China's Underground Schools

Secret Seminary

When we think of seminaries, it’s typically on a beautiful campus, with classrooms full of light from nearby windows. Rarely do we think of seminary schools being held in an underground cave, shrouded in secrecy. But that’s exactly what WorldServe’s seminary school looks like in a rural area in China.

The High Cost Of Following The Lord

On a recent visit to China, a team of WorldServe supporters were introduced to our underground seminary school and witnessed firsthand the high cost of following the Lord in China. They visited the secret seminary school one evening. Dressed in dark clothing, they ran silently across a field and crawled through the small cave opening undetected. While there they learned the real sacrifice these students make on a daily basis.
For six months of the year, these students live in the cave, leaving infrequently and only under the protective cover of darkness. Their day starts at 6 a.m., with prayer and devotion. Around 8 a.m. the students receive their first meal of the day, which is a bun with mincemeat. They usually don’t eat again until dinner, which features the same “meal” as breakfast. Their intense education takes place between these two small meals. After a rigorous day of learning, they fall asleep on a bed of hay on the cave floor.

Support The Knowledge of Christ In China

As these students study and prepare to grow the Kingdom of God, the commitment and dedication is theirs — but your support is what helps provide the tools they need. Through your kindness, students in China, as well as across the world, will be able to embrace and share the Good News.

Resource: http://us.worldserve.org/where-we-serve/china/chinas-underground-schools

What's a House Church Like?

Being a Christian in China effectively involves making a political choice: deciding whether to worship at a government-approved church, or at an unofficial gathering known as a “house church.”
The growing unregistered house church movement started among peasants in rural areas, and grew rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s. More recently it has continued expanding among students, intellectuals and professionals in urban China.
Chinese house churches are vibrant and inspiring. Joy and excitement permeate the service. Limited space and fear of the authorities create a closely-knit, family fellowship. For security reasons, members are often discouraged from inviting visitors to the main service. Instead, seekers are invited to a separate evangelistic meeting until their faith is better established. Such an atmosphere produces an inspiring, authentic worship experience.

Joy And Excitement Permeate The Service

On Sunday mornings in Beijing, worship songs can be heard coming from a high-rise apartment complex. Each week, more than 50 people quietly file up three flights of stairs into a small, two-bedroom apartment. Members are reminded to keep quiet in the hallways, so as not to bother the neighbors. Once inside, however, subdued demeanors transform into a room full of smiling faces. Every seat in the room is filled with students and young adults. Latecomers sit in hallways and bedrooms, where they have to strain to hear the message. The service includes Chinese worship songs, mixed with an occasional familiar Western hymn or praise chorus. The speaker comes from a rotating roster of local pastors, evangelists and lay leaders who circuit through a network of a dozen congregations throughout the city.

By contrast, in the house churches of China’s dusty rural villages, worshippers gather in freezing, bare rooms with earthen floors, furnished with little more than a handful of wooden stools and a Bible, if they are lucky, to follow an unofficial prayer leader. Some churches don’t have a complete Bible, others only have one copy of the Bible for the entire congregation and in some instances, believers are told to memorize what pages they can from the Bible and pass them on to others in need. Church leaders rarely have formal Biblical training and are most likely local farmers sorely lacking in resources although they often lead groups of between 100 to 10,000 people.

Be A Part Of The Church In China

We have such an amazing opportunity in China. You can help spread the joy and advance the Gospel by equipping and encouraging church planting, supplying needed Bibles and resource materials, supporting pastors and helping us offer training to reach hungry hearts and souls for Christ.


Resource:  http://us.worldserve.org/where-we-serve/china/whats-house-church

Situation in China

Furthering Faith In The Far East

In China, any unauthorized religious meeting is deemed a criminal offense and anyone involved can be prosecuted. This forces many Christians underground.
For years the officially atheist Communist Party has tried to crush underground Protestant communities, either by forcing them to disband or by inducing them to assimilate into the Three Self Patriotic Movement, the official state-sponsored organization for Chinese Protestants.

