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Church Growth in C hina

2015; Wiley; Volume: 67; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/erev.12134

1758-6623

Sigurd Kaiser,

Religion, Society, and Development

Since the late 1970s – when China implemented a policy of opening followed by a limited religious freedom – Chinese Christianity has been growing rapidly.1 While statistics offer only an outside description of this development, in this essay I will try to analyze the internal factors leading to this growth. For this purpose I will not only use theological and sociological studies of Chinese Christianity, but also refer to my personal experiences during the years 2007 to 2014 when I was teaching New Testament and related subjects at Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. Based on this, I had the privilege of preaching at a variety of Chinese churches, meeting their members and staff, as well as traveling to other seminaries and institutions. One of my eye-opening experiences occurred in a new church in the southern part of Nanjing that originally had been a so-called meeting point without a church building. In 2007, when I preached there for the first time, about 150 people attended the worship service. The church was about a quarter filled. Many of the worshipers were beaming at me, probably because it was the first time they heard and saw a foreigner preaching the gospel. Two years later, when I preached there again, the church had grown substantially. The sanctuary was filled to the last row and the last seat. I was amazed; I would have never expected such an increase. In 2009 I participated, as I often do, in the English worship service at St Paul's Church in Nanjing. Usually about 250 people, mostly students, meet there. The total church attendance over time is about 2,000. On that day, 11 young people from the English congregation were baptized. Altogether, there were 56 baptisms in the church on that Sunday morning. Since there are two baptism services a year, this means that more than 100 people are baptized annually just in this congregation. I was impressed. I was not used to such numbers from the Western churches I attended before. Unfortunately, most Chinese churches do not have enough church workers to provide the young believers with adequate training and opportunity for fellowship. After 150 years of Protestant mission history, there was only moderate growth of Christianity in China. At the time of the so-called liberation – the takeover by the Communists in 1949 – there were about 700,000 Protestant Chinese Christians in the country. The expulsion of the missionaries followed from 1950 to 1952. After the persecution during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), Protestants in China surprisingly numbered 1.5 million; in 1982, they numbered 3 million; in 1986, 6.7 million; in 1992, 9.4 million; and in 1998, 16.7 million.2 The Chinese church has thus been growing at an exponential rate since the opening of China in 1978 and the implementation of a limited religious freedom in 1982. Today (2014) China has a population of about 1.35 billion people,3 of which 24 million belong to the official Protestant Church, according to the numbers of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). However, already in 2009, Yu Jianrong, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, estimated the number of Christians in the official Protestant church to be between 18 and 30 million, and those belonging to the so-called house churches to be between 45 and 60 million.4 Similarly, in 2010 the World Christian Database assumed 50–70 million believers in about 300 unofficial house church networks. The numbers given for Catholic Christians in China range from the official 6 million to an estimated 12–14 million. A researcher from Renmin University in Beijing publicly gave the number of almost 90 million Christians in China including the house church members. These numbers agree quite well with those of Western observers who assume the total numbers of Christians in China to be between 80 and 100 million,5 with some estimates going up to 130 million or 10% of the population. In other words, Christianity in China has experienced an exponential growth since 1949 with a 100-fold increase among Protestants during the last 60 years, while most of this growth occurred during the last 35 years. It is noteworthy that the majority of Chinese Christians live in rural areas and have very little education or Christian training. In recent years, however, many intellectuals and university students have become Christians in the cities. Yet the majority are still older people, primarily women, with a low level of education. It is difficult to distinguish between the official church and the house churches in the statistics. Except for leadership structures, there are relatively few theological and sociological differences between the members of the house churches and those worshiping in the official church.6 Most unregistered or house churches in the countryside are not opposed to affiliating with the official church and for this reason they should not be called underground churches. However, in urban areas, while some house churches are affiliated with the official church, others are opposed to it.7 In the following, I will try to discern the major reasons for the extraordinary growth of the church in China. I was always very impressed when I heard that quite a number of my students at Nanjing Seminary were getting up at 5:30 in the morning for prayer. Every morning they prayed together for their families, their teachers, their school, and their studies. When I mentioned even the smallest problem, they told me: “We will pray for you.” When they came to me to confer about their thesis topics, some told me, “We will pray about it and tell you after the summer break.” And I was very moved when some of my students requested, either in