This article from the Daily Nation provides another interesting perspective on Christianity in China, slightly aside from the main story I’ve been following. Despite the current unrest around the Shouwang Church, China’s government is apparently reaching out to Kenya to seek inspiration for how to grow Christianity. As the article points out, Christianity is one of the smallest of China’s five main religions, but apparently the public stance of the Chinese government is that they are moving to make Chinese Christians more welcome into mainstream Chinese society, instead of treading them “like foreigners.”
An interesting tidbit from this article is the apparent disparity between the estimate of Christians in China by the State Religious Affairs minister Wang Zuoan (about 23 million) and estimates given by outside sources (up to 40 million). One of the reasons the article cites for this disparity is that some Chinese Christians may not be openly practicing their religion for fear of persecution.
I’ll have to do some more investigation, but it doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me that this article was published the day BEFORE the one I posted about originally. China may have to backtrack on some of its recent public statements to save face, though which side they will backtrack on is yet to be seen.
One Comment
Persecution is not necessarily a major obstacle to the practice of one’s faith in Christianity. The First Century Church Membership in Jerusalem grew immensely during severe persecution. The Early Christian Church existed in the homes of the members. People went from house to house practicing fellowship with other Christians. The faith of Christians is at its peak during periods of severe persecution. Christ has removed the sting of death for the Christian.