Holy Week brings suffering into focus. Here’s one story about a pastor in prison, a faith that won't bend and a reminder that some things are worth enduring.
I’ve had several conversations recently about suffering, especially as it relates to being a Christian. It reminded me of a devotion I wrote for my 2021 book Finishing Well: Living with the End in Mind, so I thought I’d share it with you here during Holy Week when we take time to remember Christ and his suffering on our behalf. Sometimes, we are called to suffer for him.
Suffering Well
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
(Romans 8:18)
Pastor Wang Yi, a proponent of greater religious freedom in China, is the pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan province. According to the Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), he, along with his wife Jiang Rong and 150 others in the church, were arrested in December 2018 and charged with “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operations.”
Most have since been released but remain under surveillance. Pastor Wang is still imprisoned and has since been sentenced to nine years in prison. Many of the others are suffering too. The VOM website says they have lost jobs, been evicted, abused, and deprived of food or water. And Pastor Wang has had his assets seized.
The Bible promises suffering and persecution for the Christian (Romans 5:3-4, Philippians 1:29, 2 Corinthians 4:17, 1 Peter 4:12-19, 1 Peter 2:21, 2 Timothy 3:12). It also calls us to remember those who are in chains (Hebrews 13:3, Colossians 4:18). The Christian is either suffering persecution or remembering those who are suffering. As such, it’s a way of life, but it’s only temporary. Such hardship is not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us. That’s not to say that hardships are nothing, but they are brief in relation to spending eternity in glory.
Pastor Wang Yi understands this. Before he was detained, he wrote a document titled “My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience” in the event that he was held more than forty-eight hours. In it, he presents a kingdom understanding of his present circumstances.
“If God decides to use the persecution of this Communist regime against the church to help more Chinese people to despair of their futures,” he wrote, “to lead them through a wilderness of spiritual disillusionment and through this to make them know Jesus, if through this he continues disciplining and building up his church, then I am joyfully willing to submit to God’s plans, for his plans are always benevolent and good.”
Later in his declaration, he writes, “Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family – the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith; no one can make me change my life; and no one can raise me from the dead.”
Suffering well to the end of our earthly life is our calling. It may not be as severe as Pastor Wang Yi’s, but whatever form in which we may find it, we can rejoice in being counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ (Acts 5:41).
Update: As of January 2026, Pastor Wang Yi was still imprisoned. And not surprisingly, Christianity Today reports: “Chinese authorities formally charged Li Yingqiang, an elder and the current leader of Early Rain Covenant Church, with “inciting subversion of state power,” according to a church prayer letter. This was the same charge brought against founding pastor Wang Yi in the church’s first major crackdown in 2018.”
