A Remarkable Week of Training with China’s Underground Church
More than 30 hours of intensive Pathway Learning training has just concluded with underground church leaders in China.
By Steven Childers
I want to share a very encouraging—and sobering—update from our work with underground church leaders in China.
As I write this on Friday morning in the United States, a group of Chinese church leaders has just completed more than 30 hours of intensive Pathway Learning training. It is Friday evening for them, and they are finishing an intensive course on Spiritual Formation and Sanctification in the Christian Life.
The photograph above is a screenshot from one of our final sessions this week. For the protection of these leaders, their faces have been obscured.
Throughout the week, they worked through Pathway Learning’s interactive teaching videos, in-depth biblical studies, discussions, and practical applications centered on Christian growth, sanctification, and spiritual formation—learning not merely how to minister, but how to draw deeply from the riches of the gospel as they endure extraordinary pressures.
Why This Training Matters So Much
Training indigenous leaders in biblical church planting remains critically important in China. But over the last several years, as persecution and suffering have intensified, we have come to believe that this Spiritual Formation course may be even more important for many of these leaders during this particular season.
They do not simply need methods for planting and strengthening churches. They need biblical and theological foundations that will sustain their own souls, deepen their communion with Christ, and help them persevere with faith, courage, humility, and joy.
Years ago, before the most recent waves of persecution, I was able to travel to China and teach this material personally in secure locations, sometimes in the heart of major cities. But after another severe government crackdown, several leaders connected with our ministry were imprisoned. One has now remained in prison for approximately eight years.
That forced us to develop a new model of training.
Today, rather than depending on my physical presence in China, we are increasingly seeking to train trainers who can train others.
You can see part of that multiplication happening in this photograph.
I am pictured in the upper portion of the screen. Also participating is Moses Han, a Pathway Learning staff member who served as my teaching assistant at Reformed Theological Seminary for three years and whom I later trained to teach this course. Moses is now planting an ethnic Chinese church in the Orlando area, where I continue to coach him.
And this week, another Chinese leader participated as Moses’ apprentice. He is now being equipped to become a trainer himself and, Lord willing, will teach this Spiritual Formation course for the first time during the coming year.
That progression is deeply encouraging to me:
I taught Moses. Moses is now helping train another trainer. And that trainer will soon begin equipping still more leaders.
This is one of the central visions of Pathway Learning—not merely to teach courses, but to multiply faithful indigenous leaders who can equip others in their own language, culture, and context.
Please Pray
Would you pray especially for these brothers and sisters?
Please pray that the truths of God’s Word—and especially the riches of the gospel—would be planted deeply in their minds and hearts.
Pray that God would give them courage and boldness as they serve Christ under great pressure.
Pray that suffering and persecution would not rob them of their joy in Christ.
Pray that these leaders would be strengthened personally so that they can continue strengthening others.
And pray that this growing movement of training trainers would continue multiplying throughout China for many years to come.
Thank you for praying, giving, and standing with Pathway Learning. Your partnership helps make this kind of deep, sustained, gospel-centered training possible in places where it is desperately needed.
For the King!
Steve Childers
President & CEO, Pathway Learning
ATTN: Don’t miss our newest Pathway Learning book in the Faith, Hope, and Love Trilogy by Childers and Frame: Click here
