Faithful Servant

His Life. Ji Zhiwen, known in the West as Andrew Gih, was a gifted evangelist whose long ministry was divided almost equally between years in China and years among the Overseas Chinese churches. Ji Zhiwen was born in Shanghai in 1901 and was baptized in 1925 by Leland Wang. That same year he began his ministry as an evangelist leading the Bethel Worldwide Evangelistic Band, an outgrowth of Shanghais Bethel Mission. His associates were Frank Ling, and teenage musicians Philip Lee and Lincoln Nieh. In April 1931, Ji invited John Sung to join the Band, and a fruitful 2 -year collaboration followed. After a trip to Shandong, Ji and Sung were speakers at the Shanghai Bible Conference in August, a gathering that attracted over 1,200 and saw every province in China but one represented. The Band was committed to taking the Gospel to the remotest parts of China, and at the conclusion of the conference Sung accepted Jis invitation to join the Bands work. They traveled through Chinas three northeastern provinces (Manchuria) on a four-month trip, and even in the midst of the Japanese invasion, they saw over 3,000 come to Christ. There were marvelous responses in Shenyang and Harbin among Koreans and Russians as well as Chinese. They next traveled through south China on a six-month campaign, and during this time Sung emerged as the primary speaker while Ji focused on prayer meetings and counseling. They returned to Shanghai for another summer Bible Conference, and in the fall, the Band held meetings in Beijing. Afterwards, Ji took the other three members to Shanxi while Sung went to Tianjin and Zhengzhou. They joined together for another trip through north China in the first half of 1933, but after that summers Bible Conference, the team broke up. Ji and Sung had a falling out in Changsha, and like Paul and Barnabas, they were thereafter used mightily by the Lord in separate ministries.

His Legacy. At one time there were as many as ten Bethel Bands traveling, and in one four-year period they held 3,389 meetings in 133 cities and saw 51,659 people make initial decisions or re-affirmations of faith in Christ. During the years of war with Japan, Ji partnered with J. Edwin Orr to preach in Vietnam and to travel throughout southern and western China, working especially with students and children. In the chaos of post-war China, he saw many college students come to the Lord when he worked with Youth for Christ, leading major evangelistic rallies. In Shanghai, he and his wife Dorcas founded an orphanage and school that would grow into the Evangelize China Fellowship. Ji moved the ministry to Hong Kong in 1949, and in the next decade the ECF expanded to Malaysia, Indonesia and Macau with orphanages, schools, seminaries and churches. Ji moved to the United States before his retirement in 1978. He continued to write and speak in his retirement years, and finally this faithful servant went to be with the Lord in 1985, leaving Dorcas, his wife of 57 years.

His Words on Ministry. "Praise the Lord for choosing me from the meek and lowly of the world and for giving me a ministry of reconciliation. Since I have been entrusted with this ministry of reconciliation, woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel. Although I am nothing, I give myself to the Lord and ask Him to use me for His good will."

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