Wang’s life invites us to ask, What’s the nature of a Christian hero? Does such a person exist? In the creation of heroes, humanity is prone to navel-gazing. Throughout history, men and women have been tempted to make more of each other than they deserve, and it doesn’t serve the persecuted church to put it on a pedestal. After all, there’s only one true Hero of the story. Only one man, Jesus, is worthy of our full admiration and devotion. Apart from him, there are no original heroes, only disciples who, more often than not, look like faulty copies of the template.

Recently, an aged house-church pastor died in one of China’s global cities. Unlike the many famous Christians whose obituaries you read, you’ve never heard this pastor’s name. But his name is known by the Lord who gave him life, called him to ministry, and has now welcomed him into eternity.

Pastor Wang lived during a tumultuous time in China. Over his lifetime, China endured invasion by Japan, the Second World War, the Chinese Communist Party’s victory, the Cultural Revolution, China’s reopening and economic rise, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, Wang witnessed the explosive growth of the Christian church in his homeland.

Formed Through Suffering

Born into a Christian family in the 1930s, Wang experienced renewal and conversion as a teen and participated in Christian student movements and retreats. He entered medical college after the Chinese Communist Party came to power but refused to cease his Christian activities. As a result, he was labeled a “backward element” and frequently criticized and excluded. During this time, he met another student—a young woman who was also a Christian—and they were married. They had two sons.

From a young age, Wang felt called to pastor; however, China’s political and social environment didn’t allow him to pursue this calling as a young man. Instead, he found meaning and purpose in serving people as a doctor.

With the advent of the Cultural Revolution, Wang and his family faced significant hardship. Wang’s wife had already been sent to work in a hospital in another province, dividing the family geographically. In the 1970s, the family was further separated when Wang’s openness about his Christian faith led him to be imprisoned for five years for “counter-revolutionary” activities, leaving his two young sons in the care of their grandparents. After his release, Wang was reinstated in his medical profession and his wife was finally reassigned to work in the same city.

As a young college student facing public criticism under the Communist regime, Wang had learned the most important lesson of his spiritual life—for every Christian, to walk with Christ is to participate in his earthly suffering. This belief shaped Wang’s entire life and sustained him during his many struggles during the Revolution. Yet, according to those who knew and loved him, this conviction wasn’t expressed with a dour attitude toward the world or withdrawal from society. Instead, Wang was empowered to do good work by this understanding of the Christian’s call to suffer with Christ.

Fruitful in Obscurity

In the 1990s, Wang battled severe stomach cancer. After making a full recovery, he volunteered every year as a doctor in one of China’s most impoverished provinces.

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