In over 100 years of...
Illustration
In over 100 years of intense missionary activity prior to 1949, the number of Protestant
converts in China never exceeded 700,000. After the Communist persecution began,
Chinese Christianity began to grow. The number of Christians now exceeds fifteen
million -- still a small percentage of China's billions, but an astounding increase, all the
same. It is thought there are vastly greater numbers of Chinese Christians meeting in
undocumented house churches.
At a missionary conference in the United States, Li Enlin, told of how her father, a pastor, sometimes has to climb over the heads of the worshipers in his church -- so tightly packed into the sanctuary are they, with "standing-room only" outside. She told also of going to speak herself at a "meeting point" -- what we in the West know as a "house church." What Li found when she got to this remote mountain village was not a church, nor even a building at all, but 2,000 people gathered in an open field. She spoke for an hour -- and then they would not let her stop, for they wanted more.
There was a time when western Christians thought we were the nearest to God, and people like the Chinese were "far off." It was our task to send missionaries to "bring them near" to Christ. Well, those days are over. The Chinese themselves are doing a far more effective job of evangelism than the Western missionaries ever did. The missionaries planted the seeds, faithfully and well. The seeds rested dormant in the soil for a time, until the forest fire of persecution blazed up, clearing the land and blackening the soil -- but creating perfect conditions for explosive growth.
At a missionary conference in the United States, Li Enlin, told of how her father, a pastor, sometimes has to climb over the heads of the worshipers in his church -- so tightly packed into the sanctuary are they, with "standing-room only" outside. She told also of going to speak herself at a "meeting point" -- what we in the West know as a "house church." What Li found when she got to this remote mountain village was not a church, nor even a building at all, but 2,000 people gathered in an open field. She spoke for an hour -- and then they would not let her stop, for they wanted more.
There was a time when western Christians thought we were the nearest to God, and people like the Chinese were "far off." It was our task to send missionaries to "bring them near" to Christ. Well, those days are over. The Chinese themselves are doing a far more effective job of evangelism than the Western missionaries ever did. The missionaries planted the seeds, faithfully and well. The seeds rested dormant in the soil for a time, until the forest fire of persecution blazed up, clearing the land and blackening the soil -- but creating perfect conditions for explosive growth.
