Li Tianen was called by the Lord while in college. He quit his studies and enrolled in seminary in Kaifeng, Henan, later continuing his theological education in Nanjing and Hangzhou. After graduating in July 1950, he served local churches across China.
Imprisoned for Christian Faith
He was imprisoned four times for the gospel during his lifetime, spending more than a decade in Chinese prisons. During the Cultural Revolution, he spent 18 years in prison for his beliefs.
In 1973, he was arrested the second time and sentenced to death for evangelism. He faced execution by firing squad three times.
Three Miraculous Deliverances from Death
Three times, the Almighty God saved him from "the lion's mouth" in miraculous ways.
Leading China's Underground Church Movement
After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Li resumed his preaching and service in churches across the country. He became one of the patriarchs of the Chinese house church movement, listed alongside Wang Mingdao, Watchman Nee, Allen Yuan, Samuel Lamb, and others who shaped the underground church.
A pastor who knew him described Li as "the root of the church in Henan and the light of the church in Shanghai."
Li Tianen served the Chinese church for more than half a century. He died on May 3, 2016, having witnessed the extraordinary growth of Christianity in China—from a persecuted remnant to an estimated 100 million believers.
His wife Niu Shujun, who had preached the gospel alongside him through severe hardship—never knowing where their next meal would come from—passed away in 2021 at age 92, both of them having finished the race set before them.
