Freer but Fragile: The Church in China

UPDATE

Beijing Christian Church offers two forms of baptism and serves Communion five different ways. Do the differing denominational traditions clash? Pastor Kan Xueqing smiles at the question. “During the Cultural Revolution, when the Gang of Four was in control, we had a very, very difficult time,” Kan reflects. “In those days we did not know what the next day would bring. We didn’t even know what the next ten minutes would bring.

“The only thing a Christian could do was turn to God in prayer. So when the first church reopened after this, nobody asked what denomination it was. All we thought was, ‘My church has reopened. I’m going to worship God.’ ”

More than 4,000 Protestant churches and tens of thousands of home worship meetings are now functioning in China (CT, May 15, 1987, p. 17). And inside the restored cathedrals, converted factories, and new buildings, former Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Anglicans worship beside one another.

Many of these believers do not like to talk about the Cultural Revolution of 1966–76, when radical leftists controlled the state with a reign of terror. The memories bring pain, but the subject inevitably comes up in any serious discussion of the church’s recent history. The Red Guards saw the final eradication of religious “superstition” as one of their missions. They closed and ransacked churches, beat and humiliated believers, and burned Bibles.

Purged by suffering, Christians have visibly bloomed since churches were reopened in 1979. They also have won the grudging respect of their enemies and the admiration of much of Chinese society. For example, the China Christian Council has reported that at least 7,700 Christians have been honored as model workers by their work units.

Lost Generation?

Among the church’s scars from the Cultural Revolution is its lost chance to prepare a whole generation of potential leaders. Churches, especially in the countryside, lack trained pastors. Even in the cities, most seminary-educated pastors are past retirement age.

At Beijing Christian Church, Kan Xueqing says his greatest need is someone to “take part of my burden.” At 65, he is the youngest member of a pastoral staff toiling to meet the needs of more than 1,000 believers. In China, says a seminary professor, a “young” pastor is anyone in his fifties.

Widespread biblical ignorance in the churches is another result of the dark years. Many believers have come to Christ in the purity and simplicity of faith. But now they lack the training and discipleship to discern truth from error.

With few teachers and more than 600 students, the 11 Protestant seminaries now functioning in China are trying hard to fill the leadership vacuum. “We don’t have time to do graduate work or research,” says Qi Tingduo, the 75-year-old vice-president of Yanjing Union Theological Seminary in Beijing. Qi speaks of the need for Chinese Christian scholars who can develop a Chinese theology, with Christ and the Bible as foundations. “We are a socialist society, a Chinese society,” he says. “How do we share the gospel in that society?”

For now, Qi says, the bigger challenge is getting trained workers into the field. Some of the 63 students at the Beijing seminary come from far-flung fields. In some cases they are the only members of their congregations who have received any higher education at all, much less seminary training.

The first Protestant seminary to reopen after the revolution was Jinling Union Theological Seminary in Nanjing. Ironically, it operates in buildings once confiscated by the Red Guards for use as their city headquarters. Beneath the paint on the walls outside the chapel, one can still make out the faint outline of Chinese characters proclaiming, “Long Live Chairman Mao.” Chen Zemin, the seminary’s vice-president, voices optimism about closing the generational leadership gap in the churches. “We are turning out graduates from the theological training centers at the rate of about 100 each year,” he says. “We can solve this problem at least within the next ten years or so.”

While the seminaries produce future leaders, the China Christian Council works at national and local levels to encourage churches through pastoral work, Christian literature distribution, and Bible publication. Since 1980, the council has printed more than 3.2 million Bibles in China.

An additional national initiative involving Christians is the three-year-old Amity Foundation, designed to join Christians with other Chinese citizens—and people or organizations from abroad—in service to China. The foundation has sponsored more than 50 foreign-language teachers at 36 universities and institutions. The teachers have come from nine countries and 14 different church-related agencies.

Another major Amity project: the new Amity Printing Press, which opened in December near Nanjing. It is printing Bibles, Christian literature, and other materials of service to Chinese society. Amity also operates a nutrition training project and has contributed to a children’s hospital and a children’s mental health center.

Tentative Freedom

Still, many Christians do not attend the more than 4,000 “open” churches for any of a number of reasons. Some suffered so much in the past that they continue to fear public identification as Christians. Some distrust government motives in allowing churches to reopen.

Others simply prefer the fellowship and atmosphere of home worship. Many became believers when there was no legal church to attend, thus they are unfamiliar with the concept of attending church. And since the number of churches in China is relatively small, home meetings far outnumber available churches, especially in rural areas, where 80 percent of China’s people live.

Questions about freedom to attend such house churches persist. From a national perspective, the government and the Communist party, while remaining adamantly atheist, have legally and practically reaffirmed Chinese citizens’ freedom of religion. They seem to have acknowledged the historical futility of attempting to eradicate religion by repression. And they have decided to enlist Christians—who have become widely known for their honesty, dedication, and hard work—and other religious groups in the vast task of modernizing China.

