Special Report
The Truth About China
China is a land full of paradoxes that appear very baffling to the outsider. While some Chinese Christian leaders languish in jail, others travel the world talking of religious freedom.
Some smuggle the Bible, yet the Bible is also legally printed and sold.
The official government-approved church leaders do not speak for the entire Chinese church. There are many others who can speak for its larger, underground sections but are denied a platform to state their needs. We at Open Doors seek to articulate the views of house-church leaders also, speaking on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.
While there are positive, government-approved opportunities to assist Christians who worship in official churches, those opportunities in no way meet the needs of the entire church. We must not be misled by government propaganda or half-truths that emanate from Western-visitors-turned-China-experts that spout the official line.
The church in China is growing rapidly, but the spiritual depth of the church is shallow. Only by taking advantage of every avenue to assist the whole church in China through Bible deliveries, leadership training, prayer support and encouragement will we see the continued, solid growth of the world's largest revival.
Great acrimony surrounds the questions of how many Christians actually exist in China and how Christian organisations should assist the Chinese Church.
Our position can be stated simply under three headings:
Progress
The last 30 years have seen great progress for the cause of religious liberty in China, resulting in remarkable opportunities for Western Christians to serve and witness in Chinese society.
The ideological oppression of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) is long gone, and as China opens its economy to global forces, it is now possible to work legally within China and partner with local Christians, albeit primarily with the official church at present.
As Chinese Christians face oppression and threats for following Jesus, they look to God's Word for comfort and strength. However, in many areas there is a severe shortage of Scriptures. You can strengthen a Chinese Christian by giving them their own Bible.
Even house-church Christians have been able to buy these Bibles.
In addition, many provincial church councils are able to print Christian literature.
There are also many religious books produced and sold in government bookshops by academic publishing houses.
This is a great improvement and is to be applauded.
In the rural areas, where 80 per cent of house-church Christians live, there are still considerable shortages of Scriptures. Often village Christians are unable to travel to the cities to buy Bibles, and could not afford to buy them anyway.
It may be that half of all Christians in China still do not have a personal Bible.
Thus it is still important to take Scriptures to them in quantities larger than can be legally produced.
The Chinese government has so far refused to allow more than 3.5 million Bibles to be printed in any single year, and the average is nearer 2.3 million.
There is little current evidence that this amount will be increased in the near future." Given the growth of the Chinese church at roughly 3–5 million per year, it is clear the need for Bibles is beyond the ability of this single initiative to fully address. Thus if Western missions retain the goal of a Bible for every Chinese Christian, then they are forced to find ways to supply them that supplement the efforts of the Amity press but do not enjoy government approval.
Thousands of Christian teachers have taught English and other subjects in universities. Seminaries and churches have been rebuilt and orphanages and charities have been established, thanks to co-operative projects between Western missions and official, state-approved organisations.
These opportunities are likely to increase in the future, and discerning groups should continue to take advantage of this open door as long as they acknowledge the risks and remain aware of the levels of corruption involved.
It is not Open Doors' policy to criticise but to commend those involved in this work, so long as the price of involvement is not to be silent about persecution.
Persecution
Some deny there are significant levels of persecution at all. Yet the majority of Christians currently refuse to worship within the state-approved churches, finding the monitoring of government bodies invasive and controlling.
In China, it is illegal to teach children about the Lord Jesus, but despite the risks, Sunday School work is a growing ministry, and our co-workers receive many requests for children's Bibles and materials. You can invest in China's future by sending Gospel materials for children.
Admittedly, some agencies do exaggerate the levels of persecution faced by the average believer, who faces discrimination and harassment, rather than jailing and beatings.
Also, there is great variation of tolerance within the country. In some areas, house-church Christians sing at the top of their voices and even build their own churches in defiance of formal legislation, yet are left alone by police who know of their existence. In other areas, however, house-church leaders can be arrested, beaten, jailed and the gathering stopped.
The Christian church of China may not have as many martyrs as Colombia, face as many restrictions as their sisters in Sudan, or fight as many extremist mobs as their brothers in Indonesia, but the 60–80 million Christians in China remain the world's largest single persecuted community today!
Revival
The Chinese church became the world's largest Christian community due to a massive revival dating from the early 1970s, the size of which is unprecedented in Christendom.
We believe the total number of Christians to be between 60–80 million, though it could be higher.
Of this number, barely 17 million worship in the two officially organised churches of China – the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement (12 million members) and the Catholic Patriotic Association (5 million members).
Due to the rapid rate of growth of China's house churches, believers are vulnerable to the false teachings of cults which are growing in influence across the country. By providing churches with Biblical training materials, you can help them to counter this threat and remain true to the Lord Jesus.
Consequently, to assist the entire church of China in ways that are effective, one is forced to fall foul of government policy, which insists that all assistance go only to the official churches.
It is out of this commitment to the needs of the whole Chinese church, which is at least three times larger than officials admit, that we must continue to supplement the methods used to meet the needs of the official churches.
For example, since legal Bible production rarely exceeds three million per year, we must supply Bibles directly to the house-church millions, which may still be growing at a rate of two million or more each year.
It is our belief that the needs of the Chinese church are so large and so important that it is foolish for missions to criticise each over which method is most appropriate. The Chinese church needs everyone's help now, and every method is still appropriate – so long as the local Chinese church is respected and served.
You can strengthen and equip Christians across China by:
- providing Bibles for them
- taking Bibles to them
- joining our 7-year China Prayer Campaign.
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