PIC: jars of clay from l-r: stephen mason, guitar, bass; charlie lowell, synthesizer, organ, piano; matt odnark,guitar, vocal; and dan haseltine, lead vocals.

The guys from Jars of Clay share their newfound love for the persecuted church

Seven days. Two countries. Lots of rice bowls. And a major case of jetlag. Sound like a whirlwind summer extravaganza? Maybe. But for Jars of Clay, this itinerary turned out to be a life-changing trip that they won’t soon forget. Last June, the guys headed to China and Vietnam for a week so that they could meet up with a handful of underground churches and church leaders. In a region where taking a stand for Jesus and sharing your faith with others could cost you your life, the band wasn’t sure what to expect. What they found just might surprise you.

China 101
If you’re like most, you know the basics. The Chinese government, a Communist system, is not a big fan of Christianity. While there is the “registered” (government controlled) Christian church, most believers would agree that there’s not much in the way of free worship happening within these walls. Often police officers are present. It’s also assumed that typically there are plain-clothed individuals in attendance, just to make sure that the pastor isn’t saying anything he “shouldn’t.” Believe it or not, these parishes frequently run by non-Christians. In some cases, the pastors don’t even get to write their own sermons—they are forced to leave this duty to the government officials as well.

So what’s with all the rules? To Communists, true Christianity is a very real threat to their way of governing. They don’t like the fact that the Gospel encourages unity among its followers and offers hope beyond the immediate conditions of life in this world. Communism and atheism often go hand in hand and the Communist leaders do not like the idea that Christianity emphasizes a law, God’s law, that is higher than their own. In short, officials see this sort of teaching as a threat—which is why they try so hard to control people’s beliefs.

Coming Home
This leaves Christians with one other option—house churches (not registered with the government and, therefore, considered illegal). It was among these people that Jars of Clay spent most of their time, both in China and Vietnam. Each week, pastors and lay people secretly meet in homes across the country. They pack into small rooms for hours in order to hear true biblical teaching.

This was an intense experience for the band. “It’s crazy to think that after 15 minutes of listening to a pastor preach, my filter goes off—that’s about all I can take,” admits Dan. “But for the Chinese people, they have to basically endanger their lives to get spiritual food. And so they’ll go there, sit in the sweltering heat, with all of these people, for however long, just to be fed.”

Power of Persecution
Dan is describing a good day! Often these church leaders and their congregants are arrested and imprisoned for no good reason. Their meeting places are demolished. Their lives are threatened, and they are forced to endure torturous conditions while behind bars.

While you might assume that such dire circumstances would discourage the believers in these countries, quite the opposite has proven true. According to Matt, “It seems like the heat and the pressure that the government puts on almost does more to grow the home-church movement. One of the biggest ways the home-church movement has grown is when the government shuts down a house.”

According to the pastors the band met with, when a home shuts down, the congregation spreads out. Lets say that that church had 60 people. Then one day, the doors are shut and the pastor is imprisoned. Seem hopeless? Hardly. The 59 remaining people split up into groups of two or three and begin new house churches all over the region. Simply through word of mouth, these new churches soon have 60-plus people showing up at their doors each week. So, instead of one church serving sixty people, you now have close to 30 separate churches with 60 people each. That’s 1,800 believers! And that’s happening all the time. The pastors say that in China, there are 8,000 converts a day.

“It was encouraging for us as Christians, and as American Christians, to see a place where the church is really growing like we read about in the book of Acts,” Matt recalls. “To see that God is truly at work in our world. It was a special time for us to get a small taste and feel of what He is, and to be encouraged that God who is at work so powerfully in China right now is the same God that we serve here in the states.

The Road
No doubt, Jars of Clay will be processing this trip for a long time. When asked what stood out to them most about their time with the Chinese and Vietnamese people, their answer was clear. “We got over there and realized that the body of Christ is so much bigger than we ever thought. It was like being introduced to your foot for the first time. It was like finally seeing another part of your body that you never knew existed.”

It was in this realization that one of their recent songs, “This Road,” from the new worship album City On A Hill, took on a whole new meaning. “It was a song that we wrote that was centered around the beginnings and endings of all of Paul’s letters. Continuously he would always bless the church with peace and grace. He felt like this was a way to bless this church. When you sit across from these people [in China and Vietnam] and you watch them smile and laugh and have this incredible joy while they’re explaining what’s been done to them and what they’re dealing with, you can’t focus on the persecution anymore. You have to focus on what God is doing in the midst of it,” says Dan.

How Can We Help?
Jars of Clay has discovered a new passion—a passion for the persecuted church. Even though you may not be able to experience it up close and personal, you can help! According to Jars of Clay, helping these brothers and sisters in Christ may not be as difficult as you might imagine. Dan says, “People our age and younger don’t really have a cause. We’ve never been through a war, there doesn’t seem like there’s anything that we’re really passionate about— together, as a society. But this seems like such a huge thing to find out about and then to act on—even if that just means praying. There are not a lot of tangible things we can do. But really all they want us to do is pray for them. And the crazy thing is that they are praying for us too.”

Mark your calendars! November 12 is the 2000 International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. For more information, or to learn more about how you or your youth group can pray for specific needs, log on to the Prayer for the Persecuted Church web site at www.persecutedchurch.org.