Church Qualities

Dear friends of the persecuted faithful,

What makes you proud of your church? Is it a great preacher? The size of the congregation? Or maybe the influence of its members?

While none of these are bad, the Scriptures provides us with a quite different perhaps dramatic answer.

In the Book of Ephesians, Apostle Paul admonishes those believers in the church of Ephesus: “I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. “

Remember Paul wrote this letter from his prison cell as a “prisoner of Christ Jesus”(Ephesians 3:1) and yet he advises his congregation to not only take pride in his suffering, but also to recognize a very fundamental, often neglected truth that suffering for Christ is the Church’s Glory. In other words, a healthy mark of a true church of Christ is measured how  many Christians in that congregation are suffering persecution for Christ. “Anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ shall be persecuted.”

In one of his last sermons before his arrest, Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church proclaimed that the life of the martyrs is the glory of the church. If we use the three colors definition of “martyr” by the ancient church, Christians who choose to deny self (green martyr), to die to the world (white martyr), or sacrifice his or her life by violence (red martyr) are all constituted as martyrs. That’s why the persecuted part of the body of Christ like Pastor Wang Yi are able to endure suffering for Christ in prison or labor camps as a glorious privilege for their congregations.

Regrettably, many of today’s churches in the “free world” are misconceived on the true marker of a church. We misplace the true heathy marker of the church by the size, the wealth, and the fame.

May this truth help us revisit this fundamental question: what are you really taking pride in about your church and for your life? Let’s walk with the persecuted part of the body of Christ.