7 August 2013 - Open Doors.
Lamb was arrested and imprisoned during one of
the first big waves of persecution in Mao's China, when estimates put the number
of Christians in the country at a few million. Between 1955 and 1978 he spent
over 20 years in labour camps because of his refusal to merge his illegal house
church into the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the state-regulated Protestant
Church.
He saw his wife for the last time during the five months that he was on remand; she died in 1977, a year before Lamb's sentence ended.
After his release, he again took up his work as a pastor, and was able to witness the exponential growth of the Chinese Church.
In 1979 he started his house church in 35 Da Ma Zhan in Guangzhou. Attendance grew quickly and he had to move his congregation to a bigger building in the same city. Today his urban house church is still unregistered, but tolerated by the authorities.
Simultaneously, he became an example for millions of believers in China, where it is estimated that there are now about 80 million Christians.
He saw his wife for the last time during the five months that he was on remand; she died in 1977, a year before Lamb's sentence ended.
After his release, he again took up his work as a pastor, and was able to witness the exponential growth of the Chinese Church.
In 1979 he started his house church in 35 Da Ma Zhan in Guangzhou. Attendance grew quickly and he had to move his congregation to a bigger building in the same city. Today his urban house church is still unregistered, but tolerated by the authorities.
Simultaneously, he became an example for millions of believers in China, where it is estimated that there are now about 80 million Christians.
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