Mantou is Chinese for "steamed bun," which is a type of steamed bread popular in Northern China.
In 2016, in a very small county in North China, an Adventist church struggled to pay for their pastors’ and Bible workers’ salaries, so they decided to start a small business to sell mantou. No one in the church knew how to run a business, and their mantou shop did not earn much for the church either.
Only in 2019 did they realize God had given them a vision to open this shop, not to support their church financially, but to open a very big door for sharing the gospel.
In that year, due to some policy factors, three local churches were combined into one, with a total of 600–700 members. And soon came the Chinese New Year. It is tradition to bring gifts to visit family and friends. Because the membership has expanded so much, it has become difficult to provide presents; thus, mantou has become the most appropriate gift.
Since then, church pastors have been bringing mantou with them for visitations. It started with visiting church members, other denominations, the local government, and other organizations. Before that, the Adventist Church had no contact with the local authorities, and the relationship with other Sunday churches was very tense. However, the "mantou ministry" changed everything, and everyone has come to love the "mantou Church." The local government employees even call it "gospel mantou."
Through the mantou ministry, the church's health ministry has been actively developed, and many people have joined the church. Members of the church were also asked to take part in the ministry, which helped the church grow quickly.
Before COVID-19, this church had about 20 baptisms a year, but there have been over 200 baptisms this year.
In order to be more efficient, this church introduced a manufacturing line that could produce 2,000–3,000 buns per day. Although they are still struggling financially, they know God will provide. They started putting our Adventist logo on the buns. As these mantou are distributed to many homes in the local community, the gospel seed has been sown along the way.