Chinese Saint
🇨🇳Andrew Gih
1901–1985 · Chinese · Evangelist, Bethel Band Leader & International Preacher
“Revival begins when we stop blaming others and start confessing our own sins.”
Biography
Andrew Gih (Ji Zhiwen) was born in 1901 in Shanghai and came to faith in Christ as a young man. He became associated with the Bethel Mission in Shanghai, founded by Dora Yu and Mary Stone, and quickly emerged as one of its most gifted evangelists. In 1931 he formed the Bethel Worldwide Evangelistic Band, a traveling team of five young evangelists who conducted revival campaigns across China with extraordinary impact. The Band traveled thousands of miles over three years, preaching to enormous crowds and sparking revival fires in city after city. John Sung was the most famous member of the Band, but all five were gifted preachers. After the Japanese invasion disrupted their work in China, Gih extended his ministry to Southeast Asia and eventually the West. He became an internationally recognized evangelist, preaching in Europe, North America, and throughout Asia. He founded Evangelize China Fellowship to support missionaries and church planting. Throughout his long ministry he remained a passionate advocate for evangelism, revival, and the unity of Chinese Christians worldwide. He died in 1985, having spent more than five decades proclaiming the Gospel across the globe.
Key Works
Andrew Gih's most important work was the organization and leadership of the Bethel Worldwide Evangelistic Band, whose three-year campaign across China in the early 1930s became one of the most significant revival movements in Chinese church history. He authored several evangelistic and devotional books, including Twice Born and Then? and Launch Out into the Deep, which were widely read among Chinese and overseas Chinese Christians. He also established Evangelize China Fellowship, an enduring missions organization that continues its work today.
Legacy
Andrew Gih's leadership of the Bethel Band gave the Chinese church one of its greatest revival seasons. His extension of ministry to the Chinese diaspora around the world connected overseas Chinese communities to the spiritual renewal happening in mainland China. By founding Evangelize China Fellowship, he created an institutional channel for sustained mission support that outlasted his own active ministry. He represents the Chinese church's capacity to produce world-class evangelists who carry the Gospel far beyond national borders.