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Churches in China

China, December 2006
Details are omitted to protect the identity of these churches. 

Few years ago, I thought that there is NO church in China, the communist country. When I get to know several friends who were living in China, I was told that there is churches in China. Then I relate it with the fact that in the past, several missionaries have been sent by God to China, so the existence of churches shouldn't be impossible. There are millions of believers in China, even though still just a fraction when compared to 1.3 billion people in China.

However, only few churches can officially declared their existence, e.g. with signs in front of their church building, banners like “Ye Su Ai Ni”, etc. These are called government-approved churches. Compared to many other countries, China only allow the followers of certain religions to build their worship place publicly only in mid 1980ies, so this type of church is still considered as young. Of course you need to understand Mandarin language in order to follow the service.

There are other type of church in China called International church, where every member must be non-Chinese. These churches are for international workers, expatriate, foreign students, who are Christian or Catholic to worship God every Sunday. The members must bring their passport when they first attend the service as a proof. I don’t know what will happen if a local Chinese try to attend the service and I don’t want to speculate about that. It looks like a mini-heaven in that place as people from different races, cultures, ages, come together to worship, pray, listening to the sermon, etc, in English.

There are other type of church called house church or underground church. These churches are currently persecuted because their stand to preach the Gospel as it is without 'filters' imposed by the government. Their members often share their faith with others during the service. They conduct the service in one of the elder’s house. The living room is transformed so that 30-40 people can worship God and listen to the sermon which is usually preached by the elder himself/herself.

Thanks to my friend in China, I have such chance to visited each of the three types of churches above. There are still other denominations of Christian churches and Catholic churches. Hopefully this short article helps you to understand a little bit more about the situation of the fellow brothers and sisters in China and to see that in His way, God is doing something in China. We can celebrate Christmas in China.

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