Schism by Christie Chui-Shan Chow;

Author:Christie Chui-Shan Chow;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 3)
Published: 2021-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

REEMERGED MALE LEADERSHIP

Adventism in Horizontal Dyke began when Pastor Pan Zizhang held tent meetings locally in the 1930s. Upon hearing Pan’s preaching, several villagers accepted the Adventist message. The new converts began practicing Sabbath worship at their homes. Tragically, Pan died young, in 1938.3 Though his son was gone, Pan’s father, Pan Lizhai, would not allow the same fate to happen to Adventism. He laid a firm foundation for the Adventist faith by purchasing a lot for building a church—the first Adventist house of gathering in Horizontal Dyke. Women leadership was significant from the church’s founding. In addition to the two women evangelists, surnamed Li and Zhang, sent by the South Chekiang Mission, local women were very supportive of the ministry. Two major figures relevant to our schism story are Xu Shuliang and Zheng Zhongjiang.4 Xu Shuliang, the widow of Pan Zizhang, was the matriarch of the local Adventist faith when public church activity was forbidden in the 1950s through the 1970s. Zheng Zhongjiang was originally a member of the China Inland Mission (CIM) in Maqiao Village, a thirty-minute drive from Horizontal Dyke Village. After marrying a local villager, she moved to Horizontal Dyke and turned to Adventism upon attending Pan Zizhang’s tent meetings. Adventist activities were banned in 1958. The church was briefly used as a kindergarten until it was completely destroyed in a typhoon in 1959. Two small production brigades divided the bare land among themselves. The occupation lasted until the 1980s.

Upon losing their church premises, the local Adventists met secretly until 1979. That year marked the beginning of two separate house gatherings. In his biography, the reformist leader Shu Chengqian blames the division on the male church leaders of the conservative camp. According to Shu, on a Sabbath in 1978, four male leaders from downtown Wenzhou and two male leaders from outside Wenzhou showed up uninvited at woman Adventist Zheng Zhongjiang’s house gathering. These four nonlocals “instigated” four elderly male Adventists of Horizontal Dyke to “seize power” from Zheng. The men first took her upstairs, and then, in her absence, they announced to the congregants that two local male Adventists were to be ordained as an elder and a deacon.5 A letter written by four male Adventists of Horizontal Dyke provides further details about the aftermath of the event. The letter, dated Wednesday, February 21, 1979, notifies the Wenzhou reformists of the “good news” that they have installed new leaders and have decided to “invite some senior male leaders from outside to come to lead” their church.6

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