Bing Wang and Zhiliang Wang are laughing and smiling, hugging and bowing as they shake people’s hands at Norwich (Alliance) Chinese Christian Church (NCCC) in Connecticut. The brothers, in their seventies, are beginning the New Year with new life—today, they were baptized as followers of Jesus Christ.
Bing and Zhiliang’s story began in China, where they were raised under the cloud of atheism, taught to have contempt for all religion. Their paths were similar. They pursued higher education, with one becoming a scientist. For many years, they were content to believe that God did not exist and Christians were superstitious and uninformed. They married in traditional Chinese custom, worked many years in China, and immigrated to the United States.
Their first exposure to the Light came through their wives, who attended a Bible study at Norwich Alliance Church, led by Mei Fong Chau, assistant to the director of the Chinese Studies Program at Nyack (New York) College. Chau and several students from the college traveled twice a month to the church to lead a small group of Chinese believers in fellowship, worship, and teaching God’s Word.
More than 10,000 Chinese people live in this part of Connecticut, with no Mandarin-speaking congregations within 60 miles. The believers, all less than five years old in Christ, wanted to start a Chinese church. With the help of the Chinese Church Association of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, the NCCC church has grown, hired a pastor, and baptized more than 100 believers, including Bing and Zhiliang and their wives.
Each brother told his story of politely tolerating his wife’s faith while he held fast to his belief in science over religion. But when their wives invited them to attend a Christian camp last summer, the brothers agreed to go.
“I went to be polite,” said one of the men. “I didn’t think I would hear anything that would change my thinking. But by the end of the week, I knew there is a God and that Jesus is my Savior!”
Both men smiled like boys who had just discovered a great secret. This Chinese New Year they celebrate as new creations in Christ.
—Charles Tyree, pastor of Norwich Alliance Church, consulting pastor of Norwich Chinese Christian Church