DONG YU LAN
A servant of Christ for the work of expanding the kingdom of God on the earth and
the growth in the life of the children of God

In the year of 1920, in Fuchow, capital city of the province of Fukien, China, young Watchman Nee surrendered himself to God, through the convincing preaching of Dora Yu. Meanwhile, in the city of Nimbo, in the province of Chekiang, Dong Yu Lan was born, the one who later would be a major propagator of the gospel of the kingdom in South America.
Dong Yu Lan became a businessman since very young. This gave him many human experiences, spirit of entrepreneurship, wide business vision, and company management, which became important so that he would later be used by the Lord, just as it happened with Moses (Exo. 3‑4), with the prophets Isaiah (Isa. 6:5-8) and Amos (Amos 7:14-15) and with other servants of God. He recently told a group of co-workers that he has worked hard from his youth in the secular field to be perfected in order to serve the Lord in the church, and that today he does it with all his dedication so that in the future he may be even more useful to the Lord in the manifestation of His kingdom. Today in his messages he always emphasizes that the Lord Jesus, when was on earth, did not place His disciples in a classroom to instruct them, teach them, or give them rules to follow; rather, he walked with them daily (Luke 8:1-3, Acts 1:21-22), and used the everyday events in order to perfect them.
Dong Yu Lan’s grandfather was very rich, and as His father was an only child, he inherited the entire fortune of the family, but because he found it difficult to manage it, he lost everything. Thus, Dong Yu Lan, still quite young, although he was the youngest among his brothers, had to work hard to help support the family. He even walked on foot to save the bus money and give it to his mother. In order to have an idea of his responsibility, at the age of 17 he had to lead five truckloads of hardware from Shanghai to Indochina, through Burma and other countries to take this material and sell it in that region. On the journey, three of the trucks broke and had to be left in the middle of the way. He took two trucks to the destination, detached one of them and returned with the parts to repair the other three. Going through these and many other hardships, he became more mature and learned how to manage each situation as they appeared. This was what happened until he became a successful entrepreneur.
In 1955, his older brother took him to a church meeting for him to hear the gospel. When the meeting was over, one of the church brothers went to him and said, “Mr. Dong, did you know that all men have sinned and that we are all sinners?” And he answered to him, “What? Me, a sinner? I have never done anything wrong!” He said that because he considered himself a righteous and perfect person who turned away from evil, just like Job (Job 1:1), and said further, “You all are sinners, not me!”, and he left the meeting hall. Later on he was enlightened by the Lord and recognized his real condition; he repented and was saved and baptized. After this, his situation changed. He lit a cigarette and, as he smoked, he felt a terrible flavor. He even lost his taste to drink and gamble. He rejected all those things and began to have a consecrated life to the Lord.
Because of the great responsibility he began to undertake also in the interests of God, he quickly became an elder in the church in the small town of Mei Tin, which was later incorporated into the city of Taipei. At that time, especially, as the need to propagate the vision of the oneness of the Body of Christ throughout the earth was urgent, in 1958 there was an encouragement to the saints who had that vision and practice in Taiwan to migrate to the West to spread this important revelation they had received from the Spirit. Among those who responded to the call of the Lord to migrate was brother Dong, who readily responded God’s need with simplicity. Thus, two years later, in 1960, he arrived at Brazil with his wife and five children (sometime later he had a daughter), to reside in the city of São Paulo.
Since he was called, he was followed along and supported in prayer by his wife, sister Ester, who encourage him to serve the Lord, although he had to take long travels, while she took care of domestic responsibilities. She recently went to be with the Lord. During all that time they passed through many struggles and spiritual turmoil, typical of those who serve the Lord and lead His work with firmness and faithfulness. On February 9th, 2008 sister Ester went to be with the Lord.
In the year 1975, brother Dong received the burden from the Spirit to help the churches in Brazil and South America to call upon the name of the Lord. This is a biblical practice in order for one to live in spirit and walk in fellowship with God, and also to pray-read the Word of God to obtain life. At that time, he was invited to minister to a group of young people in the city of Ribeirão Preto and there his main burden war to lead all saints to call upon the name of the Lord. The churches have experienced a great spiritual renewal from that time on. More than three thousand churches were raised in all South America as a proof of his labor in the Lord, confirming that the burden which he received was from the Spirit.
Another remarkable feature of this servant of God is to help the churches to not only to listen and appreciate the words of God, but also practice them, apply them in their daily living and disseminate it to other people. Thus, by giving due importance to the name of the Lord and His word, the churches that receive such aid now enjoy the reality of the church in Philadelphia, a model of a normal church mentioned by the apostle John in the Book of Revelation (3:7-13).
For over 30 years, year after year, this servant of the Lord has ministered Bible conferences regionally, nationally and internationally throughout South America and other regions to where he is invited. His biggest burden is to help the children of God to prepare themselves for the Lord’s return and hasten it (2 Pe 3:9, 12) by means of the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom (Mt 24:14). All his life and ministry are controlled by that vision. In many trips it has made in various countries, always says that “Christ is our life, the church is our living and the Lord’s return is our goal”. In order to fulfill this burden and meet God’s interests, he has helped the children of God to take the Word as food, not as mere knowledge.
In order to record and propagate the precious revelations dispensed by the Spirit to this servant of God during conferences ministered by him, Árvore da Vida Publishing House began to publish them in book form. There are now over 100 titles put out and distributed on a large scale in Portuguese, Spanish, English, German, Italian, French and Korean. One of his publications which has helped many children of God to walk and live the spirit is the “Daily Food”, a bimonthly journal that now has over 40,000 subscribers.
The burden that has burned in brother Dong’s heart over the years is to expand the sphere of the kingdom of God on earth, and he does that by cooperating with the establishment of the testimony of the oneness of God’s children in each city. To expedite the process of expanding the work of the Lord on earth, the Spirit, through brother Dong, produced some effective tools, such as Árvore da Vida Retreat – extraordinary space for events with capacity for 10 thousand people, where two international conferences are held every year, the Árvore da Vida Publishing House – the publisher of his books, and the Árvore da Vida Newsletter – which aims to supply in a simple and clear way the word to all of God’s children; Árvore da Vida Expobook – a bookstore-library bus that travels throughout the country taking the truth about the oneness of the Body of Christ; the Cooperatives of Colporteurs – units for the dissemination and distribution of books for churches and colporteurs, operating in various regions of Brazil, the CEAPE - Center for the Perfecting and Propagation of the Gospel; and the Colporteurs – brothers and sisters who take spiritual food to the children of God through the written word.
Among the titles published by brother Dong Yu Lan besides Daily Food mentioned above, we point out these classics: The Salvation of a Society in Crisis – The book of Judges; The Promise of Life and the Reward of the Kingdom; Daniel – The Destiny of Human Government; How to Serve God? – the book of Leviticus; A Vision of the Tabernacle; The Character of the Man of God; To Be Like God in Life and Nature; A Man according to God’s Heart; and The Greatest Suffering of Jesus. All these titles are published by Árvore da Vida Publishing House.