Suffering needs a greater answer-it needs a greater redeemer. The world and the heart of every human is evidence of a brokenness that cannot be fixed by political policies or nationalistic determination. Why? Because you will feel terrific about yourself: everyone else has run away and only you have stood firm” (p. Yang Xibo warns, “You may be under government persecution and suffer from injustice, but even if you persevere and prevail against them, you may still be in danger. Sadly, that brokenness isn’t simply evident in the physical world, but also in the hearts of people who persevere during persecution. Brokenness in this world is a symptom of sin: opposition and rebellion against the creator. There is a greater problem than warring dynasties and uncontrollable viruses. China’s history, while rich, is nonetheless broken. While documentaries and academics will often point to the rich history of a place like China, Simon Liu reminds us that history should not be observed through rose colored glasses, saying, “These 5,000 years of culture are actually 5,000 years of sin” (p. The book begins by exposing and explaining the problem that is experienced by all humans: the world is broken. In doing so they remind us that this is the same thing that God has done throughout history: grow and preserve his people in faith amid suffering. Nation and Liu seek to point Western Christians to the reality of what God has done with his people in the wilderness of modern China.
This gospel narrative has been treasured by the Chinese church through “the horrors of the Cultural Revolution…the economic reforms of the 1980s… the urban house church has grown against the backdrop of rampant corruption, alienation, and social decay” (p. 3), a union that is accomplished through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Rather, it is shaped by that experience, but it “is fundamentally rooted in the doctrine of the Christian’s union with Christ” (p. A theology of suffering is not developed purely by the experience of suffering. The three sections, with meditations on brokenness, redemption, and hope, serve to order the book around the narrative of the central message of Christianity: the gospel. This book is organized into three thematic sections, with three meditations per section, each by a different house church pastor or leader. A church that knows the Christ and knows the way of the cross is a church worth listening to and learning from. Our strength is in bearing his cross, and our joy is in his suffering” (p. These churches know that “hope is not in princes and power, but rather in the Savior who unites us to himself, his death and resurrection. China is not simply “the mission field,” but a country that has theologically rich and faithful churches. In this collection of nine meditations from modern Chinese pastors, editors Hannah Nation and Simon Liu invite the reader to “hear something about walking with Jesus that we have been missing” (p. This is the concern and heart behind the book, Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church. This theological depth is worth listening to and learning from, just as we have listened to and learned from oppressed saints who have gone before us in Western church history. Most Christians know that the Chinese house church has grown vastly in its breadth, but along with breadth it has also grown in theological depth. While much has been written, studied, and analyzed about the Chinese house church, what is sadly neglected is the voice of the church in China. This has certainly been part of the story of how God has established his church in China: faith grown in the wilderness. This is not to say that suffering is experienced exclusively by Christians, but that Christians around the world regularly grow and even flourish in the face of opposition, oppression, and ostracization. Throughout history, where Christianity has existed it has often been accompanied by suffering. Bellingham, WA: Kirkdale Press, an imprint of Lexham Press, 2022, 192 pages. Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church edited by Hannah Nation and Simon Liu.
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