Yet despite laws and guarantees, religious freedom depends largely upon local officials. If an official is aware of religious rights under the law—and if he respects them—the freedoms are supported and upheld. If not, life can be difficult for believers.

An incident in 1984 illustrates how this happens. As a pastor led a church service on Christmas Day, a local official barged into the church and ordered the pastor arrested for propagating religion. “You can’t do this!” outraged worshipers cried out. “I can do whatever I want,” he replied. “I’m the boss here.”

The pastor was jailed. But the church quietly made higher officials aware of the situation. Soon the pastor was released. To the congregation’s amazement, the local official returned to the church to apologize in public. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I did not know the law.”

Still, reports persisted last year of arrests of house-church believers in some areas. And in several provinces, officials have pressured home meetings to register with church authorities or conform to strict guidelines for church operation.

As the fragile religious freedoms continue to grow, a new generation of leaders are emerging from cities and villages—from churches and seminaries—to guide their growing flocks into the future. That makes their elders, who held on to faith in the darkest days, very happy.

By Eric Bridges in China.

World Scene

NORTHERN IRELAND

Bishop Says: “Leave Ira”

Last month’s escalating violence in Northern Ireland led Roman Catholic Bishop Cahal Daly of Belfast to urge Catholics to leave the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Two British soldiers were beaten and shot by a mob on March 19, and the IRA claimed responsibility for the killings.

Bishop Daly said that o Catholics “who joined g the organization in the past for idealistic reasons … should now have the honesty and courage to realize the truth about the IRA.” He said his office had been flooded with phone calls from members of his parish who felt the incident unfairly represented them to the world. “The evil forces which have been released within their community are opposed to everything Catholics believe and cherish.”

Daly also blamed the IRA for disguising their violence with a “mask of romantic rhetoric and militaristic mock ritual.” He said the organization has led Catholics to join in violence that was inspired by hatred for the British.

SOVIET UNION

Moscow To Help Third World

Officials from the Soviet Union say they will no longer blame capitalism for Third World poverty but instead will join the West in sending more aid to underdeveloped nations, according to a Reuters News Service report. Western observers say this is a major policy shift.

“Our role in Third World development projects is less than it should be,” said Vladimir Khoros, head of a Soviet delegation attending a conference on poverty, development, and collective survival. He said he expects aid to the Third World to climb past the current rate of 1.5 percent of the Soviet Union’s national income. Another delegate to the conference, sponsored by the Rome-based Society for International Development, said both socialist and Western countries “have common responsibilities for Third World problems of hunger, education, and health.”

In the past, Soviet aid went mainly to Eastern-bloc and African nations, but the Soviets now hope to extend aid to Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Khoros said more aid will come as a result of disarmament deals with the United States.

PANAMA

Unrest Hampers Missionaries

The Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board says political unrest and the “state of urgency” declared in Panama are taking a toll on missionary work in that nation. The biggest problem facing the denomination’s 22 missionaries is the dollar shortage. The United States imposed economic sanctions against Panama and blocked its access to funds held in American banks after military strongman Manuel Noriega ousted President Eric Arturo Delvalle on February 26.

The missionaries, along with local churches, have set up a food-voucher program for Panamanians who are out of food and cannot collect paychecks or withdraw money held in banks. Political demonstrations and increased violence have also hampered church work, especially around Panama City. Many church meetings and social services programs had to be cancelled because people were unable to move around safely.

American authorities warned all U.S. citizens to stay inside and limit their movements. The American military bases were also reported to be on a state of alert in case American citizens, including missionaries, needed to be brought onto the bases for protection.

Jack Frizen, executive director of the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association, said most missionaries are prepared for the restrictions and hardship that come during times of political unrest. However, he said often “opportunities are even greater” during those times because people are “more receptive to the gospel.”

SUDAN

Relief Agencies Kicked Out

The government of Sudan announced it has rejected appeals by several relief organizations to continue their work in that country. The Association of Christian Resource Organizations Serving Sudan (across), World Vision, Lutheran World Service, and Swedish Free Mission had received an expulsion order late last year on grounds that the worst effects of a drought were over.

The agencies appealed, saying they were in Sudan to help with development as well as to combat drought. Observers say the expulsion was politically motivated. The agencies work in the south where rebels have been fighting to overthrow the government in the predominantly Muslim north.

EGYPT

Opposing Churches Unite

After 15 centuries of division over the nature of Christ, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt and the Roman Catholic Church have agreed that neither was right.

The bitter division that produced many martyrs in the Coptic Church revolved around two views of Christ: Was the Son of God primarily divine (Monophysite) or human (duophysite)? The Coptic Church identified with the Monophysitic view while the Catholic Church stressed the duophysitic view.

In signing the agreement, theologians from both churches concluded the division was largely due to semantics, and that Christ was both human and divine. In part, the statement reads, “His [Christ’s] Divinity was not separated from His Humanity even for a moment or twinkling of an eye.”

Both churches also expressed a desire to put the issue behind them in favor of increased cooperation and fellowship.

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