Unique and Significant: From China to the Homeland
Posted by Hannah Etsebeth | Posted in Purpose | Posted on 12-04-2010
Tags: china, church, persecution, Purpose
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“Surely he couldn’t be serious.”
It was 1997 and I was in Guangzhou, China sitting across the table from one of the greatest men I have ever met. His name was Dr. Samuel Lamb and he was one of the leaders of the Chinese House Church Movement. Dressed in the grey government-sanctioned clothing that was customary for the Chinese people during that time, he may have looked quite simple, yet the impact with which he had lived his life was unrivaled. As a young seventeen-year-old, I certainly never thought I’d hear all that I heard that day. With great conviction he spoke of his many years of ministry and of the persecution. He spoke in factual detail and without remorse.
The Strange Request
Dr. Lamb had begun preaching decades prior to our meeting. After preaching for a few years, he was arrested and put in jail for three years with the charge of disobeying the government’s rules concerning religion. When he returned from prison in 1957 his congregation had exponentially increased in size to several hundred people. In 1958 he was imprisoned for the second time, and this time for over 20 years. When he was released to his church he found that there were now thousands in attendance. After being jailed and released a third time, he saw once again that the church had grown in size. When we visited him, his very small building had two stories and they were having multiple weekly services for around 4,000 people.
The growth of the church and the impact was amazing. However, it was Dr. Samuel Lamb’s strange request that caused my western mind to come to a halt… Click here for the full blog on Destiny In Bloom.
