It is interesting to spend time in China and watch the activity going on in the streets. There is so much commerce . . . so many different shops doing business. In Beijing, name brand stores line the streets and there is even a 3 story Starbucks. Unlike most caricatures, no one is wearing drab green and wearing red communist stars.
Basically, it feels like you’re in a free and capitalistic country.
And there is also a Christian church where people are free to worship. It’s called the Three Self Church, which stands for self-governing, self-propagating, and self- sustaining. People are carrying Bibles into the church and listening to pastors preach their sermons.
“Unbelievable”, you might think. “China has changed so much.”
But China is a series of facades that stretch out like the Great Wall, and it is just as dominating. On the surface China may appear to be capitalistic and religiously tolerant. However, just underneath still lives and breathes an oppressive communism.
Much of the money exchanging hands in the streets, in the mom and pop restaurants, and in souvenir shops . . . goes to the government. It is then the government’s decision on who gets the money. 80 percent of all businesses in China are state owned.
As for the Three Self Church? It is the official government church. Not only is it approved by the government . . . it is also run by them. The sermon that Chinese Christians listen to is a sanitized version that has been submitted in advance to the government for approval. They will never hear a sermon on the Second Coming, it is not allowed. It is because there is only one earthly ruler for the Chinese and that is the government.
As these Christians sit in the congregation they are also sitting with plain-clothed government monitors, ready to report anything not authorized. The Bible they hold in their hands has been bought from an approved location and the government has recorded their personal information. The church that they sit in has been picked as the only one they are approved to go to.
If they become Christ followers, they must have official approval before they can be baptized. They are also not allowed to evangelize to youth or anyone outside of their neighborhoods. The government wants to ensure that they alone are converting the youth. As one house Church pastor told me, “Jesus Christ is not the head of the Three Self Church, government is.
While it is true there are many committed believers and pastors in the Three Self Church, there are millions who desire true religous freedom . . . so much so that they are willing to endure years in prison if caught.
This is the House Church Movement. Comprised of up to 150 million Christians this is where the true heartbeat of evangelism, preaching, and discipleship lives in China.
China is in the news right now. Our President is currently in China meeting with leaders and there is a lot of talk about freedoms and rights. Yet it has just been reported today that the government has shut down two prominent house churches and even making sure they didn’t meet in other locations. So I am asking you . . . please pray for China. Christians in China need our help just as much as they ever have. For them, the daily threat of prison and beatings are just as real as they were on the past.
We can’t be lured into passivity for our fellow Christians by the Great Facade of China.