Lamb, Samuel

(né Lin Xiangao)

b. 1924, Macao

Protestant pastor

Samuel Lamb founded the 1,600-member Damazhan church in Guangzhou, China’s most famous autonomous house church (see house churches). During the 1940s, Lin was an associate of theologically conservative pastor Wang Mingdao. Lin was arrested in 1958 for refusing to join the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), and remained imprisoned until 1978. He founded the Damazhan church in 1979, which grew to several hundred members by the early 1980s. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, police arrested or detained Lin several times, raided his church, confiscated materials and harassed Damazhan members, threatening them with losing their jobs and pensions if they continued to attend the church. In spite of these intimidations, Lin has persistently refused to register his church with the government and submit to TSPM control, and his church remains filled to capacity. Lin’s resistance derives from his conservative theological beliefs, which posit a strict separation of church and state. Lin’s success in resistance is due in part to his high profile abroad. American evangelist Billy Graham has preached at Damazhan, and Lin received a letter of support from US President Ronald Reagan.

See also: Christianity (Protestantism)

Further reading

Anderson, K. (1991). Bold as a Lamb. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

JASON KINDOPP