For the past six years the Highland Church of Christ in Memphis has been praying about and researching the possibility of engaging in mission work in China. God has narrowed our focus to four cities: Beijing, Wuhan, Qingdao and Hangzhou. In March, 2015 a survey team from Highland explored three of those cities. Last week a survey team from Highland explored the remaining city, Hangzhou.
In Hangzhou we were once again reminded why God has called us to engage in ministry in China. It’s a city of about 8 million people. And, on the one hand, there was surprising tolerance of the Christian faith. For example, we ate lunch at an explicitly Christian coffee shop and cafe.
Everything from the sign on their building, to the way they finished their coffees, to the sign along the street spoke of God’s love for the Chinese. Thus there was a certain tolerance for the Christian faith.
But we also found a grave intolerance.
For example, an American missionary family told us of a colleague whose Bible study for students was shut down by government agents.
A Chinese Christian told us of going to college in Hangzhou and of she and her friends turning off their cell phones when attending Bible studies for fear the government might use the phones to listen in on their spiritual conversations.
The parents of a Highland member currently attend a state-sponsored Three Self Patriotic Movement Church. It is the largest government approved Protestant church in China. Ten thousand people worship there every Sunday. It is the first megachurch in the nation. We toured the church building with these parents during our visit to Hangzhou.
Some might be tempted to think that because it’s a state-sponsored church it’s somehow tainted or sub-Christian. But I can testify that we spent two and a half days with these two members of this church and they were two of the most devoted Christians we’ve ever known.
And even though they are in a government approved church, they face a great deal of intolerance. For example, the preacher of that church had recently been put in jail. Even though the church was legally sanctioned, the preacher had been imprisoned. Why? The church had several crosses on the exterior of their building. One of the crosses had been deemed too large by the government. The government demanded it be removed. When the preacher refused, he was put in jail.
This was actually the climax of a longer tension between the preacher and the government. For years the government has been forcing churches to remove crosses from their buildings. Overall, more than 1,500 Protestant and Catholic churches have lost their crosses since 2013. The preacher of this large church in Hangzhou eventually spoke up about this government campaign in 2014. Thus, the government came after his congregation and finally jailed him.
Religious intolerance like this is one of the reasons why Highland is compelled to engage in ministry in China. The World Watch List is a ranking of the countries where Christians face the most severe persecution for their faith. China ranks 33rd on that list in 2016. We simply cannot sit on the sidelines while Christians face such intolerance in China. We are compelled to come alongside and partner with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to share the gospel with those who will become our brothers and sisters.
