Sunday, October 18, 2009

Explosion of China's Underground Church and what it means for the West

"Chinese Protestants and the West since 1949"
Written by ChinaSource
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 17:24

This article should be encouraging to all. Please read or read the article in its entirety at the link at the bottom!!!

"What has been the nature of the relationship between Christians inside and outside of China over the last 60 years?

From the dark years of the Cultural Revolution, the Protestant church has more than recovered its vigor and has see an explosion in numbers, particularly in the house church movement. Few unbiased observers would suggest that China has fewer than 50 million Protestants, and some estimates easily double this figure. Christianity has also enjoyed something of an image make-over. Once condemned as a feudal superstition, destined for the rubbish heap of history, even Christianity’s cultured despisers admit that it is associated with much that is good about Western progress. The Economist newspaper recently noted the contrast with attitudes towards the faith in Europe: “In much of Christianity’s former heartland, religion is associated with tradition and ritual. In China, it is associated with modernity, business and science.”1 In looking once again to the West for direction, many Chinese see Christianity as one of the secrets of success. Some scholars see interest in Christianity as tied closely to the popularity of Western culture more broadly or to the phenomenon of globalization generally.

Chinese Christians are participating as never before in the global Protestant movement. Many Chinese Christians no longer view the faith as Western, but as a world-wide movement—one that is gaining momentum. Nor do they reflexively look to the West for all of their insights. The old teacher-student relationship between Western and Chinese Christians is slowly breaking down. Though the faith is not unique to China, there may be a uniquely Chinese contribution to be made. Poised to dispatch legions of missionaries to the world, some to take on the re-evangelization of the West, the Christians are asking: “What can China do for Christianity?” Even in a country so steeped in the Confucian tradition, it is still possible for the student to become the teacher."

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.chsource.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=226&Itemid=80&lang=en

No comments:

Post a Comment