SQJ Taipei

Ten thousand Chinese become Christians each day, according to a stunning report by the National Catholic Reporter’s veteran correspondent John Allen, and 200 million Chinese may comprise the world’s largest concentration of Christians by mid-century, and the largest missionary force in history. If you read a single news article about China this year, make sure it is this one.

I suspect that even the most enthusiastic accounts err on the downside, and that Christianity will have become a Sino-centric religion two generations from now.

I agree completely with the above quote from:

Asia Times Online - Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia

Except for a strange, random, and biased comment about President Bush’s attempts at “nation-building” at the very end of the article… it is a well written piece and very much worth your time.

A little background…

When Mao’s Communists took over China in 1949, they began breaking up all institutions. Churches were one of the main targets as they were seen as being a potential hotbed of anti-government opposition. In a classic case of “what man intended for harm, God intended for good“, the communist party in China became what some have called “The Most Effective Missionary Sending Organization in History”. How so?

In their attempt to eradicate Christianity from China, the communists made a common mistake… they believed that “the Church” was a building (or several buildings) when, in reality, “the Church” is simply a group of people who follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. They often meet in buildings for convenience, but the buildings are unnecessary and some might even say undesirable. Mao misunderstood this truth. His government identified church members and forced them to move to various places throughout China. The Church wasn’t the only group of people to be broken up in this manner, but where other groups might have truly been destroyed, the Church has THRIVED. One reason is that the Kingdom of God is not a physical kingdom… but a spiritual one. It cannot be eradicated (or even harmed) by physical means. Individuals can be… but “the Church” cannot.

Missionaries labored in China for years and had significant, but limited impact. But when those few believers were scattered throughout China and persecution touched nearly every believer’s family… the Church didn’t die. It went underground for decades, but as Turtullian said in the 2nd Century (197AD)… “the blood of Christians is seed”.

While I don’t know enough to say whether Turtullian’s words have always proven true or not… I do know they have proven true in China over the last 60 years. The Church in China is now a significant number of the population… at least 10% and some estimate even higher… and the great majority of those believers are very firm in their faith. Chinese believers are now scattering throughout the world… especially the Muslim world… with a message of hope and peace. Their first-hand knowledge of government and family persecution along with their understanding that the Church is people (not a building) will bring about many changes in Asia (particularly western Asia) in the not so distant future.

Hattip for Asia Times article: TheBellSite (which also inspired me to make the Time in Taipei time/date box in the sidebar)