Letters Encourage Chinese Christian Prisoner

Pastor Shi and his family looking at their letters after his release

Pastor Shi Weihan lived in China with his wife and two daughters. Very early one morning, their dog’s loud barking woke them up. Pastor Shi wondered why the dog was making so much noise. Usually he barked only when a group of people came to their house.

Pastor Shi looked out the window. He saw 30 police officers and 20 vehicles.
The pastor knew why the police had come for him. He and other Chinese house-church Christians had been printing Bibles to give away free. China’s Amity Press is the only press allowed to print Bibles legally.

The police took Pastor Shi to jail. They put him in a cell that was about 60 square feet in size. (A 10-foot by 6-foot room would be 60 feet square.) More than 30 other prisoners were already stuffed into the small space.


When the police questioned Pastor Shi, he told them, “The Bible is not a bad book. We are just printing them to preach the gospel.”

The police were irritated at the way Pastor Shi was answering, or not answering, some of their questions. One day, they took his clothes, handcuffed him, and made him stand outside in the cold. Then they sprayed him with cold water.

“God save me,” he prayed. “I don’t want to be here. You helped Peter get out of jail. [See Acts 12.] You can help me today.”

But God did not send an angel to rescue Pastor Shi from jail. Instead, the next time the police sprayed him with cold water, the water felt warm. The Lord reminded him, “My grace is sufficient for you.” [See 2 Corinthians 12:7–10.]

The police let Pastor Shi go free for 37 days, then he had to return to jail. In his new cell, he talked to the prisoners about Jesus, and many men decided to trust Christ as their Savior.

Hope in the Mail

One day a guard took Pastor Shi to an office and showed him piles of letters all addressed to the pastor. Many more letters came to Pastor Shi’s house.

The guard did not let Pastor Shi have the letters. But Pastor Shi knew the letters were God’s way of telling him that he had not been forgotten.
The police did not like the letters. “You have too many friends,” they told Pastor Shi. He replied, “These friends are like my brothers and sisters in America.”

Pastor Shi’s wife and daughters were also encouraged by the letters. “It brought the hope of heaven to our home,” Pastor Shi said. He also said that his father came to Jesus as a result of seeing all the letters from Christians.

Pastor Shi was released from prison in February 2011. He and his family later left China so that he could continue Bible studies in another country.

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