Open Doors' position statement on China

China is a land of paradoxes that can appear baffling to the outsider. While periodic raids on house churches continue and some Chinese Christian leaders languish in jail, others live a relatively persecution-free Christian life or travel the world talking of religious freedom. Some take risks smuggling in the Bible, yet the Bible is also legally printed and sold in huge numbers. The situation is highly complex, so the key question Christians in the West have to get to grips with is: what is the truth about China right now? The current position may usefully be analysed under three headings: Progress, Persecution and Revival.

Progress

Great progress has been made over the past 30 years. The growth of religious liberty has opened up remarkable opportunities for both overseas and local Christians to serve and witness within Chinese society. The ideological oppression of the Cultural Revolution is long gone and, as China becomes an increasingly significant member of the global community, it is now possible to work legally within China to partner local Christians, albeit so far only within the official church.

Over 50 million Bibles have been legally printed in China since 1988. Of those printed in the last two years, over 20 per cent were exported, whilst the rest are distributed domestically. These Bibles are sold at generally affordable prices through the official Protestant churches and have effectively met demand in the cities. Some house church Christians have been able to buy these Bibles. In addition, many religious books produced by overseas Christian publishing companies are available in government and commercial bookstores. Although the Bible is still not on the shelves in such outlets, such unprecedented openness marks a considerable step forward.

Nevertheless, in the rural areas where 70-80 per cent of house church Christians live, Scripture remains in short supply. Christians living in the villages are unable to travel to the cities, and could not afford to buy Bibles even if they got there. Other house church believers prefer not to purchase through the registered church, fearing they may be required to reveal information about their places of worship. As a result, millions of Chinese Christians still do not possess their own copy of the Bible.

Furthermore, the Chinese Church has made significant spiritual progress over the past three decades and believers are now requesting study Bibles, concordances, youth Bibles and Bibles in minority Chinese languages. It is therefore essential that Open Doors and other mission agencies seeking to help the Chinese Church mature in its faith should continue to work to meet this heavy demand for Bibles and Bible study aids.

There has also been progress in other areas. Thousands have been taught English and other subjects in universities. Seminaries and churches have been rebuilt and orphanages and non-government organisations (NGOs) established, thanks to co-operation between overseas mission/philanthropy groups and official state-approved organisations. Such opportunities are likely to increase in the future, and discerning groups should continue to take advantage of this situation - as long as they acknowledge the risks and remain aware of the levels of corruption involved. It is not Open Doors' policy to criticise but to commend those involved in this work - as long as the price of involvement is not to be silent about persecution.

Persecution

Some deny significant levels of persecution exist at all. Yet the majority of Christians refuse to worship within state-approved churches, finding the monitoring by government bodies invasive and controlling. Evangelism outside registered churches is illegal. Although the Chinese government does not explicitly prohibit the teaching of religion to those under 18, Sunday school teachers face detention, fines or up to three years in prison if caught. House church leaders are still jailed and beaten for what Western society would consider to be the free and legitimate expression of their faith.

Admittedly, some agencies exaggerate the levels of persecution faced by the average believer; they normally face discrimination and harassment rather than jail or beatings. Levels of toleration vary widely, too. In some areas, house church Christians build their own churches without the formal permissions they in theory need, yet they are left alone by police who know they exist. In other areas, periodic crackdowns on unregistered groups – usually prior to major national or international events – result in leaders being beaten, arrested and jailed.

The Christian Church of China may not have as many martyrs as the Church in Colombia, face as many restrictions as their sisters in Saudi Arabia, or fight as many extremist mobs as their brothers in India. But the 60-80 million Christians in China remain the world's largest single persecuted community.

Revival

The Chinese Church became the world's largest Christian community as a result of the massive revival that took place in the early 1970s – the biggest ever in the history of Christianity. We believe the total number of Christians to be between 60-80 million, though it could be higher. Of this number, over 23 million worship in the two officially organised churches of China: the Protestant Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM, with over 18 million members) and the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA, with more than 5 million). Since the official churches are the minority, the government-appointed leaders of the TSPM and CPA cannot claim to speak for the Chinese Christian community as a whole. Consequently, agencies and individuals can fall foul of government policy, which insists that all help goes only to the official churches, when they try to support non-registered congregations.

Open Doors' commitment to the whole Chinese Church means we must continue to find ways to improve the help given to the body of Christ in China. For example, since authorised Bible production does not meet the spiritual needs of the majority of Chinese Christians, we must supply Bibles and Bible study tools directly to the growing and swiftly-maturing house church millions.

Conclusion

It is important to re-emphasise that the official, government-approved church leaders do not speak for the Chinese Church as a whole. At the same time, leaders of house church networks are denied a platform to say what their needs are and to get their message across. Open Doors seeks to articulate the views of such house church leaders, speaking out on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.

Whilst positive, government-approved opportunities to assist Christians who worship in official churches exist, these cannot meet the needs of the entire church. We must not be misled by government propaganda or half-truths that emanate from Western-visitors-turned-China-experts which either merely parrot the official line or fail to present a complete and balanced picture.

The Church in China is growing rapidly, but spiritually it is relatively shallow. Only by taking advantage of every opportunity that presents itself to assist the whole church through Bible deliveries, leadership training, socio-economic development, prayer support and one-to-one encouragement, will we see the continued, solid growth of the world's largest revival movement.