The Truth about China

An Open Doors Position Statement

Updated January 2009

China is a land full of paradoxes that appear very baffling to the outsider. While raids on house churches continue from time to time 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 smuggle the Bible, yet the Bible is also legally printed and sold. Great acrimony surrounds the questions of how many Christians actually exist in China and how Christian organizations should assist the Chinese Church. Our position can be stated simply under three headings: Progress, Persecution and Revival.

Progress

The last 33 years have seen great progress for the cause of religious liberty in China, resulting in remarkable opportunities for overseas as well as local Christians to serve and witness in Chinese society. The ideological oppression of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) is long gone, and as China becomes an increasingly significant and important member of the global community, it is now possible to work legally within China and partner with local Christians, albeit primarily with the official church as yet.

Over 50 million Bibles have been legally printed in China since 1988.  The number of Bibles that the Chinese government has permitted the Amity Printing Company (formerly Amity Press) to print has exceeded six and seven million per year in 2006 and 2007 respectively.  About 21% of Amity’s Bibles are exported to countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, while the rest are distributed domestically. 

These Bibles are sold at averagely affordable prices through the official Protestant churches, and have generally met Bible demand in the cities. Some house church Christians have been able to buy these Bibles. In addition, many provincial church councils are able to print Christian literature. There are also many religious books produced by academic publishing houses and publishing companies established by overseas Christian groups which are now available in government and commercial bookstores. Although the Bible is still not obtainable off the shelves of such public places, the unprecedented openness is a great improvement and is to be applauded.

Nevertheless, in the rural areas where 70-80 percent of house church Christians live, there are still considerable shortages of Scriptures. Often village Christians are unable to travel to the cities to buy Bibles, and cannot afford to buy them anyway. Other house church believers prefer not to purchase through channels of the registered church out of concern that they may be required to reveal information about their house church memberships. Bible shortages have also been reported by house church Christians who have attempted to purchase them in bulk from the official Three-Self church bookshops in a few major cities such as Guangzhou. As a result, millions of Christians in China still do not have a personal Bible. Thus, it is still important to provide Scriptures for them.

Given the growth of the Chinese church at a conservative three to five million new believers per year, it is likely that the Bible need may be internally met in the years to come, especially with the new facilities of the Amity Printing Company which is capable of producing up to 12 million Bibles a year.    However, the Chinese church has grown spiritually and believers are now requesting Bible versions that comprise more than just Scripture text, such as Study Bibles, concordance Bibles, cross-reference Bibles, youth Bibles and Bibles in minority languages, which are not yet produced by Amity for mass distribution locally.  Thus, if overseas mission agencies intend to help the Chinese church mature in their faith and understanding of God’s Word, the supply of Bibles which supplement the efforts of Amity should continue.

Thousands of Christian teachers have taught English and other subjects in universities. Seminaries and churches have been rebuilt and orphanages and non-government organizations (NGOs) have been established, thanks to co-operative projects between overseas mission/philanthropy groups and official state-approved organizations.

These opportunities are likely to increase in the future, and discerning groups should continue to take advantage of this open door as long as they acknowledge the risks and remain aware of the levels of corruption involved. It is not Open Doors’ policy to criticize but to commend those involved in this work, so long as the price of involvement is not to be silent about persecution.

Persecution

Some deny there are significant levels of persecution at all. Yet the majority of Christians currently refuse to worship within the state-approved churches, finding the monitoring by government bodies invasive and controlling.  Evangelism outside the registered church walls is illegal. Even though the China government doesn't have a national law that explicitly prohibits the teaching of religion to anyone under 18 years old, internal provincial regulations exist to forbid baptism of minors and restrict their children’s programs, with Sunday school teachers facing the likelihood of detention, fines, or imprisonment of up to three years if caught. House church leaders are still jailed and beaten for what in Western society would be regarded as the free expression of their faith.

Admittedly, some agencies do exaggerate the levels of persecution faced by the average believer who faces discrimination and harassment rather than jailing and beatings. Also, there is great variation of tolerance within the country. In some areas, house church Christians sing at the top of their voices and even build their own churches in defiance of formal legislation, yet are left alone by police who know of their existence. In other areas, however, house church leaders can be arrested, beaten, jailed and the house church meetings stopped. Periodically, there are waves of crackdown on unregistered groups which are initiated by authorities in the higher levels, usually prior to major national or international events, seemingly meant to send a message to house churches about who is still in control.

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

Revival

The Chinese church became the world's largest Christian community due to a massive revival dating from the early 1970s, the size of which is unprecedented in Christendom. 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 organized churches of China -- the Protestant Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM, over 18 million members) and the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA, 5 million members). Since members of the official churches are in a minority, government-appointed leaders of the TSPM and CPA cannot claim to speak on behalf of the entire Chinese Christian community.

Consequently, to assist the entire church of China, one is forced to fall foul of government policy, which insists that all help goes only to the official churches.

Based on this commitment to assist the whole Chinese church, which is at least three times larger than officials admit, we must continue to find ways to supplement help given to the body of Christ in China. For example, since authorized Bible production does not meet the spiritual needs and demands of the majority of Chinese Christians, we must supply Bibles and other Bible-related study tools directly to the growing and maturing house church millions.

It is foolish for missions to criticize each other over what method is most appropriate when the needs of the Chinese church are so large. The Chinese church needs everyone's help now, and every method is still appropriate … so long as the local Chinese church is respected and served.

Summary

The official government-approved church leaders do not speak for the entire Chinese church. At the same time, leaders of house church networks are denied a platform to state their needs. We at Open Doors seek to articulate the views of such house church leaders, speaking out on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.

While there are positive, government-approved opportunities to assist Christians who worship in official churches, those opportunities in no way 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 that echo the official line or that do not present a complete and balanced overview.

The church in China is growing rapidly, but the spiritual depth of the church is comparatively shallow. Only by taking advantage of every avenue to assist the whole church in China through Bible deliveries, leadership training, socio-economic development, prayer support and encouragement will we see the continued, solid growth and maturing of the world's largest revival.