passing or after longer conversations, “Please pray for me and my family.” This was not only so with the students: sometimes even church leaders asked me to pray for them. Yet not only private, but also public prayer is strong. It is energetic and full of expectation. From some churches, I hear that they have long prayer meetings, especially among the leaders and before important decisions. They know that they need God's guidance when they take responsibility for thousands of people, and they consider prayer as the greatest source of unity within the church. Prayer also has been the source of strength and perseverance and the means of unity among the Christians during the hard times of persecution. For more than 10 years, during the Cultural Revolution and beyond, the primary action believers could take was prayer, as ministry was hardly possible anymore. And God answered their prayers and blessed the church with continuous growth.8 Many books have been written about this dark period of Chinese history. With regard to prayer, these books have much in common. If it is possible to learn how to pray (see Luke 11:1), then the Chinese Christians have learned to pray. A while ago we had some visitors from abroad who came to our house near the old campus of Nanjing Seminary. They asked an older lady in town for the way to the seminary. She said, “Yes, the seminary is nearby. You need to go in this direction. Do you already know Jesus?” Our visitors were quite surprised, because this was their first contact after arriving in China, and the first person they met asked them whether they knew Jesus. Most ironically, they were a group of university teachers teaching intercultural theology. They wanted to find out what Chinese Christianity was like. They found out at least one important aspect. The personal witness plays a central role in Chinese Christianity. Due to their biblical faith, people think of it as a personal responsibility of every Christian to share the gospel with the people around them. Besides the worship service in the church, this is the primary approach to evangelism, since Christian events outside their premises are not permitted. Their witness is simple, clear, and very personal. For this reason they are able to communicate the gospel well. The personal experience with Jesus in everyday life plays a central role in Chinese Christianity. Almost every sermon contains reports about Christian experiences. For this reason many worship services include personal testimonies. This makes the Christian message personal and practical, and in this way convincing and attractive. When I asked my students what they like to see most in a church magazine, they unanimously answered: “Testimonies.” When I am preaching in the churches of Nanjing, I also try to include fitting personal examples. After the service typically many listeners talk to me and pick up on these little stories. Chinese Christians love personal testimonies because they know the power of the personal witness to strengthen each other's faith. Most Chinese sermons are quite evangelistic, Christ centered, well presented, and well articulated. They are simple and clear with many personal testimonies. They stress the soteriological aspect of the Christian faith and the personal relationship of the believer with Christ. The preachers emphasize Christ's love for the people and his help in everyday life situations, as well as the Christian calling. Social, economic, ecological, ethical, and scientific topics are not often covered.9 Instead, many sermons exhibit a strong dualism of heaven and hell, which is intended evangelistically. Contextualization happens only to a limited degree, but academic publications of the official church have shown an increasing sensitivity during recent years.10 The Western observer will also miss historical exegesis. Instead prooftexting and allegorical interpretation of scripture are widespread. Obviously, most preachers have had very little formal training and their audience has a low level of education. So Chinese preaching only offers an incomplete representation of the gospel just like elsewhere, but it clearly explains and enthusiastically communicates the central elements of the Christian faith. In this way, Chinese preaching meets the existential needs of the people, but it usually does not address pressing societal issues. Many rural Chinese feel trapped both spiritually and financially in a spiral of dependency on the ritual imposed by certain local folk religion practices, many of which are intricately linked into village life. In areas where folk religion exercises a profound influence demon possession is considered a reality and several cases of possession and subsequent exorcism were shared with me. Christianity is increasingly seen as a means of escape and can be perceived as a progressive force in traditional rural communities.12 Obviously, the supernatural element is an essential part of the biblical and practically oriented faith of most rural Chinese Christians. In contrast to rural China, many city Christians do not believe in divine healing and fewer healings are reported. When I share my own testimonies of healing, some are eager to receive prayer while many others are very reluctant. As in the West, urban Christians are strongly influenced by the modern rationalist worldview, but also by their former Marxist teaching. They can only accept what reason and science can prove. However, since with the dawning of the post-modern era, physical healing and other supernatural phenomena have become more acceptable in the West, healing may become more common in urban China as well. The rapid growth of the Pentecostal and charismatic churches in the West as well as in South America and Africa may point in this direction. Whether and in which way Christianity in urban China will embrace the new mindset, the future will show. Like in early Christianity, today many itinerant preachers pass