Christians pray during a house service at Zion Church in Beijing, China on April 6, 2008.

Mark Dawes, Religion Editor

Communist China has long been regarded by many Christian missionary organisations as a difficult mission field to penetrate with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The coming of the Beijing Summer Olympics has served to place the state of churches in China on the radar.

There are many documented tales of state-sponsored oppression towards churches and evangelistic activities. But even as that continues, there seems to be many encouraging signs of a softening in officialdom towards churches and their ministries.

The government of the People's Republic of China, no doubt seeking not to implode as did the Eastern European Communist nations in the early 1990s, have been re-inventing itself, and has been opening the doors a little wider to welcome entrepreneurship and foreign investments.

Largest economy

With the largest economy in the world and membership in the World Trade Organisation, China has been keen to assert itself more as a superpower. In this regard, it is intent on having more of its people learn English.

Accordingly, there are programmes being sponsored by the government to have persons with a degree come to that country to teach English. That open door has not gone unnoticed by various international missionary societies. They have been busy recruiting persons to go to China to teach English. They tell these recruits to teach English but seek out opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus without attracting the ire of the state.

A number of Christians from Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean have been tapped to work as English teachers and as 'undercover missionaries'. These recruits are warned that the state will spy on them relentlessly, tapping their telephones, checking on their emails, and listening in on conversations that are facilitated through Internet technology such as Skype.

Relentless spying

This relentless spying has influenced these recruits to talk and otherwise communicate in codes and in so doing avoid expressions such as "God", "people getting saved" and "Bible-study group".

With only seven per cent of its 1.3 billion population professing to be Christians, China represents one of the least evangelised nations on the earth, reports the 2001 edition of Operation World, the popular handbook and prayer diary on the state of global evangelisation.

The state of the church in China is among the highlighted stories to be found in the August 2008 edition of Charisma Magazine. The publication reports that the state has been reaching out to church leaders as crucial partners in the building of a harmonious society. The story, written by Adrian Brookes, a freelance writer based in Shenzhen China, cited a softening of hardline positions against churches which became noticeable towards the end of Deng Xiaoping's rule in 1992.

Noticing this softening of positions, some churches made overtures to China's Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) and received mixed results. Among the worst responses to Christians are recorded in the book The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun, who documents tales of relentless persecution. But there are times when the RAB chooses to look the other way.

Brookes cited a 1997 government white paper which stated "In the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, freedom of religious belief is a basic right enjoyed by all citizens." But, said Brookes, "the law is quicksand; there is no place for due process or legal precedent, as legislation exists to sanction Communist Party control, not citizens' rights."

Brookes also cited David Wang, a former president of the missions group, Asia Outreach, who said "Nothing is really governed by constitution, by laws or by regulations. Almost everything that's governed is determined by relationships.

Two categories of churches

Churches in China fit into at least two categories - registered or unregistered. Since 1979 there has been a reinvigorated attempt by the state to have churches registered. It was widely felt that by promoting the registration of churches, the state would gain a foothold in promoting its ideology. To some extent this has been achieved.

Operation World, which is edited by Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, said that in registered churches the state's influence caused pastors and leaders to compromise their faith, and become steeped in bureaucratic corruption. But that is not the case for all registered churches. Some such churches have been growing dynamically because of the quality of pastoral leadership, Operation World reported.

It is the unregistered churches, reported Operation World, that are "at the heart of the true Church in China. Intense persecution has indigenised and purified it. Prayer, revival, simple living and a Christocentric theology characterise it. Twenty or more larger networks are known to exist, but their numbers are a matter of conjecture. Reasonable estimates range between 30 and 80 million, or 50 to 80 per cent of the total Christian population".

Operation World reported that since 1996 persecution has intensified against churches that don't want to be registered. The persecution has taken the form of arrests, heavy fines, forcible closures and destruction of church buildings.

The Charisma article pointed out that "House churches are still required to register before they are considered to be legitimate Christian groups, but many churches refuse to register because that would require them to have a designated church building, and ordained leader and defined meeting times. Many house churches do not have these. Registration means surrendering to Three Self, which would reorganise the church with a new leadership, premises and meeting times."

Self-Patriotic Movement

Three Self, is short for The Three Self Patriotic Movement which, according to Operation World, "is instituted by 'patriotic' and often theologically liberal Christians with the strong encouragement of the Communist Party as the interface between the government and Church. After 13 years of oblivion it was reconstituted in 1979 to wrest the initiative from the burgeoning house church movement, and enable the government to control and manipulate the Church."

Ping (not his real name), an associate of Brother Yun, told Charisma that the RAB has changed tactics as it hunts unregistered churches. He said, in Beijing, it used to be that when the authorities learnt of unregistered house-church meetings, they would raid the location and fine everyone.

"But now," said Ping, "the authorities are fining the landlords that are renting the spaces to the churches with heavy fines. That means the churches are finding it very difficult to gather in large groups."

House churches

But there are many Chinas.

Brookes' article pointed out that "the house churches in major cities, with their growing professional-class memberships, have found the RAB much more accommodating".

Wang told Charisma that following the major earthquake that hit China last May, the Ministry of Civil Affairs had undertaken a strong initiative to solicit the help of churches in mobilising medical and relief assistance.

Dennis Balcombe, pastor of Hong Kong's Revival Christian Church, is cited by Charisma for his missionary engagement in Hunan in mainland China.

According to Balcombe, "we find all over China much more freedom. Compared to how it was in the Cultural Revolution, or 10 or 20 years ago, China is very free".

Insightful comment

Perhaps the most insightful comment on the state of the church in China came from Ruby (not her real name) who Charisma identified as a unregistered house-church leader in Beijing. Her thinking is that the state no longer knows how to treat with the house-church movement. It knows that networks are forming constantly but is taking no action.

Ruby believes this is because there is an ebbing of the perception of churches as a threat to the state and also that heavy handed repression would no longer work.

The demography of church membership is changing in major cities where students, and professors are becoming born-again Christians. Also a significant and ever growing number of Communist Party members are themselves becoming born-again Christians, Ruby told the Charisma reporter.

China, said Balcombe, is "an open door" and "that communism has been a tool of God to strengthen the church and create a hunger in the hearts of the people".

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