This Is Hopeಮಾದರಿ

Day 7: Planting Churches as Our Calling

Brother Yun, also known as ‘The Heavenly Man’, is a Chinese Christian leader who was highly influential in the church planting movements across house churches in China. After converting to Christianity as a teenager after his father’s miraculous healing, Yun felt a strong call to preach the gospel despite the intense persecution in his homeland.

Without formal training or even access to Bibles, he fasted, prayed, and memorised scripture, eventually becoming a pivotal figure in China’s underground house church movement. His ministry spread rapidly, focusing on empowering lay believers to evangelise and plant home churches across rural and urban China. Yun’s conviction led to him igniting one of the fastest growing Christian movements in the world.

This conviction is powerfully mirrored in Acts 13–14. In Acts 13:1–3, the Holy Spirit directly instructed the church in Antioch to set apart Paul and Barnabas for missionary work. This marks a pivotal moment in the early church, as the Gospel was now preached intentionally to the Gentiles. Crucially, the church itself—through prayer, fasting, and worship—was the sending body. Paul and Barnabas were not independent agents, but missionaries commissioned and supported by their local congregation. This reminds us that missions should always be rooted in the life and accountability of the local church.

Later in Acts 14:21b–23, despite having experienced persecution in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, Paul and Barnabas chose to return to these same cities. They did so not just to evangelise again, but to strengthen and establish the churches they had planted—appointing leaders and encouraging disciples to remain faithful. Their actions show that church planting is not just about reaching the lost but about building communities of faith that will multiply. Despite real danger, they saw the Church as central to God's redemptive plan (Ephesians 3:10–11).

Their example challenges us today to play a part in God’s global missions through church planting. We can begin to do so by giving to global missions and praying for our global churches. Beyond that, some of us can take part in short-term mission trips and even consider committing ourselves to long-term church planting, as the Lord leads.

Pray and reflect:

• What obstacles (fear, comfort, uncertainty) keep you from fully embracing the call to make disciples and plant churches? Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and to surrender these concerns to the Lord.
• In your own life, how might God be calling you to participate in church planting—whether through going, sending, supporting, or discipling? Take time to hear from God on the role He wants you to play in global missions.