To all brothers and sisters who were moved by the Holy Spirit on the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10), peace be with you.

Yesterday, my former school notified me to return and complete the procedures for transferring my personnel file and social security. The school’s Party Secretary said, “We’ve been hoping you would come around for three whole years. Now that we’ve heard you’ve become a pastor, we know we will never get you back.” He also told me that in the past year, two more students had committed suicide by jumping from buildings. In Chengdu, which university has not had a single student suicide during any year? “Hypothetically,” I said, “if one day Chengdu University needs a chaplain, you can ask my church to send me back.”

Just before last Sunday, a teacher texted me, saying, “Because I am a teacher, I must teach my students; otherwise, I would let them down. To insist on worshiping on the Lord’s Day would be legalism.”

I replied, “If you truly believe that Jesus is the Messiah, if you truly believe that the Kingdom of Heaven has arrived, then ask yourself this: in a place where students take their own lives year after year, what are we really doing that’s letting them down?”

Why did the monks of the ancient church think that entering the desert blessed the city; that fasting themselves fed the church; that leaving the crowd served it?

Why don’t we see it this way: If you don’t worship on Sunday, aren’t you letting down those children taking extra classes? If you miss church, aren’t you letting down thousands of young people who join the Party? If you don’t set yourself apart from this world, aren’t you letting down a world that desperately needs the Gospel?

Why don’t we think that skipping Sabbath worship fails children who make up classes? Or that missing church fails the innumerable youths who join the Party? Does not standing apart from the world hinder our mission to reach places that need the Gospel?

Yes, the Reformed faith believes in and encourages believers to serve society and renew culture. The worldly people think that influencing society requires cooperation. But the mystery of the cross, and Christ’s choice in bearing it, was unexpected by all his followers.

Who, in the past two thousand years, has epitomized non-cooperation with society? Christ. What is the pinnacle of non-cooperation with society? The cross of Christ.

Who, for two thousand years, has been society’s most influential model? Christ. What is the model for changing society? The cross of Christ.

The Gospel’s mystery influences non-cooperative individuals by our own non-cooperation. To attract those who suffer by suffering.

So I replied to this believer, “Suppose, for the sake of the Gospel, you refused to make up classes on the Lord’s Day and declared that to the whole school in front of your students. Suspension, demotion, or–if God permits–dismissal may indeed occur. In ten years, Lord willing, some students may still remember their teacher before they lose their relationship, their job, or their life by jumping off a building.”

If you say, “That is beautiful, but I can’t do it.” I would say, “Yes, neither can I. But the Lord knows, and He is merciful. How about we admit, childlike, that we can’t deceive ourselves or society with worldly values or ‘spiritual’ language? ”

Imagine if ten million Christians in China had the faith to peacefully resist the world! What if they refused to let the Lord’s Day be shifted to a public holiday and declined to work overtime on Sundays through non-violent non-cooperation? Dear brothers and sisters, next year, or the year after at the latest, the practice of adjusting holidays will no longer be possible in this country. The church’s power is evident through suffering.

What is evangelism? What is mission? Non-cooperation with society manifests the Gospel’s blessings. What mission can be claimed by believers unwilling to lose their jobs for the Gospel? The Gospel does not imply disregarding the law. Rather, it calls us to speak of the law not legalistically, but through the lens of the Gospel. For the law serves as the blueprint of our sanctification, the channel of our evangelism, and the driving force of our mission.

In this crooked and perverse generation, I must assert that ‘non-violent non-cooperation’ is the church’s fundamental stance toward the world. In this process of ‘non-violent non-cooperation,’ enduring personal and collective humiliation, loss, persecution, and even death is the eternal way of the cross for the church until Christ’s return.

The church’s path to influencing society is not through accolades like the Nobel Peace Prize, but through emulating Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. Christians who refuse the Cross lack a genuine longing for Christ’s second coming. Those seeking to influence society through mere ‘cooperation’ are crucifying Christ anew.

Therefore, let the Lord’s church proclaim: We will worship God on the Lord’s Day, regardless of constitutional or legal dictates. We will assemble, publish, and preach the Gospel, irrespective of constitutional or legal constraints. We will educate our children according to the Bible, notwithstanding any constitutional or legal provisions. If the Lord permits, we will live for this cause. If the Lord permits, we will die for it.

Nonviolent non-cooperation is the voluntary surrender of our claim to rights.

Nonviolent non-cooperation is the proclamation of the Kingdom ‘s coming.

Nonviolent non-cooperation is an assault on the evil within our hearts.

Nonviolent non-cooperation is a commitment to the gospel mission.

Nonviolent non-cooperation is a confession of faith in the way of the Cross.

May the Lord’s peace be with all who walk the path of the cross and eagerly await His coming.

Your brother in Christ, Wang Yi, Easter 2012.