Peace to you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, who long for one another. 

I have been writing these Pastoral Letters for nearly two years now. Much like love letters, they have become a kind of obsession that I can neither part with nor put down. I recently revised a transcript of brother Yu Jie’s interview with me titled “Christian Communities are the Hope of the World,” in which I discussed my Pastoral Letters. I also wanted to share some of these thoughts and reflections with you.

Yu Jie: I recently came across your printed collection of weekly Pastoral Letters from 2010 titled “Soul Awakening.” These letters, addressed to the members of your church, delve into small, personal matters within the congregation—such as marriages, funerals, birthdays, illnesses, and work—as well as public events like Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace Prize and Ran Yunfei’s arrest. I’ve encountered similar writings from Pastor Lam Kwok Cheung to the members of his church in Hong Kong. But this is the first time I’ve seen such Pastoral Letters from a house church in mainland China, especially compiled into a book. This seems like a new genre for you.

Wang Yi: I began writing these weekly Pastoral Letters during the Advent season of 2009 as an experiment in establishing and shepherding a local congregation. The vision of Early Rain Church is to establish a local church that is public, community-oriented, and governed by elders. These letters also reflect three visions: 

First, I aim to present a pattern for church life that embraces both the sharing of God’s Word and the fellowship of his people. This approach follows the tradition of letter writing in the early church. It challenges believers to commit to their local church and to embrace life together in Christ. The New Testament is replete with examples of vital relationships nurtured through letters exchanged between believers—“And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.” (Acts 15:31) We can relate to this through our own experiences exchanging love letters with our admirers, emails with our friends, or even the occasional note with our spouses after an argument. Throughout history, letters have played a vital role in cultivating fellowship within Christian communities. A recent book specifically explores the place of letters among the church fathers, bishops, and their congregations during Augustine’s time. Prayer letters, for instance, have represented a unique form of correspondence that continues to connect individuals and churches today. In the past, I encouraged students in my Bible study and hermeneutics classes to emulate the apostles by writing annual letters to their churches, small groups, and families. 

Second, I use Pastoral Letters to model a consistent and closely knit Christian community that proclaims the gospel in this city and that bears witness to the Lord’s Word. These everyday scenes of community life might seem familiar to churches abroad, but they remain unfamiliar and challenging for house churches that are navigating the transition to a congregational model within an authoritarian context. May the Lord use this collection of Pastoral Letters to serve as a record and a model, expressing the shared faith of God’s children at Early Rain while offering valuable insights for other churches. 

Third, as the leader of a Reformed Presbyterian church, I use these letters to document the journey of a local church towards reformation, exploring how Reformed theology can achieve a “soft landing” within the practical life of the church as it wobbles and sways and flutters before landing on the solid ground of our salvation. For a young church merely six years old, this is a profoundly real and challenging journey, filled with tension and joy, as well as shame and repentance. The most alluring, adventurous, and romantic aspect of this journey to me is experiencing grace alongside my brothers and sisters, not just as an individual, but as a Christian community. 

In contemporary China, these Pastoral Letters represent a new genre. On the one hand, they are instructional, forming a part of my pastoral ministry. But on the other hand, they are not merely a “Little Red Book” like you find in secular organizations.[1] Even though they are penned by a pastor, they still lack the unique authority derived from expository preaching from the church pulpit. They are primarily epistolary and conversational, but at the same time they also carry the spiritual authority of the pastoral office and the spoken word. For me, they represent a “thematic” approach to pastoral care to complement expository preaching. From a purely literary standpoint, I believe this style, which straddles authority and freedom, is unprecedented in Chinese history. It expresses a vital relationship between the individual and the community that is unfamiliar, even incomprehensible, in the Chinese language, one that is established in Christ.

Thus, the content of these letters includes personal meditations, depictions of church life, and observations on contemporary society. They are filled with words of worship and theological reflections, but they also provide glimpses into the messy reality of our church’s “construction site” and carry the scent of bandages from our church’s “hospital.” Through the intersection between the physical and spiritual lives of my visible brothers and sisters, who belong to the “holy catholic church,” these letters seek to cultivate a living relationship with Christ, to portray a living community that astonishes the world, that inspires and confounds, that elicits reverence and fear.

I long for the day when every member of Early Rain can confidently declare, “I died there, but I also came back to life there.” I consider myself not so much their pastor as their primary witness. When we stand before the judgment seat, when I am the first one summoned by the judge and the angel asks, “Do you know this person?” I pray that I can answer, “Yes, I do. I would recognize him even if he were reduced to ashes.” 

Your servant in Christ, 

Wang Yi 

September 20, 2011 

[1] Editor’s note: The “Little Red Book” refers to a popular collection of statements and speeches written by Mao Zedong titled Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong  (毛主席语录). It was widely distributed during the Cultural Revolution to indoctrinate citizens, students, and soldiers in Maoist ideology.