Wang Mingdao

Born in Turbulent Times

Wang Mingdao was born in Beijing on 25 July 1900, during the Boxer Uprising of the Gengzi year, when the capital was in turmoil. His father died in terror while taking refuge, and he was raised by his mother. His original name was Wang Yongsheng (王永盛).

Conversion and Resolve

As a boy he studied at a church-run school, and at about fourteen he came to faith in Christ; his faith gradually grew firm. In 1920 he changed his name to “Mingdao” (“to make the Way known”), resolving to spend his life bearing witness to God's truth. Later, because he held to the conviction of adult baptism, which differed from the position of the school he served, he resolutely received baptism and left his teaching post, and from then on gave himself wholly to preaching.

Founding the Spiritual Food Quarterly

Around 1925 he began holding Bible study meetings in his home in Beijing. In 1927 he founded the Spiritual Food Quarterly (灵食季刊), raising the funds for its publication himself; its contents were mostly Bible exposition, apologetics, and teaching on Christian living. The quarterly circulated throughout every province of the country, had a far-reaching influence, and became an important spiritual periodical for the Chinese church in the twentieth century.

Building the Christian Tabernacle

After years of meeting in rented premises, in 1937 a meeting hall on Shijia Hutong was completed and dedicated, and named the “Christian Tabernacle” (基督徒会堂). It was an independent, self-supporting church, not attached to any Western mission or denomination, maintained by the offerings of its members, and it embodied the indigenous ideal of self-government, self-support, and self-propagation. Wang Mingdao pastored there for nearly twenty years and also travelled to preach in many places, his journeys covering the greater part of China.

Holding Fast to the Faith

Throughout his life he wrote tirelessly, producing pieces such as “We Are for the Faith” (我们是为了信仰). He held to fundamentalist faith and stressed the authority of the Bible and the reality of the believer's life. In the 1950s, facing changes in the situation of the church, he declined to join the relevant organisation out of considerations of the separation of church and state and of the conscience of faith, and kept to his own position.

Imprisoned for the Faith

In August 1955 Wang Mingdao and his wife, Liu Jingwen (刘景文), were arrested. The following year he was released for a time, but, deeply remorseful and unable to rest with the statement of repentance he had signed, he of his own accord repudiated what he had said, and in 1958 he was imprisoned again and later given a heavy sentence. For many years thereafter he remained in prison, moved from place to place, yet his faith never wavered.

Release and Later Years

Around early 1980 he was released from prison. In his later years he moved to Shanghai to live with his family; though his strength was failing, he was respected by many believers. Wang Mingdao went to rest in the Lord in Shanghai on 28 July 1991, at the age of ninety-one. His autobiography These Fifty Years (五十年来), published around 1950, records the course of his faith and his resolve.

A Spiritual Forebear

Wang Mingdao held to what he believed all his life and did not change with circumstances. Later generations regard him as a spiritual forebear of the Chinese house churches, and his writings and the witness of his life still deeply influence the Chinese church today.