through the rural areas of China proclaiming the gospel from village to village.13 Due to the lack of medical services in these areas, the preachers also pray for healing, which the people in turn frequently experience.14 If a sick person is healed, commonly the other members of the family start believing in the gospel too, and often the whole village becomes Christian. If a whole family or a village accepts Jesus, this is noticed by the surrounding people. Christian circles grow and house meetings are started, followed by house church networks and the founding of bigger churches. This dynamic, together with visions, dreams, and the private reading of scripture,15 largely describes the rapid growth of Christianity in the rural areas. Frequently, only a few years after the occurrence of a first conversion, we find churches spread over a whole area, such as a county, with hundreds and even thousands of members.16 However, since the many new converts rarely have access to anybody who is experienced enough to instruct them, strange teachings, heresies, or cults often occur. This is the downside of the rapid growth among rural Chinese Christianity. In some Christian sects in China, the practice of “sheep stealing” (the proselytizing of orthodox or mainline Christians) or even illegal and criminal practices such as kidnapping are seen. Tony Lambert states, “The most dangerous (cult) is currently Eastern Lightning, which preaches a Chinese, female Messiah and uses gangster methods to win and keep converts.”17 Eastern Lightning today is rapidly spreading also in the cities. A young pastor from a city church in Suzhou in southern China tells me that this is their major concern right now. At the same time, Western Christian sects like the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses are also making a great missionary effort in China. For example, there are now Mormon communities in many of the big cities. After the so-called liberation, when the missionaries had to leave China and church institutions like the Christian universities and hospitals were taken over by the government, most of the Chinese seminaries were closed. On the Protestant side, only the three biggest schools were permitted to continue. In 1952, they were integrated into Nanjing Union Theological Seminary (NJUTS). For this reason only very few clergy could be trained before the period of 1966–1976, during which theological education was discontinued. In the 1980s, the Chinese seminaries eventually reopened, with Nanjing Seminary as the first, but they were all lacking in academically qualified teachers. Today there are 21 seminaries and Bible schools in the country, which is less than one per province, and additional training centres for lay workers in most of the larger cities. Yet, these cannot provide sufficient training to supply this rapidly growing church with enough ministers and church workers. For instance, the newest Bible school in the metropolis of Chongqing in Sichuan Province has only three full-time professors who are recent graduates from Nanjing Seminary. In consequence, the Chinese seminaries only produce a few hundred seminary graduates each year, less than one for every big city. Accordingly, very few trained ministers are serving in the rural areas, and most of the larger cities, with populations of several million, usually only have 4 or 5 ordained clergy. This means that the Chinese church is basically run by lay workers. For the rural context, Caroline Fielder concludes: “The simple form and structure of Protestantism means that even if there is no minister or church building, it is still possible to engage in religious life. This structure fosters an environment which encourages the development of lay workers, with little church bureaucracy to block the vision of individual workers.”18 Due to the lack of academic training, the originally mostly clerical Chinese church has largely become a lay movement. Such a structure requires quite a number of laity to take on responsibility in the church. Since the time when the missionaries left, the number of Christian multipliers – mature and experienced believers with official tasks in the church – has grown steadily. With the opening of China in the 1980s and increasing religious freedom, this situation has not really changed. Like in the early church, most congregations are still run by elders, evangelists, and deacons whose ministry is largely based on their faith experience.19 Without the many lay preachers, it would not be possible to offer several worship services in most of the churches. The same is true for the many baptismal and Sunday school classes that every church offers. In this way, more lay people receive training on the job than any array of seminaries could provide. Since the lay people feel appreciated and needed, there are more lay people in active ministry than in most Western churches. Naturally, such a large lay movement can be much more efficient than a church ministry that depends primarily on paid staff. This means that it is not the lack of sophistication, but the empowerment of the laity has become an important element of growth in Chinese Christianity. And the same can be argued concerning the issue of women in ministry. It is noteworthy that the majority of people in the Chinese churches consists of women, who often make up two-thirds or three-quarters of a congregation. With a lower social status and less pay than their male neighbours or colleagues, they find a new identity and a new home in the church. Caroline Fielder summarizes: “The church offers a place where they do have a voice, a sense of community, a new family, and for many women membership offers them a social standing higher than they enjoy outside of the Christian community.”20 But this is not the only reason for these disproportionate numbers. Because church membership is attractive to the women, this becomes a problem for many men. As heads of the