Much has been written about China’s unregistered house churches. Many Western Christians are not aware of the thousands of worshippers who pack the Liushi church in the Zheijang Province in China.
The church has a capacity to seat as many as 5,000 people. The building was constructed at a cost of around $11 million.
Liushi church also has a 206 foot crucifix that can be seen for many miles.
For many years, China has been known as an atheist country. After the death of Communist Chairman Mao Zedong in 1976, churches began re-opening.
Fenggang Yang is a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of “Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule.”
“Mao thought he could eliminate religion. He thought he had accomplished this,” Professor Yang told the British newspaper the Telegraph. Professor Yang also stated “It’s ironic- they didn’t. They actually failed completely.”
Professor Yang is a leading expert on religion in China. He has projected that the number of Christians will reach around 160 million by 2025. If this happens, it could put China ahead of the United States.
According to the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion and Public Life, the United States had around 159 million Protestants in 2010, but these congregations are in decline.
The IRD spoke with Bob Fu, the founder and president of the China Aid Association. The ministry provides legal aid to Christians in China.
He says “despite nonstop persecution and lack of religious freedom under communism, God seems in a unique, humorous way to be instigating the largest revival and church growth since Adam … in China.”
Fu and his family moved to Hong Kong and then to the United States in 1996 after his wife became pregnant without proper government permission. He founded the ministry in 2002.
“We of course, continue to pray for revival and for welcoming China not only as a rising country in economic prosperity but most importantly in spiritual prosperity, so that China won’t become a threat to international security in the 21st century, but a free and more democratic country that can contribute to the worlds peace and stability,” Fu added.
Ryan Morgan is regional manager for East Asia with International Christian Concern. In an interview with the IRD he stated that he believes that one of the reasons for the rapid growth of Christianity in China is increasing disillusionment with Communism and the moral vacuum it has left in China’s society, especially as China emerges economically. Morgan says there is serious concern in China about moral decay and corruption. He says many have discovered that Christianity offers values rooted in something deeper than ideology.
Morgan says the greatest reason that Christianity is spreading rapidly in China is the zeal of the House Church movement. He says these churches are filled to the brim with members across the nation who are passionate about applying their faith in a literal way and are actively working to spread the Gospel, unrestricted, throughout China. Morgan says the movement grew out of more than three decades of intense persecution under Mao, and, to a lesser extent, under subsequent leaders. He says as many as 80 million Chinese Christians could be attending house churches weekly.
Morgan also told the IRD that China already is one of the leading Christian nations in the world, but few realize this because much of it remains hidden from the outside. In fact, he says, it’s entirely possible that the largest single revival of Christianity in a generation has mostly been unheard of, thanks to a very careful censorship within China.
The IRD asked Morgan how the Chinese government is reacting to the explosive growth in Christianity.
Morgan responded by saying the government and the ruling elites are shocked. He says the Communist Party has a tremendous fear of any group that could potentially mobilize large-scale resistance to its authority, Christian or otherwise.
International Christian Concern says it has learned that thousands of Christians recently formed a human shield around a newly constructed church in Zhejiang Province after authorities threatened to demolish the building. ICC says many of those protested included elderly and disabled. According to ICC, the Sanjiang Christian Church reportedly costs over 4.8 million dollars to construct and was built over a six-year period. The church is registered and part of the China Christian Council, the Protestant umbrella organization recognized by the Chinese government. ICC officials have been told Chinese authorities expressed concern over the church’s community activism.
Canada’s Global Times reports following the standoff the local government and church leaders reached an agreement. The church was asked to dismantle five stories of its five story annex as a result of the negotiations.
ICC feels that this confrontation needs to be closely watched by the international community as “the potential for a serious massacre exists.”
International Christian Concern predicts as the rapid growth of Christianity continues, more conflicts will be seen in the near future as Communist authorities struggle to understand and control the growth. ICC indicates tens of millions of Christians in China are still choosing to risk arrest and harassment so that they may share their faith unedited by Party members through leaders not hand-picked by the State.
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