Last Friday evening our church was host to the Moody Men’s Collegiate Choir under the direction of Dr. H. E. Singley. It was a wonderful evening of music; I think it was the most outstanding event at our church in the last 15 years. The voices of those 28 young men absolutely filled our sanctuary. At times I was moved to tears, especially during their acapella version of Be Still, My Soul. And the young men themselves were a breath of fresh air: respectful, polite, enthusiastic and unashamed of the Gospel. They were of different races, backgrounds, and even nationalities, but they were unified by their faith in Jesus Christ. I hadn’t really expected the diversity. And I hadn’t expected to have a close encounter with a Chinese Christian, right here in our home church.
Some of the men were a little older than the rest, and had already been involved in ministry before coming to Moody Bible Institute. My wife and I hosted two of the men in our home that night. One was an energetic pastoral studies student named Garrett. (He played guitar, so we hit it right off.) The other was a soft-spoken Chinese man from Beijing, named Enoch. I pronounced his name “Enuk”, and he politely corrected me: “E-nock”, he’d say. After a couple of times I caught on.
In the hustle and bustle of loading and unloading their luggage, settling them in their rooms and making sure they had all the snacks they could eat, my wife and I asked all the normal questions: what were they studying at Moody, when would they graduate, where were they from, what had they been doing before coming to Moody? When you’re trying to listen while doing several other things at the same time, things don’t always “soak in” right away. As I began to get ready for bed, I remembered something that stopped me in my tracks.
I went to the foot of the stairs and called out Enoch’s name. He came to the top of the stairs, and I said: “Enoch, did you say that you served as a pastor in the underground church in China?” He nodded and said, “Yes.” I was stunned. I said, “It is an honor to have you in our home.” He said, “It is an honor for me to be here.” I said, “I would very much like to talk to you about your experiences in the underground church.” He smiled and said: “We will talk tomorrow morning.” (Translation: “It’s late, Dave, and I’m going to bed now.”)
We did talk the next morning. Enoch was thirty-two years old. He had begun a church in an apartment building under the supervision of some older leaders in the Chinese underground church. He said their number quickly grew to 70 people, meeting together to worship every week in a single apartment room. So they started a second meeting in another apartment. Then another. And finally a fourth. In the end, there were four gatherings of about 70 people each in four different apartments. And Enoch was the pastor over them all.
I asked him about the Chinese government’s attitude toward the underground church. Enoch told me that the police try to ignore them for the most part, unless they try to do something in public…like evangelize. “But”, Enoch told me, “Jesus commanded us to tell others about Him.” So these Chinese Christians boldly share their faith with others, even though they know it will bring the police down on them.
Enoch himself has conducted open air meetings, preaching on the street and attempting to lead people to pray to Christ. I think he told he he’d been arrested twice or three times because of this. He shrugged it off. “Average stay in jail for Christians arrested by police: less than a day.” He told me he knew a young woman who served as a Music Minister in an underground church, who was preparing to come to the United States to study at Moody Bible Institute. He asked her, “How many times have you been arrested?” She told him. “Seven. No, eight. Oh, I forget how many.”
I recently traded in a guitar I didn’t play much for a new acoustic guitar. Honestly, it is the best sounding guitar I have ever owned. But I was reluctant to even look at this brand of guitars. Do you know why? Because they are made in China. An American company designs them and has them built overseas in a Chinese factory. I was resistant to buying a guitar made in China, but finally, I was won over by the sound: the construction is flawless, and the sound is deep, sweet and woody.
I showed the guitar to Enoch, and I said: “Enoch, the thought occurred to me that maybe some of my brothers and sisters in the underground church might have worked on this guitar…?” He smiled and said, “That is entirely possible.” I loosened the strings on the guitar and asked him to sign his name on the label in the soundhole. This he did gladly. I told him, “When I look at it, I will remember to pray for you.” He said, “Would you pray, that God would give me a wife?” I grinned and said, “I can do that!”
After breakfast with them at church on Saturday morning, we said our goodbyes and watched them board their bus for the trip back to Chicago. I hugged my Chinese brother, and we exchanged email addresses. As they drove away, I was grateful to God for the privilege of meeting Enoch.
I am sometimes astonished at the unexpected meetings God can arrange for you, without even having to leave your hometown! I had known Enoch for less than 18 hours, but I don’t think I will ever forget meeting this courageous young pastor. He was “the surprise in the box” of the Moody Men’s Choir coming to sing for us! (And to think some of you stayed home to watch television. I hope it was reruns.)
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor David