Explosive Growth of Christianity is Changing China
by Teresa Neumann : Sep 15, 2010 : Christopher Landau – BBC
“There is no small irony in the party’s new-found enthusiasm for supporting the development of religion in China, given Communism’s commitment to atheism.”
Founder’s Note: We can barely explain how much growth in eastern countries there is for Christ. Who knew? My dad was born in China to non-Chinese missionary parents. My parents adopted a Chinese boy. He became a great surgeon in the United States. My niece goes to China on business. Someday my wife and I will visit too. –Steve and Derene Shultz
(China) – The BBC reports that communist rulers in China have radically altered their views about religion and as a result, Christianity is growing in China as never before. The caveat is that the closely limited new freedoms are only granted to those Christians willing to worship in government-sanctioned churches.
The director general of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, Wang Zuo An, was quoted as saying there are now at least 20 million Christians in China worshipping in the state-sanctioned church.
“Such growth is unprecedented in the history of Christianity in China. Christianity is enjoying its best period of growth in China,” he said, adding that, “On the question of whether there is God, the Chinese Communist Party believes there is no God in the world.”
Rev. John Zhang, a Catholic priest, said: “Some officials say, ‘You have done for Chinese society what we cannot do. Without any political involvement, the Church is doing a good job, and we from government appreciate it.'”
The report noted that house – or underground – churches remain a “significant part of the Chinese Christian landscape,” but “both the Catholic and Protestant churches sanctioned by the state are now also seeing levels of growth that few predicted in the 1980s.”
Said one young Chinese Christian student, “I think this nation will change, and I think God is doing great things in China.”
