The Power of God's Word
Gu Zhi Zhong is 72 years old. This quiet, gentle man remains an active member in the Gospel Church in Zhangjiajie. In fact, he had even signed up for a lay preacher’s training course held annually in his church.
In 1990, Gu’s wife died when she was only 48 years old, leaving him to raise their four children alone. During this period of bereavement and crisis, his brother-in-law invited him to church. There, he saw a book that would change his life.
“I saw an old Bible with traditional Chinese characters which I recognised. I wanted to read the book because of this.” So, he bought a Bible from the church bookshop and began to read. Initially, he did not understand very much of the contents. He did not even know the name “Jesus”. But he persevered in his reading and also began attending Bible study classes in church. Through this gradual process, he came to faith in Jesus.
Gu has personally experienced God’s miraculous saving grace when he had a close shave with death in 2000. He was run over by a heavily loaded van on his way home from church one Sunday. Relating his harrowing experience, Gu shared, “When the wheel rolled over me, I cried out, ‘Lord, help me!’ Amazingly, I was able to get up, completely unharmed! I said to the bystanders, ‘It was Jesus who saved me!’” There were seven eyewitnesses to the accident and all became Christians afterwards! Gu explained, “They had seen what happened, they heard the prayer I cried out, and they heard me say that it was Jesus who saved me. They had seen the miracle right before their eyes, and said, ‘It must be very good to be a Christian.’”
Given that there is only one ordained pastor for every 6,700 Christians in China, lay preachers like Gu are vital to the work. UBS is partnering with the Church in China in the equipping and training of these individuals by providing Study Bibles, Bibles and other resources.
