beijing with his wife and son. For 13 years he had been praying for his mother's salvation. During her period of illness, his mother went through God's healing and as a result, was converted along with her own mother. Yuan then realized that God had used his family's sufferings as means to bring forward blessings.

Solely Relying on the Lord

Yuan had wanted to take his family back to the villages but that seemed unfeasible with the change in the political situation. He asked that God showed his will. God taught him to wait on Him. He learned the lesson of waiting with patience; he also understood that it did not matter so much where a person served the Lord. The most important was that he was serving His will. Later he got to know a Norwegian pastor from the Assemblies of God. Together they set up an urban church but when he knew that it would be named after Assemblies of God, he stopped the partnership, regardless of the financial difficulty that this could plunge the church into. He insisted on relying on God's supplies alone, and not being part of any organization. He formed a church by organizing gatherings at his home. By 1947, his church had more than 200 believers.

Being Imprisoned

In 1958, Yuan was arrested and put in jail for refusing to join the Three-Self Reform Movement (later called the Three-Self Patriotic Movement). He did not see the need to join the movement because his church was already practising the three Ss: self-governance, self-support, and self-propagating. He refused to join the movement also because of his own religious stand. Bidding farewell to his mother, wife and six children, he began his 21 years and 8 months of imprisonment. Of those years, 16 years were spent in a freezing cold cell in the Northeast. Despite the harsh environment, cold weather and the nine hours of physical labor each day, with God's protection, he was only sick once with a minor flu. He regarded what happened as a trial from God. He yielded to being imprisoned, without doubting or abandoning God. Finally, he left prison a healthy person, showing again God's great work upon him. Yuan was also sure that God's hands had protected him during the Cultural Revolution. He would have been purged to death and did not have any chance to testify for God had he not been placed in the "safe box".

Regaining Freedom

In 1979, Yuan was finally released and reunited with his family after 21 years. Though in his 60s, he persisted in serving the Lord, spreading the gospel and distributing the Bibles and spiritual tapes. His home was a gathering place for many believers. Initially he thought he had wasted more than 20 years, without realizing that God's ways were higher than his. In the more than 20 years since his release from jail, God used him to achieve much more than what he had achieved two decades ago.

Resting in the Lord

On August 16, 2005, Yuan returned to the Lord at Beijing Friendship Hospital at the age of 91. His memorial service was held on August 19 at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. Prior to his death, he called on believers to pray for government leaders, the lost souls and those who have been converted and baptised. He and his Bible-based teachings are deeply missed by brothers and sisters. He lived out God's will in his life－following the style of Christ, being loyal and submissive to the Heavenly Father's will.

The above information on Yuan Xiangchen was taken from his biography "Living Sacrifice: The life story of Allen Yuan" (Chinese version) by Lydia Lee published by Singapore Every Home Crusade  in 1999.