Ling-Sheng Zhang (張靈生

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: Zhāng Língshēng, 1863 - ?), was born in

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

county,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Zhang converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

at the age of thirty seven and became a member of the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

church for seven years and was then appointed as a

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

for three years. In 1909 after hearing a testimony from a church Elder, Ling-sheng went to the

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

Apostolic Faith Mission to study. Zhang returned home on 21 December of that same year and entered a church hall one morning in order to pray alone. It was at this time he began experiencing

glossolalia Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...

, claiming to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. The following year after closely studying the

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

doctrines Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...

, he subsequently changed his

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...

services to Saturdays instead of Sunday. During 1913 and 1914 Ling-Sheng began forming the "

True Jesus Church The True Jesus Church (TJC) is a non-denominational Christian Church that originated in Beijing, China, during the Pentecostal movement in the early twentieth century. The True Jesus Church is currently one of the largest Christian groups in Ch ...

" and held services at his home with friends and relatives. In 1917 Ling-Sheng went to the Church of God in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and there he met an

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missionary named Berntsen who also kept the Sabbath on Saturdays and whom preached on issues concerning the

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

of the Holy Spirit. Ling-sheng then accepted the

laying on of hands The laying on of hands is a religious practice. In Judaism ''semikhah'' ( he, סמיכה, "leaning f the hands) accompanies the conferring of a blessing or authority. In Christian churches, this practice is used as both a symbolic and formal met ...

by Berntsen and two other Elders and as a result was ordained as a Deacon. In the Spring of 1918, Ling-sheng started preaching the gospel of the True Jesus Church in co-operation with

Paul Wei Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

, another co-worker. Most of their labour was concentrated in the Northern regions of

. Ling-Sheng later returned to his hometown of

and settled down and became the pastor of the local church.

Notes

#The Apostolic Faith Mission's three basic faiths were: ##Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit through speaking in tongues, ##belief in the One True God instead of

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

and ##performing baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus (instead of the Father and the Holy Spirit). ##Berntsen 's Apostolic Faith church also performed

feet washing Maundy (from Old French ''mandé'', from Latin ''wikt:mandatum, mandatum'' meaning "command"), or Washing of the Saints' Feet, Washing of the Feet, or Pedelavium or Pedilavium, is a religious Rite (Christianity), rite observed by various Chris ...

. However his church later changed to the Church of God and later switched again to the

Assembly of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

See also

Notes

Further reading