God’s Saving Grace

Unregistered church leaders and worshipers are still threatened and harassed. Pastors, and especially church movement leaders, are still monitored and arrested. Grace is an itinerant preacher among seven migrant churches established on the outskirts of Shanghai. He is one of a new generation of house church pastors who have felt called into China’s cities to not only share the Gospel, but to begin to transform its neighborhoods and communities by shining the love of Jesus through the way they and other believers live their daily lives.

The Cost of Spreading the Word

To live in cities like Beijing, Shanghai or Chengdu it takes about $600 each month for a church planter and his family to live. Through the generous support of donors just like you, WorldServe Ministries comes alongside these pastors and church planters for 12-24 months to help them get established in their ministry as God raises up a community of believers around them.

About half of that support goes toward renting an apartment. About one-fourth of that support ($150) goes toward food for the family – which also becomes an evangelistic outing as they shop in local markets and befriend many of the vendors and vegetable merchants. The other fourth is often applied toward ministry efforts – mainly bus and subway fares. These pastors also receive a small amount of support from the house churches they serve to provide for other needs.

Create a Spark

Assistance provided to these young church planters by the church movement leaders through the generosity of WorldServe’s partners like you is often used to spark commitments from their local house churches to provide a small amount of monthly support — and more importantly the prayer covering for these young church planters.

Even with the support of WorldServe’s generous partners, these pastors and their families barely make enough to get by in the urban areas – and they still rely on Christ to provide their ongoing needs that come up when a child or spouse gets sick, or when clothes of other resources area needed.

Church planters like Grace need your help to establish ministries in urban areas. Your generous giving to pastors and church planters provides an encouragement that they know is straight from God. The smiles on their face and the thank you notes and emails passed along to us are filled with praises and joy and boldness to continue on.