Pastor YP is an urban house church leader in China. Through the Asian Outreach-run ChinaBridge program, Brother YP is able to go through theological training and become better equipped to pastor his rapidly growing church.
Since the 1990s, a new type of church is spreading rapidly in China’s major cities – the urban house church. Unlike the rural house church or the Three-Self government church, the members and leaders of the urban house church are professionals, engineers, passport-holders, entrepreneurs, internet-connected and highly influential in the society. Brother YP is one of them.
Before YP became a full-time pastor in 2003, he was a university professor and a businessman. He started a bible study group at his home in 2003, and within weeks the number of people grew to 80. YP then rented an office for meetings and Sunday services. By 2007 Brother YP’s church had more than 300 members.
Since 2007, YP began his postgraduate theological training through Asian Outreach’s ChinaBridge program. During a course in October, Brother YP shared, “The postgraduate training has been a great blessing. On a personal level, my leadership style has matured. On the church level, the number of members doubled in the past two years! We now have close to 700 people. And we will pass 1000 very soon!”
The mission statement of Asian Outreach’s China Ministry is “Training Trainers to Train and Leading Leaders to Lead.” This focus on training current and future trainers ensures the quality of leaders in China’s church into the future, and also becomes a sustainable cycle, providing for future generations of trainers and leaders. For people like YP, AO leadership training has meant the kind of spiritual input that will propel them to the next level in ministry, and would not have been available otherwise.
You and your church can be a part of the exciting growth in the church in China and around Asia, where many lives are being changed and communities are experiencing radical transformation. With your partnership, we can magnify the impact!
