The Church in China: Another View

Many American evangelicals know only one scenario.

When it comes to the church in china, many American evangelicals understandably know only one scenario—suffering Christians in a Marxist regime desperately needing outside help to survive. More specifically, they see the visible church in China as having fatally compromised with its Communist overseers; and the true church as being made up of underground Christians who conduct their lives secretly and thereby preserve the faith in its pristine purity.

May I, however, suggest another scenario sketched only in broad strokes; one that, despite the severe problems and persecutions of the past, more accurately has today’s Chinese government granting freedom of religion to all groups in China—albeit within the tightly regimented framework of patriotism and acceptance of its laws. And it is within these limits that the visible church in China has indeed grown remarkably.

Since 1979, 1800 Protestant church buildings have been renovated and reopened for public services. Many of these facilities are crowded out on Sunday, often with standing room only, even when two or three services are held. At least four new churches are being opened each week—most where congregations had once existed, but occasionally in rural areas where there had never been a Christian congregation. And an additional 11,000 home meeting points (connected to these open churches) further extend the outreach of the gospel. Thousands have been publicly baptized, including many young people.

The China Christian Council, the organization of Chinese churches, has established three- and four-year training programs at Nanjing Theological Seminary, two-year courses in at least seven different cities, and extension courses at a number of other locations. Grassroots training, geared primarily to lay leaders, is being provided through 40,000 correspondence courses sent out quarterly from Nanjing.

In the midst of this bustling activity, Christian leaders have also focused their efforts on literature production. Over one million Bibles have been printed and distributed in China without outside financial aid. A new hymnal has been issued. A new catechism is being widely used. And a new devotional entitled Manna for the Spiritual Journey is now being sold to Christians throughout the country.

Why, then, are so many American evangelicals pessimistic about the visible church in China? Granted, the severity of past terrors augments some of our negative thinking. However, the most critical reason for this pessimism, I believe, is that for the first time in well over 100 years we are faced with the reality of a strong Chinese government.

From the arrival of the first Protestant missionary in 1807 until the advent of the People’s Republic in 1949, China was a pitifully weak nation. The government occasionally sought to impose controls, most notably in education and medicine, but chaotic conditions meant they were unable to enforce them. The government, in effect, was struggling to control China; and in the confusion, mission agencies and Christians did just about what they pleased. In fact, the Christian church believed it could exist as freely, if not more so, than in Western countries.

Such total religious freedom, however, was a historical aberration. Indeed, whenever there has been a strong central government, with firm sovereignty over all of China, a kind of state orthodoxy (be it Confucianism or Marxism) has produced a tight control and supervision over all religious groups. These groups, in turn, learned to live e within these limits and to grow 3 and prosper. The government viewed those not willing to submit to this type of surveillance with suspicion—as possible centers of dissidence and a threat to the government-sponsored orthodoxy.

It should have come as little surprise, then, that when the Communists came to power in 1949 their intent was to regulate religious groups and cut them off from all types of outside control, supervision, and support. (This was particularly true for the Christian church in view of its connections with the West.) To have done otherwise would have been unthinkable.

China’s historic distrust of religions has been magnified by outside involvement with the so-called underground churches. Imagine, if you will, the confusion confronting a government official trying to understand these committed Christian groups. They meet secretly, even where there are public worship services at which the Bible is faithfully preached. They do not identify themselves publicly as Christians, even when promised freedom of religion. And they are often contacted secretly by outside groups (usually based in the West) who bring an assortment of written material with which our official is not familiar.

It would seem that the burden of proof lies with these groups to assert resolutely their support for their government and their pledge to refrain from all these outside contacts. Only then might it become apparent that they are not centers fomenting counter-revolutionary activity. Their seemingly “apolitical” stand is, in effect, as clearly political as that of the visible churches. And outside groups who persist in contacting them should ask themselves if their well-intentioned help does not really add to their troubles and invite the government to tighten religious controls.

Christians associated with the China Christian Council have sought to adjust to this political reality, much as Christians and missionaries in the past sought to accommodate themselves to the social and cultural life of China. They are trying to be “as wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” They are seeking to obey the spirit of Romans 13, patiently working out the details of submitting to a government much stronger than any faced by Christian churches in the past. When the government was weak, the important question was how to indigenize the faith in its cultural and social milieu. Now the imperative is to contextualize the Christian message politically in the midst of a strong state sovereignty.

The China Christian Council takes a great deal of pride in depending solely upon God and doing the task before it without any “foreign connection.” We must respect this attitude at this stage in its history. Further time will allow Chinese churches to establish their own independent identity and be more receptive to cooperative endeavors with the worldwide church of Jesus Christ.

Not that there are no problems. Critical conflicts may often arise between Christians and the government due to at least three factors. First, local Christians, zealous to witness in ways traditionally accepted (but not specifically mandated by Scripture), may engage in activities that the government has proscribed. If so, they can expect to receive punishment for what they have done. We may or may not agree with the government attitude. But the political reality is still there; and it will not be changed by outside appeal and harangue. Chinese Christians, given the wide latitude of freedom they currently enjoy, will need to choose their battlegrounds with care.

Second, most of these conflicts are purely local—the overzealous activities of pockets of leftist-leaning cadres who have never been able to understand or adopt their government’s attitude granting freedom of religion. (Some of the apostle Paul’s biggest problems were with local officials.) Within the hierarchy of Chinese local officials, it will be difficult to seek immediate redress in Beijing of alleged violations of religious rights. Church leaders, therefore, have adopted a patient attitude. They are confident that, in time, the policy of religious freedom will be implemented uniformly throughout the country. Where true injustices have been perpetrated, they are prepared to make proper representation through the prescribed channels.

Third, the official distinction between permitted religious activities and proscribed “superstition” is a very fine one. Zealous cadres and officials, not familiar with these technicalities, may easily confuse the two and make mistakes. With patience and grace these difficulties, too, can be resolved.

Christians outside of China do well to think of using their professional gifts in helping in the development of this vast country. If done conscientiously, their activities will promote friendly relations with the Chinese people and make an excellent contribution to China’s modernization. And by the distinctive Christian testimony they give in and through their work, they will undoubtedly influence many Chinese to investigate and follow Jesus Christ.

But the current task of evangelizing China rests not with these “outsiders” but with the body of Christ miraculously raised up within China’s own borders. Even without all the baggage of Western gimmickry, literature, and “know-how,” these believers can evangelize China as well as that small band of disciples whom Jesus sent forth into a hostile Roman empire.

Let us therefore support this church and pray for it. Not forgetting the sins of the past, but thankful to God for a new day in which his Word is being heard across the great land of China.

A former missionary to China (1946–51) and Taiwan (1952–66), Ralph Covell is currently the dean of faculty at Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary.

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