Zhang Lingsheng

Ling-Sheng Zhang (張靈生 Pinyin: Zhāng Língshēng, 1863 - ?), was born in Shandong county, China. Zhang converted to Christianity at the age of thirty seven and became a member of the Presbyterian church for seven years and was then appointed as a Deacon for three years.

In 1909 after hearing a testimony from a church Elder, Ling-sheng went to the Shanghai 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, claiming to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The following year after closely studying the Seventh-day Adventist doctrines, he subsequently changed his Sabbath services to Saturdays instead of Sunday. During 1913 and 1914 Ling-Sheng began forming the "True Jesus Church" and held services at his home with friends and relatives.

In 1917 Ling-Sheng went to the Church of God in Beijing and there he met an American missionary named Berntsen who also kept the Sabbath on Saturdays and whom preached on issues concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Ling-sheng then accepted the laying on of hands 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, another co-worker. Most of their labour was concentrated in the Northern regions of China. Ling-Sheng later returned to his hometown of Shandong and settled down and became the pastor of the local church.

See also

• Protestant missions in China 1807-1953
• China's TJC History
• Barnabas Zhang

Notes

1. ^ The Apostolic Faith Mission's three basic faiths were:
   1. Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit through speaking in tongues,
   2. belief in the One True God instead of Trinity and
   3. performing baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus (instead of the Father and the Holy Spirit).
   4. Berntsen 's Apostolic Faith church also performed feet washing. However his church later changed to the Church of God and later switched again to the Assembly of God.

Further reading

• The Winds of Foreign religions: Chapter Ten – Barnabas Zhang and the Chinese True Jesus Church (Chinese: 〈異教之風：十、張巴拿巴與中華真耶穌教會〉) ;

Isaac Wei, Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the True Jesus Church – Special Issue, page J5. Published by the TJC General Assembly in Nanjing (1947), page J5 (Chinese: 《真耶穌教會卅年紀念專刊》（南京：真耶穌教會總會，1947）)

• Zhang Lingsheng: Research Report on the Origins of the True Jesus Church (Chinese: 張靈生，〈真耶穌教會發源歷史研究報告〉)
• Stone Zhang, History of the True Jesus Church, p. 25-26 (Chinese: 張石頭，《真耶穌教會歷史》，頁25~26)
• Barnabas Zhang, Preaching Records, p. 1-18. True Jesus Church General Assembly Nanjing 1929 (Chinese: 張巴拿巴，《傳道記》（南京：真耶穌教會總部，1929），頁1-18)
• The Biography of Saints: The Biography of Zhang Lingsheng (Chinese: 〈聖徒傳記：張靈生傳記〉), Isaac Wei, Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the True Jesus Church – Special Issue, page M20-M21 . Published by the TJC General Assembly in Nanjing (1947), (Chinese: 《真耶穌教會卅年紀念專刊》M21)