House churches in China are still under constant threat of being shut down and their leaders are regularly hauled off to police stations for interrogation.

But has this led to a decline in the Church? No! The Church is growing constantly, and especially in rural areas. In the Acts of the Apostles, after the release of Peter and John from prison, the Christians prayed: "Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus" (Acts 5:29,30).

This is the prayer of the Church in China. They daily face the challenge to "stand up for Jesus". It is no wonder they are growing in numbers and in faith.

"The people of China have stood up!" was the cry of Chairman Mao in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded. "Stand Up! Stand Up" is the refrain of the national anthem and, in the past year, China has figured on the world stage and achieved three of her great dreams.

China won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic games, was able to compete in the football World Cup for the first time and entered the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It looks as though China is changing but, in the midst of reform, there is still repression.

Window

In May this year, after a fire at an Internet café, most of the Internet cafes around China were closed down. They were considered to be illegal because they were unregistered. They were a place where ordinary Chinese people could have a window on the outside world, and connect with other people and discuss dangerous topics such as politics and religion.

The fear the Chinese government still has with regard to these two subjects is shown in this drastic shutdown. And the growth of the cult group, the Fa Long Gong, has had a knock-on effect on house churches.

Even when they succeed in standing up for Jesus, Christians in China still need our prayers. Indeed, we should pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters all around the world; but we need to think carefully about what they need.

Is it necessarily right to pray for comfort and security? Maybe we need to pray along the lines of Acts 5:29,30, that God will enable His servants to speak His word with boldness, since persecution may be bearing fruit for the kingdom.

Another issue for prayer is the need for good biblical teaching. The churches in the rural areas rely on a few teachers, who have often had little teaching themselves; and many cults are springing up as a result of a lack of clear biblical teaching on doctrine, and sometimes even a basic lack of Bibles.

The Chinese church has a great vision, even greater than that for the 2008 Olympics. Their dream is "back to Jerusalem". They believe that they are the ones who will take the gospel back to Jerusalem. Many churches in China are raining their members in order to achieve that goal.

Unreached

There are still huge unreached areas of China, too. It is estimated that there are 100 million Christians in China - great! But that still leaves 1.2 billion, or roughly a fifth of the world's population, who are not Christians; in many cases because they have simply never heard the gospel.

People in the cities and the intellectuals are the ones who have less opportunity to hear about Christ. Foreign Christians entering China on a work or study visa have many opportunities to reach these university scholars.

There is still a fascination with Western culture, and more and more are travelling overseas to complete their education. Most students and some teachers long to have a real "foreign friend" and, through such friendships, many come to hear the gospel and see it lived out among them by their foreign Christian teacher.

Careful

Sophie (name changed for security reasons) is an English teacher in a major Chinese city. She doesn't need to hide that she is a Christian; indeed she advertises it by hanging up Christian posters and banners in the Chinese language in her flat. But she does need to be careful about what she says in the classroom. It is against the law for her to preach anything religious in class.

However, Christmas and other festivals do provide a great opportunity for her to discuss the stories of The Bible, as they are relevant to the study of English. In her free time, she is able to invite students into her home and she has two small seeker groups in her flat every week. 
She says: "There is no greater buzz than seeing people hungry for the gospel and being able to offer them the word of life." 

Crosslinks magazine November 2002 index