1300 Hours – A man approaches me about a peculiar opportunity. He wants me to pastor a small church of twelve believers. He hands me an envelope with the details of my role pastoring this church. The man simply wants me to meet with the members but confesses this will be more difficult than it sounds. Therefore, he encourages me to enlist three missionaries to help me reach my people. After handing me three more envelopes for my missionaries he solemnly added that if any of this information is leaked to others, the whole church will be in jeopardy. There is a definite threat of police and spies wanting to shut us down.
1900 Hours – I meet with two of my missionaries (the third gets lost and doesn’t make it) in a wooded area where I knew nobody would notice us. I debrief them what their responsibilities are to the church and how we’d be communicating with each other. We’re ready to start corresponding with our church members.
0700 Hours – Its daytime in the market and people start walking around. We know its safer right now because nobody wants to make a big scene. We start approaching people with special hand signals that help us discern who are members are without giving away our identity. Our goal is once we’ve found a member to direct them to a house where we’ll congregate tonight in secret. This is difficult because police are constantly following and listening to our conversations. We also know there are people who know our signals but aren’t part of our church. These people we call defective.
2000 Hours – The police are cracking down on Christians. We’ve managed to gather at a local house but it’s too dangerous to conduct any church activities. People are being arrested and I’ve already lost a missionary. I pray that she doesn’t confess who I am or have any evidence of our church activity on her. I’m getting very frustrated as pastor because I feel I’m failing my responsibility to the church. I don’t know if I should risk worshipping God and be caught or stay in hiding. I see several houses get raided and people are fleeing from the police. Confusion sets in as to what God would want me to do. I know this is exactly what they want me to feel.
2100 Hours – An officer comes up to our door and knows there’s something suspicious going on. The officer wants to deal. There’s someone standing next to him and states that he’ll let this person go if someone else wants to take her place. After finding out this person has been in jail twice and has been tortured I compassionately offer myself instead. They haven’t come to arrest me so they don’t know who I am yet. As long as I don’t say anything I’ll be okay.
2200 Hours – I’m taken to jail and they start searching me for any evidence. They find my envelope with the letter “P” for pastor. I immediately think I’m toast. God works some magic because the officer falsely interprets it to mean I’m only a missionary. They take me to get tortured since they know I have information they want about the underground church. I don’t comply. I soon try to escape but have nowhere to hide. I’m quickly apprehended and sent back to jail. I realize I’ll be here for awhile and its now up to the two missionaries to lead the small church.
This was just a game my squad played this week but for millions of Christians around the world this is brutally real. Some of the most wanted people in China are Christian pastors. The freedom of worshipping our God everyday is something people are giving their lives up for. Let’s thank God today for the blessing of living in a place that doesn’t persecute you for saying “Jesus”. Let’s also pray for our brothers and sisters risking their lives right now trying to spread the Gospel.