So while there are some official Christian organizations that are strictly controlled by government authorities, numerous Chinese Christians worship in "house churches", which keeps them independent of the official organizations and government authorities. As a result of their underground faith, many Christians have been persecuted, arrested or interrogated.
And while we can attest that the Christian movement is sweeping the country, no one knows for sure how many Christians there are in the still officially atheist state. Some estimate China’s total Christian population to be from 75 to 130 million. While approximately 20 million are in the officially registered Three-Self government churches, the remaining majority of Chinese Christians worship in unregistered house churches.

Our ministry has been supporting church-planting, Bible distribution and training in China for many years.


Resource: http://us.worldserve.org/where-we-serve/china/situation-china

An Initial Look at Management of Mainland Churches

An Initial Look at Management of Mainland Churches

The Lack of Church Management

    Churches are believers' homes on earth, and believers God-appointed stewards of them. But in China today, churches generally lack management, neither do the believers understand the importance of management to church development. In one extreme, some believers putting much weight on sermons and pastoral work regard church management as dispensable "secular" work. In fact, good church management is an important form of service for God. It is becoming more and more important with the continual increase in the number of believers.

Types of Management


     The models of and expectations for management differ among urban, rural, big and small churches. Generally speaking, various aspects are involved: financial (managing church's income and expenditure), ministry-related (training of co-workers and volunteers; evangelical and nurturing work etc), teaching-related (setting up Sunday school, worship services, the Holy communion and so forth) and other matters (such as church maintenance and expansion).

The Lack of Management/"Paternal" Management Style

     Undoubtedly, Chinese churches have been subject to the will of people, and lack an effective management system. This easily causes a formal regulatory system to give way to personal manipulations. For some churches, it is not that they have not got a management system but due to a lack of knowledge or respect for it, there are problems implementing the system since some believers consider management to be a worldly thing.

     Currently, quite a number of mainland churches are run under a "paternal model", that is having a leader in control of all church affairs, or appoint someone to be in charge. Actually, some church leaders have been regarded as abusing their power for personal gains, or taking to the podium to launch attacks against others. This has caused harm to believers and could lead a church to the path of destruction.

Financial Management

       Sound financial management is an important factor behind proper management. Often church disputes occur over money. Church and pastoral staff should not be directly involved in financial management, but rather hand over the task to lay leaders. There is also a need for an effective monitoring system and increased transparency. A clear division of work is necessary. On the other hand, churches should lay down principles for spending money and make them known to workers and believers. For example, an elderly pastor at a rural church has kept his church's only savings of 3,000RMB in a bank and did not use it to pay for any travel expenses of co-workers preaching at other churches. This has caused a split within the church and affected its development. Examples like this show the importance of setting out the principles for spending money so as to minimize staff conflicts.

Management of Ministry and Teaching-related Work

      Apart from financial management, it is also crucial for churches to manage their ministry and teaching-related work. An urban church in the province of Zhejiang has formed sizeable volunteer teams, with members responsible for various tasks, including preaching, serving (home-visiting and choir), and managing (doing administrative duties). They are given specialized training and serve according to their own gifts. There are also other types of training such as the urban area-based volunteer training for university students, rural area-based volunteer training for people living in villages, to provide servants for the Lord within and outside the city. The church has also divided its numerous members into small groups. To help the group leaders grow spiritually and become able to nurture their own members, 10 care groups have been formed for them, involving sharings and Bible reading. This effective management helps the growth of the church.

Other Church Matters

      Since mainland pastors are often the ones in charge of church affairs, they have to deal with many matters outside of preaching and nurturing, such as church renovation work. They are made extremely busy by an imbalanced division of labour.

Management of Rural Churches

      Rural churches are plentiful in number but relatively limited in resources.   Their co-workers also have little understanding about management. Hence it is difficult for them to set up a proper management system. It is especially the case with non-open churches, where power is concentrated in the hands of one pastor/co-worker/volunteer. The lack of transparency over financial management and the infiltration of the cults can pose obstacles to the churches' development. Basic management principles should be laid down to minimize the chances of power struggles and financial chaos.

