Posted on 04/25/2017 2:13:25 PM PDT by marshmallow
“The government won’t approve it, but the question is if they’ll shut it down.”
China, the world’s rising superpower, is experiencing an explosion of faith. The decades of anti-religious campaigns that followed the 1949 communist takeover are giving way to a spiritual transformation—and among the fastest-growing drivers of that transformation are unregistered churches.
Once called “house” or “underground” churches because they were small clandestine affairs, these groups have become surprisingly well-organized, meeting very openly and often counting hundreds of congregants. They’ve helped the number of Protestants soar from about 1 million when the communists took power to at least 60 million today. Of these believers, about two-thirds are not affiliated with government churches. In other words, Protestants in non-government churches outnumber worshippers in government churches two to one.
This fascinated me, and I wondered how it happened. Why were these independent churches so effective in appealing to China’s burgeoning middle class? And how do they survive despite government efforts to rein in religious groups not part of government-run places of worship?
To find out, I knew it would be important to report from the ground up. If you rely solely on newspaper headlines and human rights reports, you’ll only understand one aspect of a society: its problems. For instance, after reading the recent Freedom House report about intensifying religious persecution under Chinese President Xi Jinping, you may come away with the impression that in China the main story of religion is repression. But any casual visitor to the country can tell you that the number of churches, mosques, and temples has soared in recent years, and that many of them are full. While problems abound, the space for religious expression has grown rapidly, and Chinese believers eagerly grab it as they search for new ideas and values to underpin a......
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
The operative phrase is meeting very openly. It is not Christianity that is illegal. Church bells ring a half block off of People's Square in Shanghai to announce the start of church service and people flood into the church. This is just as they do in churches all over China.
What is illegal is unauthorized assembly and what is referred to as underground churches. Just as this article states. It is the same reason Amway ran into trouble. Amway is not illegal in China but its motivational private meetings in people's homes or store fronts is illegal.
In any progressive utopia there must be no power higher than the government.
Chinese Christians receiving Bibles for the first time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16RWK936Re8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_4XbNmG5FY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSnnkWpBC58
Non official Catholics have seen a similar expansion. I have heard and read that Chinese Christians on both sides of that line have it as an implied article of faith that their mandate is to Christianize the Moslem Asia including the Holy Land.
The preacher featured in the article isn’t preaching the Gospel, just some gobily gook about getting eternal life by being a good person.
Of course the authorities aren’t going to stop him.
He’s just the Joel Osteen of China.
I wish all christian churches were underground. I don’t think large scale denominational control helps.
More and more, real churches will be underground.
You must read “The Heavenly Man” by Brother Yun; these Chinese Christians know what living for Christ really costs.
The last time Yun was in prison, the authorities were tired with his escapes, so they broke both his legs.
Not long after, God spoke to him, “Get up, and walk out.” So he did, thru crowds of prison guards... but none saw him.
Oh, and the prison ‘front door’ just happened to be open.
CBN news has been reporting on the revival for a while, but they had a new article today, too.
China Gripped by Spiritual Revival as ‘Hundreds of Millions Turn to Religion and Faith’
Just to share some other hope, joy, and praise...
Azerbaijan: Pastor Dreams for 9 Million Muslims to Believe in Christ
Just like in the first century, when Christians were persecuted, the more Christianity spread throughout the world.
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