Like an elephant in the room, China cannot be ignored. Apart from its growing economic prowess and global influence, of particular interest to Christians worldwide is the Chinese Church.
In the last issue of the Herald, I reported on a worship service in Shanghai. Since then, glocal missions team leader Jerry Jones and I had opportunity to attend two other services along with Lynn Yarbrough, the Virginia Baptist missionary who had invited us.
Jim White
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The first, on July 17, was with a church near the center of Xi’an. Clearly it doesn’t understand how important location is. To reach it, we travelled down an alley off a back street and unless you are looking for it, you will miss it. You might miss it even then.
It is an old building and the facilities not only show their age, but have suffered from heavy use. A professional cleaning service wouldn’t know where to begin. The choir sang Onward, Christian Soldiers, and later in the service the congregation repeated the hymn.
The pastor, a young woman, read her sermon very well, but except for those in the center section, she did not make eye contact. Visitors were not welcomed — not even the Americans for whom they had saved the front pews.
Most church growth consultants in the U.S. would say this church has little chance of reaching people. Yet the hard benches of its very modest 400 capacity sanctuary, were filled with worshippers. So, too, were an outside chapel, benches along the building walls and an overflow area upstairs in a separate building. Audio is provided, but not video. I am not critical. I am amazed.
The service we attended was one of three morning worship services with an overflow crowd also gathering in the evening. We were told that in each morning service attendance is similar to the one we experienced.
In sharp contrast, on July 24 we visited the Haidian Church in the heart of Beijing’s “Silicon Valley.” We had trouble with directions and were led to the church by a young software engineer whom we met as we emerged from the subway. At our invitation, he stayed for the worship service.
The Haidian Church’s location is ideal. The tunes in its Chinese services are strikingly Chinese, and in the English service they sang contemporary praise choruses familiar to us. Each of its four Sunday worship services overflow into areas with video screens and TV monitors set up to accommodate the crowds.
This church outgrew its former facility, built in the 1930s, and despite some opposition built a huge, impressive structure designed by a German architectural firm. In 2007 they moved in. At that time 4,000 attended the Haidian Church. Today, between 6,000 and 7,000 assemble every Sunday.
Beijing’s 15 million inhabitants are served by only 17 registered churches. But, added to this number are numerous unregistered house churches. Those who attend unregistered churches often say they are motivated to do so by the inability to find seating or to become intimately acquainted with their fellow worshippers in the registered churches. Although technically illegal, until recently the government had been content to let them be.
With the growth of the Shouwang Church, however, the government changed its practice. This church decided to consolidate its 10 house church cells into a single large assembly and applied for government approval and registration. In part because the church leaders were not educated in the registered church seminaries, however, registration was denied.
The church has met in rented facilities, but landlords, giving in to government pressure, have cancelled their leases. Deciding to purchase space, the church paid for a floor in an office building, but the developer has not been willing to defy official pressure and has withheld the keys.
The church decided then to meet outdoors even though to do so was in opposition to the law. The following report from last Sunday is taken from the Facebook page “Pray for Beijing Shouwang Church.”
July 24th, Beijing. In the past week, many believers were detained at home since Saturday. One sister was taken to a hotel nearby for detention from Friday night, which has been happening to her for several weeks. As far as we know, at least 35 believers were taken away on Sunday morning for going to the planned location to join the service (including Pastor Shuangyan and two other sisters from Xinshu Church, one brother from Shanghai, and one brother from Tianjin). They were then sent to at least 21 local police stations of their respective area. Haidian police station even detained two brothers and one sister who were waiting outside. Policemen at Dongsheng police station and Taiyanggong police station prevented believers who were visiting from sending anything to those who were detained. Dongsheng police station even confiscated quilt and other things sent by believers who were visiting. Till midnight of the 24th, only 21 believers (including the one who was taken to a hotel on Friday night and the three believers who were detained by Haidian police station while they were visiting) were released home. And the other 18 believers were still under detention, many of whom were threatened that they would be detained for at least 24 to 48 hours. Some of them were required to write a statement promising that they would not join the outdoor service any more, and some of them were required to leave their address so that they can be under watch. Till 7 p.m. of the 25th, after way more than 24 hours, there were still 10 believers detained in police stations. And the last two sisters, who have been detained for more than 48 hours in Big Bell Temple police station, were finally released around 4 p.m. of the 26th (Tuesday).
What is the common thread in the reports of Chinese Church growth? To paraphrase the prophet Zechariah, “Not by location, nor by contemporary singing, nor by inspiring preaching, nor by governmental approval but by my Spirit, says the Lord” (Zech. 4:6).
The only explanation for the growth we see among the Chinese is that the Spirit of God is moving in an amazingly potent spiritual tsunami across China.
Henry Blackaby may not have had China or other parts of the globe (particularly in the southern hemisphere) in mind when he challenged Christians to discover where God is working and then join him, but the truth applies. The Baptist General Association of Virginia continues to involve Baptists from the Old Dominion and beyond in partnership with Christians in distant lands where God is at work.
For a video report on house churches from the Wall Street Journal go here.
Jim White ([email protected]) is editor of the Religious Herald.