The story of Sister Ruth and her 'Songs of Caanan'.

Many remarkable stories have come out of China in the last few decades, and the story of Lu Xiaornin (Sister Ruth) is without doubt one of most encouraging and inspiring.  

Xiaomin was born into a Chinese Muslim community, the largest in the whole country, in 1970. Her family had no connection at all with Christianity, and she showed no special aptitude or unusual intelligence at school. Her schooling was badly interrupted by sickness, and the only book that she had access to at home was a Chinese dictionary. After she had left school Xiaomin helped with her family's agricultural chores, and it was during this time that an aunt, who had formerly been a Muslim, told her about Jesus Christ. The young girl accepted the gospel message, and joined a house Church fellowship nearby. When she was 20 years old, Xiaomin attended a Christian gathering held in a field near her home, where she heard about the Holy Spirit from other Christians who had had been taught by Dennis Balcombe several years earlier.

Some time later Xiaomin experienced a beautiful and wholly original song coming into her mind while at home. This was strange, as neither she nor any member of her family had ever studied music. She sang the song to a young friend, who in turn sang it to her parents living in the same village. This friend's parents had become Christians also, and they immediately recognised the song as something that could only have come through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. However, others in the local Church were sceptical as they knew that the girl had not even finished her schooling properly.

As God had indeed given Xiaomin this gift, he ensured that the songs would eventually be heard. A young Christian turned up in the village with a tape recorder, while another write out the words and melodies of each song properly notated. It was not long before all the Churches in the area were singing the songs, and whenever visiting preachers passed through the area, they learned the songs also and spread them wherever they went across China. Xiaomin's songs were refreshingly different as many of the lyrics fitted precisely the conditions that prevailed in so many lives in China, and it was even reported that, in some places, people had been healed when they had been sung.

Xiaomin's output of songs was enormous - she averaged a new song every two to three days, and knowledge of her songs rapidly spread across China. One meeting that she was attending in Henan Province was interrupted by a police raid, and she and others were jailed for 67 days after having been beaten. During the time in jail she composed a further 14 songs, and some non-Christian women who had been in her cell with her became Christians also.

By the time the year 2000 had been reached, Xiaotnin had composed an impressive total of about 732 songs. Many of these have now been professionally recorded. Some of these recordings were organised using a Russian orchestra and choir by Yaun Zhiming, a well-known Chinese intellectual who had been exiled from China and now lived in America. Other recordings were put together by Timothy Su, who is a Christian and one of China's top conductors, using a professional Bejing orchestra and choir. This collection has become known as the 'Songs of Canaan'.

The Three Self Church of China, in their magazine Tian Feng in 1999, criticised some of her songs, especially one of them (song number 195) whose lyrics went" 'Lord, have mercy on China; hold back your anger", because the sentiments expressed do not fit with the Three Self's idea of manipulating Christianity to serve Socialism's ideas.

Although Xiaomin is now famous in China, her life is not without difficulties. Her 9-year-old son is persecuted at school because of his Christianity, and Xiaomin encourages him with Christ's words in his Sermon on the Mount about bearing persecution for the sake of righteousness (Matthew 5).

Xiaomin feels that God wants her to travel elsewhere in the world to spread the Gospel, and has revealed that she has had a vision three times of preaching to the black people of Africa. She, like all Christians with great faith, is looking forward to greater things still.