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An Open Doors
Position Statement
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. Great acrimony surrounds the
questions of how many Christians actually exist in
China and how Christian organizations should assist
the Chinese church.
Our position can be stated simply under three
headings: progress, persecution, and revival.
Progress
The last 30 years have seen great progress for the
cause of religious liberty in China, resulting in
remarkable opportunities for overseas Christians to
serve and witness in Chinese society. The ideological
oppression of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) is
long gone, and as China opens up 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 as yet.
Twenty-five million Bibles have been legally printed
and sold since 1987.
These Bibles are sold cheaply (a result of a subsidy
from the United Bible Societies) through the official
Protestant churches, and have pretty much met Bible
demand in the cities. 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 bookstores by academic
publishing houses. This is a great improvement and is
to be applauded.
In the rural areas, where 80% 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 legal production of scriptures in China is capped
at 2.3 million per year, though occasional agreements
have raised this quota to 3.5million. Given the growth
of the Chinese church at roughly 3-5 million per year,
it is clear the Bible need is beyond the ability of
this single initiative to fully address. Thus if
overseas missions retain the goal of seeing every
Chinese Christian have a bible, then they are forced
into finding ways of supply 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 -- all thanks to
cooperative projects between overseas 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 Door's policy
to criticize 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. Evangelism outside the church walls
is illegal, as is the teaching of religion to anyone
under 18 years old. House church leaders are still
jailed and beaten for what in Western society would be
regarded as the free expression of their faith.
Admittedly, some agencies do exaggerate the levels of
persecution faced by the average believer, who faces
discrimination and harassment, rather than jailings
and beatings. Also, there is great variation of
toleration 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 organized churches of China -- the
Protestant Three Self Patriotic Movement (12 million
members) and the Catholic Patriotic Association (5
million members). Thus we reject the right of the
government appointed church leaders to speak on behalf
of the entire Chinese Christian community, and we are
not surprised when they deny the existence of the
house church millions.
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 find
ways to supplement the methods used to meet the needs
of the official churches. For example, since Bible
production in China is capped at 2.3 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 criticize 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.
Summary
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.
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