Zhang Lingsheng - Biography

Biography

Zhang was born in Shandong county, China in 1863. In 1900, 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 the following three years.

On September 1909 after hearing a testimony from Elder Zhāng Pǔquán (张溥泉), Zhang journeyed from Shandong to the Shanghai Faith Mission to study their Pentecostal teachings. For twenty days he prayed for the Holy Spirit but did not receive it; after returning to Shandong Zhang continued praying for the Holy Spirit for fifty days. Finally on 21 December of that same year, he 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. In 1910 Zhang was baptised in a Suzhou lake by the Apostolic Faith Mission. From that time onward, Zhang resolved to offer himself to the Lord's service. Later that year at Weihsien, Zhang established "Jesus' True Church" which was still a part of the Apostolic Faith Mission.

The following year after closely studying the Seventh-day Adventist publications containing their doctrines, he subsequently changed his Sabbath services to Saturdays instead of Sunday. Worshiping sessions were held at his home with friends and relatives and the number of believers also steadily increased day by day; among those who received special spiritual gifts from God during this time was his nephew Barnabas Zhang.

In 1914 Zhang 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 who preached on issues concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Zhang Lingsheng 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 in Tianjin, Zhang first met Paul Wei, who had been preaching under the name "Universal Correction Church" and had also observed the Sabbath. They seem to have hit it off well together. Wei laid hands on Zhang in an act of ordination or legitimation, and the two of them agreed to merge their two groups together under a new name and apparently put together the doctrinal foundations of a new church. The name of the church became the two former names combined, the "Universal Correction True Jesus Church" which was later shortened to "True Jesus Church" upon registration. Zhang started preaching the gospel of the TJC in co-operation with Paul Wei.

During January 1919, Ling-Sheng and Barnabas Zhang preached at a village one hundred kilometres from Weihsien; several people, who had not yet been baptized, received the Holy Spirit. Hence on January 27, thirty people requested to be baptized. However, prior to baptizing them, Ling-Sheng and Barnabas first baptized each other with their heads facing downwards before baptizing those new believers. On March 1919, at the urgent request of Zhang Lingsheng and Barnabas Zhang, Paul Wei travelled from Tianjin to Weihsien in Shandong Province to hold evangelical sessions and perform baptisms. Whilst Wei was at Weihsien, Zhang Lingsheng helped him organize the second edition of the Universal Correction Church newspaper. On October 1919, Zhang Lingsheng, together with two other co-workers Lǐ Xiǎofēng and Liáng Qīnmíng traveled to Beijing and aided in the publication of the Universal Correction Church newspaper. When Paul Wei was about to pass away, he laid hands on Zhang Lingsheng and Liang Qinming to designate them as Overseers and successors of the church.

Later on, Zhang Lingsheng journeyed to Nanjing, Changsha to evangelise, and also attended important church council meetings. In the spring of 1920, Ling-Sheng resigned from his position as overseer of the church and returned to his hometown of Shandong to settle down and pastor the local church there. When he heard that the church in Changsha was prosperng, Ling-Sheng paid a visit to them in 1922.

In 1935 he left the True Jesus Church and joined The Assembly of the One Undivided God (一位神召會) allegedly founded by Berntsen.

He later died at the age of seventy-one.