The Persecuted Church - China
Olympic Games
Open Doors says Christians throughout China fear tough restrictions on freedom to worship following the government crackdown ahead of Aug 08 Olympic Games in Beijing.
There are reports of Bible shortages, even in cities where Bibles once were readily available. By law, only the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) church is allowed to print and distribute Bibles. The US State Dept’s 2007 International Religious Freedom Report noted many evangelical Protestant groups refuse to register with TSPM due to theological differences, fear of revealing names and addresses of church leaders or members and concern it will control sermon content.
There are also reports of ongoing house church raids and arrests and an unprecedented number of foreign Christians have been expelled from China in recent months, possibly triggered by fears of evangelistic activity during the Olympics. Since the beginning of this year, over 100 foreign Christian workers have been forced to leave, the largest number in over 50 years.
Rural China
AsiaLink provides this insight through an interview with Tan, whose home fellowship is at a small rural house-church of 20-30 people. Believers and their leaders have been jailed on many occasions. One young girl was locked up and had sharpened bamboo pushed under her fingernails in a vain attempt to make her tell about the network of churches, its leaders, addresses, when meetings were held, etc.
Tan went on to say: ‘Don’t worry about the persecution. Persecution we can handle ourselves. We know what we have to do. But please pray for us. It’s the issue of wealth that is one of the greatest threats to China’s church today. If we don’t know how to manage it, materialism will destroy us.’
Story of Hope
Open Doors tells the story of Sister Tian who trains university students. A while ago she was invited to lead a meeting attended by 1,000 - 1,500 students. The day before, local organisers were warned by the authorities that ‘there had better not be any preaching!’
But Tian simply followed God’s lead during the evening, reading passages of Scripture and sharing her testimony. She felt strongly that those present should be able do the same. Mindful of the police presence, she said, ‘I don’t need to see you because God sees you, so you don’t need to raise your hand. But everyone who wants to ask Jesus to be the Lord of their life, say this prayer after me…’
Then she prayed a simple prayer of salvation, sentence by sentence. Afterwards, she described the response: "I was awestruck! The sound of voices repeating the prayer after me literally thundered through the auditorium!’ It is estimated that hundreds of students committed themselves to Jesus that night. Praise the Lord!
Prayers Needed
Pray that change and rapid increase in wealth in China will be managed in a way that encourages the growth of Christianity.
Pray for an end to the crackdown by Chinese authorities in the run-up to the Olympics and for God to strengthen the underground house-church networks.
Pray for encouragement for the foreign Christian workers who have been expelled from China in recent months and pray that the work they started will be continued by others.
