In the northeast part of this city, not far from the old Friendship Hotel, stands a boxy little cinema specializing in anime. A nondescript building on a nondescript thoroughfare, it's hardly a place a tourist would notice, much less a visiting president. Yet had Barack Obama wanted to understand something of the real China, his time would have been better spent here than at the various state dinners, Forbidden City photo-ops, and carefully managed town-hall events that consumed the balance of his trip this week.
At 10 a.m. Sunday, more than 500 members of Shouwang church gathered at the cinema for a service. Shouwang, founded in 1993 by pastor Jin Tianming, is one of the city's largest unregistered churches and counts around 800 regular members. But until last weekend, they had never once been able to meet in such large numbers in an indoor space in Beijing.
Shouwang is what is known in China as a "house" church, meaning that it is an unregistered entity in a country where all religious groups are supposed to report to the State Administration for Religious Affairs. Officially, the Chinese government counts some 10 million Protestants and four million Catholics belonging to registered churches, which proscribe evangelical activity and preach a patriotic dogma.
But Chinese and foreign observers alike believe the number of Chinese belonging to underground churches may now exceed 100 million people. That figure has grown rapidly as more and more Chinese, particularly well-educated city dwellers, turn away from Communist Party atheism.
Life has never been easy for the underground churches, and recently it has gotten a lot harder. ...Whatever the reason, Shouwang in recent weeks has been forced to hold its services outdoors, including during a snowstorm, as attempts to find an indoor space were repeatedly rebuffed. Twenty minutes into Sunday's service, Pastor Tianming announced that "some of our brothers and sisters are being held at their homes and have not been able to come to church. But we are all one body in Christ, so we will wait for them to start the service."
After another hour of singing and praying, the congregation suddenly broke into applause—one of the detained members had apparently talked his way out and arrived. The service got underway; by the time it ended a second detained elder had arrived. The previous Sunday, it was Pastor Tianming who had been detained.
What a wonderful testimony of the power of faith in the Body of Christ! In a land where being a Christian carries a heavy cost, the faith is flourishing and the church is vibrant. In our land where there is essentially no societal cost, the church is flabby and foundering. Don’t think for a second that there is not a correlation here. We saw this from the very beginning of the church:
And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8:1-4)
That is what persecution looks like. We often speak of persecution in America but honestly most of us have never experienced real persecution. Carrie Prejean, American evangelicalism’s newest poster child for persecution, is about to become really rich when her book money starts rolling in and her “persecution” comes from not winning a beauty pageant where she sauntered around 95% naked and more recently for being a little too cavalier with clothing around cameras on a number of occasions. Not really comparable to being stoned to death like Stephen, being martyred in a Roman coliseum, burning to death on a stake or being arrested for going to church in China but she is getting all the plum speaking assignments and interviews on T.V. I don’t think an updated versions of “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” would devote a chapter to Carrie.
We should not fear persecution or reviling nor should we seek the approval and admiration of the world. Persecution is often a sign of God preparing to work wonders among His people. When revival comes, I fully expect it to come on the heels of persecution and not in the comfort and complacency of our modern evangelical cocoon. We should pray for our persecuted brethren that they are encouraged, strengthened and that they persevere. We should never pray for them to become like us.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt 5: 10-12)
To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. (1 Cor 4: 11-13)
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