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Following the Cultural Revolution, David Wang says, China ministry meant ministry to China. Years ago, Wang broadcasted readings from Streams in the Desert into China twice daily. Others smuggled Bibles or simply prayed. As China opened up in the '80s, it became ministry in China. English teachers became the face of that ministry.

In the 1990s, Wang discovered the traditional house church was like the Book of Acts, with signs and wonders. "But they were drifting very fast into the church of Corinth, with corruption and immorality."

Wang felt it was time for ministry with China. "Eugene Peterson's teaching of spirituality as being real in Christ, allowing Christ to be real in you, became the hallmark of my training in China."

Today, Wang says, the church is more mature. "I see these young leaders. They are preparing their co-workers to come out of China. I see the young leaders from the house church in China planting churches in southern Europe, western Europe, and Calgary and Toronto. I see them everywhere. So it's now the era of ministry from China.

"We the Chinese church are the ones who are going to bring the gospel back to Jerusalem," he says. "Probably every one of these leaders has been to Jerusalem. Why? Because somehow this crazy Chinese church could never forget that if we could bring the gospel back to Jerusalem, we will complete Matthew 24:14—that this gospel must be preached around the world. So we Chinese have the mandate to complete the gospel circle and usher in the return of Jesus."

The "back to Jerusalem" movement is capturing the imagination of new believers. The owner of an automotive-parts factory in east-central China is a case in point. Four years ago, the factory owner, Ruth, gave her life to Christ.

A devout Buddhist, she had been hearing a voice in her mind telling her to believe in Jesus. "I wasn't willing to listen," she says. Eventually she asked a business associate who had once told her about Jesus to tell her more. "That evening I decided to believe in Jesus."

Today, not only does Ruth pastor a church that meets in her factory, but all of her employees are Christian. And all are in training to be missionaries. This year, Ruth plans to open a factory on China's border with Pakistan. Her employees will move there and run the business, which will fund a missionary outreach. She plans to do the same thing inside Pakistan, then Iran, and eventually Jerusalem.

It takes more than evangelical fervor to successfully operate a missionary enterprise, and it's yet to be seen if the efforts of individuals like Ruth will be able to carry the gospel to one of the most gospel-resistant regions of the world. But everything that happens in China does so on a grand scale.

Less than 50 years ago, Party members talked not only of God being dead, but also of his burial in China. Now Party members like Jesson Tian are comfortable practicing their faith and evangelizing, while being loyal citizens of this officially atheistic country. "I love the Party," he says. "It saved us from the war, from starvation, from disease. But I love God more, because he made all things himself."

Rob Moll is a CT editor at large.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Our May 2008 China coverage also includes:

Hungry for Jesus | A Chinese pastor on how he was 'called out of Egypt' to a thriving urban ministry. (May 9, 2008)

Inside CT: The China Paradox | 'Embattled and thriving' Christianity in China. (May 9, 2008)

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May 2008, Vol. 52, No. 5