Dr John Sung’s Vision of a 3000 capacity church

The following is an extract of page 484 of “The Journal Once Lost – Extracts From The Diary of John Sung”, Compiled by Levi Sung, the Dr Sung’s daughter. Dr John Sung had the dream a few days after his two hours Christmas Eve operation in the hospital.

I had a dream on 27 December. Many people who had not heard my sermons for a long time had gathered in a 3,000-capacity church.

Outside the church, there was a billboard which read: “Dr Sung Shang Cheh had healed so-and-so etc.” I began to clarify that I was not the one who did the healing and gave all glory to God. After my sermon, I walked down from the pulpit and saw many angels holding lilies in their hands. Waking up from the dream, I praised the Lord. For many years, I have prayed for others to get healed by the Lord. They had mistaken me as their healer, and took me as God. Now that I am down with this serious illness, they are fully aware that Sung Shang Chieh is no god at all.

On 6 January 1941, I sent a letter from my sick-bed to the evangelistic bands in Singapore and their leader, Ms Leona Wu:

I still continue to pray for you every morning even though I am now sick in bed. Since obtaining my passport last November, I have been looking forward to visiting Singapore to complete my work there.

Note 1: The person who received the vision to build a 3,000-seater church in Perak, Elder Nga Hock Cheh, never imagined that this vision from God was connected to Dr. John Sung. When he and his team completed the church in 2013, he had no idea of its deeper significance. Seven years later, Pastor Daniel Phua, whom God commanded to return to serve in Malaysia from Singapore, revealed to him the connection to Dr. John Sung’s vision. Read about it here: https://voanews.xyz/peraks-largest-church-building-the-story-of-the-god-ordained-3000-seater/

The first time Shekinah Methodist Church’s 3000 seating capacity Joy Centre reached more than 2500 persons in a meeting was in 8th September 2023, during an evangelistic healing meeting. Read more about it here: https://voanews.xyz/healing-meetings-in-sitiawan-2023-2024/

Note 2: Ms. Leona Wu, a graduate of Ginling Women’s Theological Seminary in Nanking and daughter of a renowned pastor from Amoy, served in the Chinese Presbyterian Church. She passionately led prayers for God’s messenger during worship services and mid-week meetings, and often interpreted for Dr. Sung—with occasional help from her elder brother, a government school teacher.

Despite his wish to travel abroad, those final few years on earth were not marked by travels, but, it was what Dr. John Sung’s called the “Tomb” period, the final stage of a five-period ministry. During this time, Sung’s active evangelistic work was significantly limited due to his deteriorating health, but he continued to have a profound impact through other means:

1. Convalescence and limited mobility:
   • Sung was moved to Fragrant Hills, a suburb of Beijing, where he underwent treatment for his illness.
   • He endured six painful surgeries during this period.
2. Bed-bound ministry:
   • Despite his physical limitations, Sung held three meetings a day, preaching from his bed.
   • People traveled from all over China to seek his wisdom and pray for him.
3. Pastoral correspondence:
   • With the help of two volunteer secretaries, Sung wrote pastoral letters to the preaching bands he had formed earlier in his ministry.
   • These letters contained profound wisdom and urgent exhortations.
4. Hymn composition:
   • During this period, Sung composed fifteen new hymns.
5. Continued Bible study:
   • Sung maintained his discipline of reading eleven chapters of the Bible daily.

This final period of Sung’s ministry, though less active in terms of travel and public preaching, was marked by deep spiritual reflection, mentoring, and a continued impact on the Chinese church through his writings and personal ministry to visitors. Rev. Roy J. Birkey recalled a conversation with Dr. Sung, he remembered Dr. Sung saying one morning, “The day will come that I need not run here and there to bring God’s message to the people, but they will come to me, to my home, seeking the knowledge of God and studying the wonderful Word of the Bible.” In an utterly miraculous way, God brought that very prediction to fruition, surpassing even Dr. Sung’s wildest dreams.

Read more here:

https://www.southeastasianstudies.uni-freiburg.de/documents/occasional-paper/op23.pdf

https://saltandlight.sg/leadership/the-man-who-moved-asia/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sung

https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/john-sung/

https://klse.i3investor.com/web/blog/detail/www.eaglevisioninvest.com/196101

https://missiology.org.uk/pdf/e-books/lyall_leslie/biography-of-john-sung_lyall.pdf

https://www.febc.edu.sg/assets/pdfs/febc_press/In%20John%20Sung’s%20Steps;%20Story%20of%20Lim%20Puay%20Hian.pdf

https://omf.org/my/mrt-john-sung-spirituality-and-spiritual-power/

https://www.thaimissions.info/gsdl/collect/thaimiss/index/assoc/HASH01a9.dir/doc.pdf

https://saltandlight.sg/devotional/following-jesus-footsteps-john-sung/

https://www.bu.edu/missiology/2020/02/28/sung-john-sung-shangjie-1901-1944/

https://www.febc.edu.sg/assets/pdfs/febc_press/John%20Sung%20My%20Teacher.pdf

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