Christ Fellowship church was very involved with the home church movement in China and was funding the operation of several training centers there. Each training center had an average of 16 students equally divided between men and women. These students are handpicked by the elders of home churches and sent to these training centers for two to three years, depending on what breaks are required for certain other activities. Except for these short breaks, these students are essentially confined inside the training centers because if discovered the centers would be closed and the students could be sent to prison. My entrance and exit to the center in which I was assigned to teach for eight days at was done late at night and with much caution.
Life inside is not one that would be easily tolerated by most Americans. To begin with the building has no heat or air conditioning, which is common in that area. As a result there are times when it is not real comfortable. The first floor is a large garage for the purpose of driving in to transfer people away from the eyes of anyone outside. The second floor contained the teaching room, kitchen, instructor’s bedroom, women's bedroom and their restroom. The third floor contained sleeping space for the men and their restroom. There is also an extra room there for drying cloths and some exercise. The kitchen is a room that measures five by nine feet and is used by three students, on rotation, to provide meals in about an hour for all present, three times a day. The meals are primarily vegetables along with some things that I ate that I didn't want to know the names of. My attitude was to eat You don’t need much storage space because you don’t have much to store. Each of us had a washbasin large enough to get both feet in, a small blue stool the height of a chair that was used to sit on for ten hours a day and a blue cup which held your toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. Besides the clothes you had on you would have one more change. Besides bathing with your washbasin you would do your laundry in it every four or five days. You would have a few other personal items.
In the training center that I was assigned to the schedule was the same each day, seven days a week. You got up each morning between 5:30 and 5:45 to get cleaned up for an hour of prayer, praise and worship, which started at 6:00. Usually you stood up for the full hour experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit. It was so clear that He was in control by the way the students would transition from one student praying and the rest saying amen in unison at each break in the praying, to all praying at the same time, to everyone singing with one praying from time to time as the rest sang. These three expressions continued with variations of intensity and emotion. Though I was not required to be with them during this time, I could not pass up the blessing it was for me to be there. When they prayed I prayed silently and when they sang I joined them gradually learning their words. Their singing was so special and always brought us who were visiting to tears. It often brought the students to tears which would then lead them into some very intense expressions of prayer. Never in all my experience of praise, worship and prayer have I ever experienced the sincerity and intensity that these students displayed with God and been blessed as I was. During this time three students were getting breakfast ready, which would consist of steamed bread, several dishes of vegetables, one which might have scrambled eggs mixed in, and maybe a thin white soup.
Between seven and eight it was breakfast time, cleanup time and preparations for the first study time, which always started at eight sharp with more singing and prayer which lasted for about twenty minutes. I would then teach from the Bible through an interrupter (See picture) who had less than a year of English training. Lucy was my first interrupter and enjoyed the experience so much that she left one evening and went and got her friend Joanna to share the experience. I sure enjoyed working with these two young women and seeing God work in them as I taught. Within the first hour Lucy and I had learned to work as one. During the second hour I began to realize what was happening and how the Holy Spirit was working. Lucy stood at my side as I taught but she became more and more like a teacher as I taught. In my mind I saw her standing in front of me, listening to every word I said and then using her mind she was taking what I said and adjusting it to the Chinese culture and language, she then taught the students. But then I realized that someone was standing behind me speaking to me. When I teach I always listen very carefully to what God has to say because the function of the Holy Spirit in a believer is to bring to mind what is needed at the time. He was providing information in an exciting way, drawing on many years of daily Bible study. As I listened to Him and followed my notes, I was using my mind to select the words to express the thoughts that were developing. As I spoke these words, Lucy was doing her part and as she spoke the students were listening, thinking about what she was saying and taking notes. What an experience it was to stand between God and Lucy and experience God teaching through us. At the break I shared this with Lucy she said that she had the same revelation and was quite moved by it. I would teach until nine and we would break for five minutes and start the next hour with a song. At ten we had another five minute break. We started with a song and then ended our morning session at eleven. Beginning each session with a song was my idea because they were so beautiful and prepared our hearts of another teaching session.
At eleven, three students headed to the 45 square foot kitchen to prepare the noon meal of rice, soup and three or four vegetable dishes. (The picture shows the food prepared for our last meal with them. It was so good and a bit more than usual. There were five of us that ate most of what was shown. With our chopsticks we would reach out to a dish and get a bite of food. As you reach for the food you would talk with one another. The soup you drank. The students were served in the same way.) While the food was being prepared the remaining students stayed in the classroom and read the Bible, memorized passages from it, prayed, sang or did some form of homework. The classroom contained a large rectangular table, which was four foot wide and sixteen feet long made from two sheets of plywood placed end to end. The table was placed between the white board at one end and the windows at the other. Around this table each sat on his or her little blue stool. This was a very orderly time of quiet study and devotion.
At twelve it was time for lunch and then kitchen cleanup. Following cleanup, eight students worked the bread dough (See picture below) and made it into small round balls to be placed in the steamer to steam during the afternoon. Other students did miscellaneous things and at 1:00 everyone turned in for an hour and one half nap. At 2:30 everyone was back at the table in the classroom to sing and pray for five minutes before starting the afternoon session. Four other instructors rotated in and out of the training center for a two day stay to cover the afternoon and evening session. I covered all the mornings. The afternoon sessions went to 5:00. Between 5:00 and 6:00, three students prepared dinner, which was very much like lunch, which was very much like breakfast. Nine to twelve servings of vegetables each day made for a very healthy diet, one that I grew to like very much, even if I couldn't identify some of what I ate. The other students stayed at the table for a devotion time like the one before lunch. At 6:00 we ate and then came kitchen cleanup. At 7:00 the evening session started and lasted until 8:30. At that time several students got mops and cleaned all the floors in the training center. We all washed our feet and were in bed by 9:00 for a good night’s sleep.
This schedule is kept by these students for over two years. I have never seen such harmony, respect and friendship between people as I saw in the training center. Their love for and devotion to the Lord and the purity of their relationships and environment is so different than life in the world. This is a time of saturation by the word of God and of growth in Him. The purpose of our visits into this environment is to bring outside topics and specialized training to broaden their experience as they prepare to be sent out as missionaries in this movement across Asia toward Israel. As we went about our daily activities we all had in the back of our minds the possibility of being discovered and sent to prison. One of the students doesn't know his dad because of his stay in prison for his Christian witness. Their love and devotion to the Lord eliminates their fear but leaves an element of caution.
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