This weekend, Vivian and I had the honor of meeting and listening to Dr. David Wang, the founder of Asian Outreach. Dr. Wang informed us of the explosion of new converts in China through both the house church movement and the official “Three C” churches. Both, he said, play vital parts in the revival taking place in China. The “Three C” churches can print Bibles so pastors throughout China can distribute them. The “Three C” pastors often attend the worship services in the house churches because of the miracles that are taking place there.
Dr. Wang shared that a conservative estimate of the number of “Born-again, spirit-led Christians in China now tops 100 million.” That is 50% higher than the total number of communist party members in China and up from 1 million known believers in 1952 when the last remaning mission agency, China Inland Mission, reluctantly left China under the threat of force.
Think about that, “100 million Christians in China.” Typically we talk about 1/3 of the people in America profess to be born again. That would be around 100 million as well. Now, you might say, China’s population is much greater than the United States. This is true. But the conversion rate today is off the charts in China. In the United States, we are barely breaking even.
Or, as Dr. Wang puts it, “We are seeing the Christianization of China and the de-Christianization of the United States.”
Sunday, we also heard Jeff Wells preach on missions and getting in the game. His message was one of the strongest, most direct messages I have heard, certainly in The Woodlands. Tomorrow, that post and a link to that sermon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The first several times I heard this claim - "A hundred million believers in China" - I was excited. I've been hearing that same number for so many years now, that I'm less excited. I believe there are a significant number of believers in China, but if the church is growing as fast as they've been saying for the past twenty years, why is the hundred million statistic so constant over that time? Lots of martyrdoms? Or is it vague statistics?
Dr. Wang talked about this as well. First, this does not take into account the cultural Christians. Second, he said the explosion has taken place in the last decade. As an example, he explained that the underground church was not allowed to help out in any public, substantive way until recently. The house church particpants were the first to provide food, water and support following the May 12th earthquake that klled tens of thousands and displaced millions. Thousands came to know Christ following their work.
Post a Comment