Like other Christians around the world, Zhang Fei celebrated Christmas Day in traditional fashion. She attended a morning church service, joining in the carol singing led by a cassock-wearing choir, and then watched a nativity play performed by children from the congregation. But Miss Zhang’s Protestant church is an illegal one, and its 1,000 members have grown used to worshipping in a variety of office buildings across Beijing in an effort to avoid the scrutiny of the authorities.
A 25-year-old junior manager in an engineering company, Miss Zhang has been a Christian for four years. She says many people, including her parents, who are members of the Communist Party, think she is ”crazy” and question both her faith and the wisdom of being a Christian in a Communist country. “They say, ‘There’s no God in this world,’” she said.
“They haven’t stopped me being a Christian and I wouldn’t let them, but it’s a source of tension between us. I pray for them.” But unlikely as it sounds, Miss Zhang is part of a huge and growing number of like-minded Chinese who celebrated the story of Christ’s birth. Up to 100 million are practising Christians - possibly a higher proportion of the country’s 1.3 billion people than in Britain, and they outnumber the 76 million members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The Chinese constitution officially guarantees religious freedom but in an effort to monitor the activities, Christians, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, are required to attend state-controlled churches – a stricture ignored by those who meet instead in flats, office blocks, university dormitories and even the private rooms of restaurants. The authorities frequently clamp down on their activities, yet the number of Christians continues to grow. Jin Tianming, the pastor of the house church which Miss Zhang attends, said: “When we started in 1993 there were just 10 of us. Now, we have more than 1,000 members. Every Sunday there are 30 newcomers.”
Particularly worrying for the CCP is the spread of Christianity’s appeal from the countryside, where it first took root, to the young, university-educated residents of China’s cities – the very people whom the party traditionally recruits. When The Sunday Telegraph attended the church, worshippers, mostly under the age of 40, occupied every seat and stood lining the walls, many clutching Bibles and prayer books in both Chinese and English.” New Christians are particularly drawn to the fervent, evangelical Christianity of the Protestant house churches, which has spread from nearby South Korea.
“It’s no problem if the government doesn’t like Christians or house churches,” said Miss Zhang. “God is in charge of us, not the government.”
Source: The Daily Telegraph
BIBLE STUDY: Psalm 122:1-9
Report 13 – PRAISE: God that He IS in charge and the Gospel is spreading to the whole nation.
Report 14 – PRAY: That Chinese Christian witness may continue to show that the Gospel changes nations.