household providing for the major part of the family income, many men are afraid that joining a church will be disadvantageous in their public or government careers, or that is will even cause the loss of their jobs. So they either do not become Christians or they remain secret believers, like the professor of religion in Shaanxi Province, who is not baptized and who only rarely goes to church for “academic purposes” but who always prays at the lunch table. For these reasons, the Chinese church is a community of many highly active lay people, among whom the women as the majority can share and promote the gospel most freely, reaching primarily other women. When I was taken home from a church visit together with one of my Chinese colleagues, the driver of the car asked my colleague: “I see that you are Christians. Please tell me something about Christianity. How can my life continue even after death?” During the next 30 minutes until we reached our destination, my colleague explained to the driver the basics of the Christian faith. I was very surprised by this question, because I was not used to such an interest in Christianity from Western countries. Later, however, I noticed that people regularly would come to me and ask me about my Christian faith. Why are the Chinese people so interested in Christianity today? With the devastating results of the Cultural Revolution, Marxist idealism and state doctrine are no longer appeal to the Chinese masses. Instead, consumerism has been advocated, which is supposed to fill the needs of the Chinese people. On the material level this has led to a selfish society that has largely lost its morals and sense of justice.21 Selfishness, hypocrisy, favoritism, partisanship, corruption, and fraud are common notions. Even in kindergarten and school, extra payments are necessary for good grades and good treatment, for example, for a four-year-old to receive the honour of participating in the flag raising. Consequently, many are frustrated by the moral decay of society. Wang Zuo'an, director of the Beijing State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA), points out that in 2007 the Chinese church has been requested to start charity, welfare, and development programs in order to counteract the increasing gap between the rich and the poor. According to Wang, the rapid growth of Christianity in China is not a problem for the state as long as the church follows the religious regulations.22 In the past, the church was not allowed to become active outside its walls except through the setting up of nursing homes. Today, the church is expected to contribute to the “building of a harmonious society,” the ever-present government program. With this, not only have the limits of the present system become obvious, but the church has received a great opportunity to help the disadvantaged and reach them with the gospel. On the religious level, a noticeable vacuum has occurred that can no longer be filled by the traditional Chinese teachings of Laozi, Confucius, and others.23 Only about 1% of the Chinese people profess to be followers of Daoism, while 31.4% of the population claim to be adherents of a religious belief.24 Today, Daoism and the more philosophical Confucianism are seen by many only as a cultural heritage that is not able to meet the challenges of individualism, consumerism, and the increasing moral decay. For this reason, these two are decreasing among contemporary Chinese traditions and religions. By contrast, Chinese Buddhism is reawakening. Between 11% and 16% of the Chinese claim to be Buddhists. This popularity, however, often rests on a superstitious and utilitarian understanding. Almost every restaurant and many homes and businesses have their own Buddhist shrine, just as countless dashboards are sporting little Buddha figurines. Obviously, people expect protection and material blessing from this practice. The Buddhist temples where people go to offer incense and money serve the same purpose. Yet, there is no Buddhist community experience for the common people, like the one the church offers for the Chinese believers. On the spiritual level, the Chinese religions primarily require self-cultivation in order to achieve a divine state of being, but they do not know a relationship with a living God who is creator and sustainer of all. Due to past disappointments and hurts, many Chinese are longing for such a relationship – for forgiveness, reconciliation, and an everlasting life in the presence of their creator. For the Chinese people, this need for fellowship, spiritual direction, and ethical instruction seems to be best met by the Christian faith and community. Probably this is the reason Christianity is the fastest growing religion in China. Not all of the aspects mentioned above are of equal importance to those who are interested in Christianity. Some are looking for meaning in their lives and are attracted by the Christian love; others have gotten to know the living God through the experience of his healing power; and a third group is impressed by Christian ethical teaching, which covers every aspect of human existence and not only the family ties, as the traditional teachings primarily do. Besides the millions who have become Christians through healing experiences, today there are also many high level academics in the cities for whom healing is not an issue. Due to the religious vacuum, they are mostly attracted to the soteriological or the ethical aspects of Christianity. Some of these people teach or do research on Christianity at the Chinese universities.25 However, they usually do not join a church, either because they are afraid of losing their jobs or their interest is more of an academic nature. In the past, these new adherents have been called “culture Christians.” Through their publications, translations, and public conferences they promote the more academic side of Christianity among the growing class of well educated people. In the beginning of missionary outreach to China in the 7th century by the Eastern church, the Chinese society and its leadership for the most part were open to Christianity. It was only when they noticed Western political influence they rejected Christianity. When the modern missionary movement to China began during the 19th century, the church grew, but Christianity also experienced a noticeable rejection. This was largely due to the close connection between the missionaries and the colonial powers in China as well as to the strong Western leadership within the Chinese church. This largely remained the state of affairs until the expulsion of the missionaries by the new Communist government in 1952. Soon after, the many Western denominations that were present in China were united by the government into a single Chinese church, with the exception of the independent churches, which continued in the house church movement. Overnight, the Chinese church had become an indigenous church. Yet from that point until the end of the Cultural Revolution, the church remained under suspicion and was persecuted, as the Christians were denounced as rightist, imperialist, and counter-revolutionary. Many feared that the church would not survive this time of trial, but after the end of Mao's utopia, the church resurfaced and became acceptable to the government and to the Chinese people. Christianity had lost its foreign image and the church began to grow rapidly. In spring of 2009, Nanjing Seminary moved with its 180 students from the downtown area to a new campus located in one of the university cities on the southern outskirts of Nanjing. At Christmas time of that year, we were wondering if any of the students from the surrounding institutes who did not know us would come to our Christmas celebration. But an hour before the event even began, the auditorium was already packed with visitors, and all of our students made their own seats available. In the end, the 460 seats plus the aisles were not enough. Outside, another 200 students still stood, looking through the windows. Our students were very happy, because so many came, giving them standing ovations. The following Christmas we invited our neighbours again and about 2000 students came to the seminary, and in 2011 and the years thereafter, around 5000 were estimated to visit at Christmas.26 This leads to the question: What makes this Christian event so attractive to these young people? Today Western culture and lifestyle is very popular among young people, and many of them are interested in Christianity precisely because it is an essential part of Western culture. In this, the charge of Christianity being a foreign or Western religion has been completely reversed, and most older people do not mind Western orientation anymore either. Even government officials are willing to say that Christianity has contributed substantially to the economic and cultural achievements of the West. Christianity has become a popular religion in China. Taking the various aspects of the Christian life and witness into account, Christianity in China offers an authentic and holistic approach to the Christian faith that is highly relevant to the existential needs of the people. The various elements of church growth in China exhibit a strong biblical orientation. Ever since the faithful witness of the Chinese Christians during the Cultural Revolution, Chinese believers are encouraged to share the gospel, stressing the need for personal salvation. Their praying attitude keeps them united and focused on winning men and women for Christ. Primarily in the impoverished rural areas, many follow the example of the early church and travel through the countryside as itinerant preachers. They share the gospel and heal people in the name of Jesus. Physical healing together with the personal testimony and dreams and visions represent the largest elements of church growth in the rural areas. Due to the lack of theological education and the provision of full time staff, Christianity in China is primarily a lay movement, just like the early church. Many lay people join in providing the essential ministry and service functions of the church. This results in a multitude of Christians who are being trained on the job, functioning as a large and lively pool of Christian multipliers. The religious vacuum that is noticeable in Chinese society since the 1980s enhances the success of the Christian witness. In recent years, due to the new Western orientation, many of the younger generation as well as scholars at the universities have also become Christians. In spite of ethical problems in some churches, which mirror the serious struggles of contemporary Chinese society, Chinese Christians largely are seen as people of high moral standing, which further attracts Chinese people to the church. In the countryside, people are also attracted to the church by the deep social concern that many congregations show. Due to previous restrictions, the city churches are just starting to engage in charity projects. In this way they are hoping to further reach their nation with the love of Christ. It is not just the numbers on church growth in China that are impressive, but the spiritual and social engagement of the Chinese Christians is as well. Chinese Christianity is highly attractive through the application of basic biblical principles. One of these principles is the general witness to the love of Jesus, another one is tapping into the supernatural power of the Christian faith. Secondary factors like the public mindset are widely supportive. At the same time, there is still much room for improvement in the areas of charity, theological education, and contextualization. Despite this, Chinese Christianity is an impressive, yet not a perfect, example of a church with a great potential for further growth. Dr Kaiser taught New Testament Studies from 2007 to 2014 at the theological seminary in Nanjing, China.