1983 - Martha

September 1983

Xi’an, Shaanxi

A Chinese house church Christian known only by her English name ‘Martha’ was born in 1959. As a teenager she had committed her life to Christ and was immediately transformed. From that point on all she wanted to do was preach the gospel to her fellow countrymen and see Jesus become known to as many people as possible.

In 1982 Martha was engaged, but decided to postpone her marriage for two years to concentrate on delivering Bibles to wherever the need was most urgent. A mission leader arranged to meet her in the city of Xi’an, the ancient capital of China. The meeting was set for 9 p.m., but Martha did not turn up until about one o’clock the next morning.

She apologized, and it was explained that she had been delayed because she was delivering Bibles in a nearby village, when “the local commune leaders discovered what she was doing. They beat her up, robbed her, and threw her on a deserted road.”[1] The mission leader noticed something was wrong with Martha. Even though her body was as thin as a wire her face was bloated and somewhat distorted. He asked her what the matter was, presuming her condition was a consequence of the beating she had received the previous day.

“‘Oh, no,’ she said. ‘I’ve had this problem for some time now.’ Then she rolled up her pants to show me legs covered with stings and mosquito bites. As she travelled in the remote countryside of China, often she had to sleep in deserted huts or even out in the fields. She was literally eaten up by bugs or mosquitoes.

‘Tomorrow we must go to a doctor,’ I urged her. ‘No, no,’ she said, ‘I have to catch an early train to Inner Mongolia. Where are the Bibles?’ Her only concern was to get the Bibles to Inner Mongolia!”[2]

In August 1983 Martha disappeared while she was travelling through the countryside with another delivery of precious Bibles. It was amid a nationwide crackdown against crime and religion, and when she failed to appear many friends were concerned for her welfare. Later a scribbled note was received from Martha. She had been arrested and charged for distributing ‘superstitious materials’. The little note read: “I don’t know what the penalty will be, but please pray for me. ‘Pray for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am now an ambassador in chains’ (Eph. 6:19-20).”[3]

A few weeks later news filtered through that the 24-year-old Martha had been executed. She had paid the ultimate price for her energetic and unabashed love for Jesus Christ, and had been counted worthy to die as a martyr.

1. David Y. P. Wang, 8 Lessons We Can Learn from the Church in China (Hong Kong: Asian Outreach Publications, n.d.), 5.
2. Wang, 8 Lessons We Can Learn from the Church in China, 6.
3. Wang, 8 Lessons We Can Learn from the Church in China, 6-7.