[img]https://www.sermonindex.net/images/forum/2004/may/featured_news.gif[/img]Beijing -- The matronly woman reading the Bible to a dozen solemn migrant workers in her tiny but tidy living room heads a family of dangerous political provocateurs, in the eyes of the Chinese government.Her family's crime: believing the state should have no role in how they follow their faith and share it with others.To retain control over religion -- particularly faiths with foreign connections, such as Islam and Christianity -- the government bars its people from following the established heads of these religions. And in officially atheist China, the printing of Bibles and all other religious publications needs approval from the State Bureau of Religious Affairs.The party has created its own "Catholic" and "Protestant" churches, called the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and the Three-Selves Patriotic Movement, respectively. Both appoint their own clergy and are supposed to maintain complete religious and financial independence from the Vatican and foreign Protestant churches."That is really a preposterous idea," said Wu Guo Yin, a laundry owner originally from central Henan province in Cai's Protestant congregation. The official church "is headed by a Communist who doesn't believe in God, yet he feels he can stand at the door between us and our God."
_________________SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
A few words of update:There is an increasing number of genuinely born-again Christians within the churches officially registered with the Chinese government. Some even have influential positions within the government agencies. Thus it seems to me, that in addition to the house church movement, there has been a quiet revolution from within.Unfortunately, there is also considerable tensions between those meeting in the underground church and those in the official churches.Also, westerners should recognise that China has been opening up in many areas. In the special economic regions such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, etc., the official churches are given a lot of freedom to preach as they wish. Unlike decades ago, one can actually hear the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in many of these churches.As well, the government also had allowed limited number of their scholars and seminary students (some of them born-again Christians) to further their studies in exchange programs at evangelical educational institutes overseas. Henan province mentioned in this post is one of the provinces where stricter controls are in place. It is more rural and people are less educated there, and Henan has been a hotbed of heresies as well as Christian groups. Obviously, the government officials cannot distinguish between the two.It is true that the Catholics and protestant churches (with episcopalian church government) are required to cut ties from Vatican and their respective associations out of the country. Instead, alternative Chinese associations were created independently.China is a big country, so different regions have rather different experiences. Keep that in mind.
_________________Sam
The church my wife and I used to attend has a Bible school in the underground church in China. I'm not aware of what is going on in the "state-run" church other than what I've seen and there's a video on www.chinasoul.org that details the "Three-Self Church" in some detail.I'm also aware that the underground ground church has sent nearly 1 million out as missionaries this year. Surely we need them in the west...
_________________Ed Pugh
