Chinese Church Voices

Caring for Leukemia Patients

Chinese Church Voices is an occasional column of the ChinaSource Blog providing translations of original writing by Christians in China. The views represented are entirely those of the original author; inclusion in Chinese Church Voices does not imply or equal an endorsement by ChinaSource.


As more space opens for Christians to be engaged in society, one of the things they are doing is offering care and encouragement for those who are sick. This article, from the Christian Times, is about some sisters from a church in Shanghai who minister to leukemia patients.

A Church in Shanghai cares for the souls of leukemia patients

Christians from a church in Shanghai visit leukemia patients to offer their concern and bring encouragement and comfort to them and their families.

Of the visits, one of the pastors remarked, "Here you can feel close to the edge of death. In the past, Catholic churches had cemeteries next to them in order to remind people that they are strangers in this world, and that no matter who you are, your life will end. Now is the time to really think about what is meaningful in life."

Two members of the church in Shanghai suffer from leukemia; however because they have experienced the power of God, they have begun caring for others with leukemia. They have been doing this for a year and a half. Every weekend, the pastors and brothers and sisters from the church visit a leukemia hospital to share the Gospel with patients and teach them the Bible. They also help patients with their health care costs and assist the patients' families. In addition, they have comforted many families who have lost loved ones.

A sister recently shared that in the past year and a half of visiting leukemia patients on weekends, she has experienced the tremendous grace of God."Because there is no cure for leukemia, a child in Xi'an passed away; however she and her family all believed.

Because of her great loss, we thought that the child's mother would turn away from God. However, to our surprise, she not only did not turn away from God, she is now even more hungry for God. She said that if there were no God, then it would be even more difficult for her. She also has hope for the future because she will see her daughter again in heaven. This has been a great comfort to her heart."

This mother also used her own possessions to establish a leukemia fund to help other children with leukemia."

Although our desire is is that the children will not leave us, that they will survive, we know that God has his own purposes. Because of testimonies like this, we know that our work is important."

God has called us to this work, so even when we are tired and weak, we continue to visit the patients every week. And each time God has given us his grace and a harvest."

The sisters have the gift of evangelism. Even though they themselves don't have leukemia, some of their family members do. This means that they are also suffering the effect of the disease.

Following one of them around the hospital as she visits the patients, you can see that her eyes are bright and she actively talks to the patients and encourages their families.

Because she has such a good relationship with the doctors and nurses at the hospital, when they see her coming they all say, "here comes the missionaries!"

Using a video link, she offers comfort to patients at their bedsides. This reminds me of the scenes where Jesus cared for the demon-possessed and healed the sick.

Everyone may feel small in today's busy world, and some are small; however, if there is someone to care for our souls, then we can be comforted."

For people in this present day and age, if they do not know Jesus, there is only despair and darkness. This is especially true in hospitals, where people are numb with pain and you can see desperation in their eyes. So we know that we are doing really makes a difference," the evangelist said earnestly.

Original article: 上海一教会关注白血病人群:切实关怀每个灵魂 (translated and posted with permission)translated and posted with permission)

Photo by Danomad KWK, via Flickr

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