We received the sad news that Elder Xianwei Fu (傅先偉長老) passed away. He was a wonderful leader of the church in China serving the Christian community and the country. Personally I have been deeply blessed by Elder Fu from meeting and listening to him and observing how he built relations and handled issues in conferences. Please pray for his family and the Christian community in China.

According to an article from the Episcopal News Service:

“Elder Fu Xianwei, Chairperson of the National Committee of Three-Self Patriotic Movement of . . . the Protestant Church in China, Board Chairperson of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, passed away in Shanghai, China at 04:30am August 20, 2018 aged 74. Elder Fu’s deep conviction and productive service to the Lord was a powerful encouragement to Christians in China. His immensely hardworking for the cause of the Church in China with consistent adherence to the Three-Self principle was a role model and support for his fellow colleagues. The ardent love and care for the state and the church over the decades of his leadership has been exemplified through his commitment to the Reconstruction of Theological Thinking and the advocacy of the indigenization and contextualization of the Church in China. ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”‘ (Revelation 14:13)”

The photo above shows Elder Fu speaking at the China Church Ministry Symposium in Orlando in February 2017.