Thanksgiving and Prayer Items:

1. Pray that mainland churches will pay attention to management, that the Lord can let their leaders understand the importance of management to church development and not be hindered by worries.
2. May the Lord let church leaders, co-workers and believers adopt a management system that can benefit people and bring glory to God.
3. May the Lord change the negative phenomenon in churches: abuse of power by leaders, financial chaos, power struggle, and the spread of the cults. Pray that the Lord correct the situation and help churches walk in His will.
4. May the Lord bless churches that operate on the basis of His teachings, so that they can bear witness to Him in their work.
5. May the Lord show mercy to rural churches, bless their leaders so they can be loyal to Him and set up an effective system for managing finances and warding against cults.

Another Prayer Request


The Church that Survived a Catastrophe

     "Our church has more than 20 people about a year ago. But due to the infiltration of the Eastern Lightning, half of our believers had left, leaving 11 people behind. Later a brother sent us some religious leaflets and Bible commentaries. Now, our church congregation grew to more than 70 people. Thirty-eight participated in our last baptism, which was recently held for the first time. Half of our church members were willing to be baptised. Several untrained teachers are now taking turn to teach our congregation the Bible, though only two are teaching on a regular basis. Using a daily devotion book, they guide believers through a scripture each day, in order to help them learn about Biblical truths." (Sharing by a mainland believer who has been requesting Christian books)

     We should give thanks to God for the church that survived the catastrophe. May God continue to help them win more souls. Also may God prepare training opportunities for their untrained Bible teachers so they can help more believers know His Word. The training of Bible teachers is an important task in the mainland. How can believers be nurtured if the teachers themselves are not equipped? Please remember the training work and pray that there will be a breakthrough.

Be still!

Be still!

      A pastor in the Southwestern region always says to his co-workers, "Be still!" But to pastors in mainland churches, this concept nearly does not exist. Apart from circumstantial factors which forbid workers from taking rest, to many it seems unspiritual to even mention the concept. Some pastors may joke by saying that a certain pastor is good in all aspects except that he gives the impression of being too free; he should work harder, do more for the Lord!

      It is owing to personal experience that the pastor made the sincere advice above. When he was studying at a seminary, he was so tired with placement work that he was often admitted into hospital. According to regulations of the seminary, every student must practice in rural areas for one year, changing location every two months so as to get more experience in nurturing, preaching and visiting, in preparation for their future service.

      On the most indelible experience during his practice, he said he was once placed in a mountainous area. He had to trek for 14 km to go preach there. Upon arrival after an arduous journey, he found that there were only three believers. Then he had to walk another 14 km of hilly path to go to another mountain, an area so remote that no one had gone there before to do any nurturing work. The believers there had a great thirst for truth. Once he got there, enthusiastic believers engaged him in worship for two hours, followed by another two hours of preaching. Then the believers let him go reluctantly. For the whole day he had gone from one place to another on the mountain and slept there too at night. He said that there were many lice and unknown insects in the mountain district in the Southwest. Being stung by mosquitoes during sleep was only a minor thing. During that year of practice, he always had little appetite because of fatigue. His bowel system was also ruined. He had to be admitted into hospital after each two-month placement!

      Since he had personally experienced the toughness of serving, to the point of almost ruining his own health by being frequently on the road, he advised other co-workers to rest, disregarding other pastors' views. They have a long way ahead, he knows.

Note from the Editor:
      There are "too few shepherds for the many sheep" in mainland churches, and co-workers are often overworked, and exhausted physically, mentally and spiritually, like the pastor above. May the Lord have mercy on His servants so they can change the concept that "serving non-stop is spiritual", and take good care of their bodies－the temples of the Holy Spirit－to prepare for a longer road ahead. May the Lord also give wisdom to the churches so they can organize serving teams to share the work of core co-workers, so that each fulfills their duties according to their gifts and serve mainland churches in today's society more effectively.


Resource: http://www.ccfellow.org/Common/Reader/News/ShowNews.jsp?Nid=5965&Pid=22&Version=39&Cid=226&Charset=big5_hkscs

Visionary Training Advocates

Visionary Training Advocates

A pastor in Eastern China told us that last year they were invited by a church in another province to organize a summer camp for more than 600 children, many of whom began attending the church after the camp. The need for children Sunday school arose but no one in the church knew how to do it! As a result, the pastor was asked to provide a 10-day training to train up Sunday school teachers for them. The first two days of training was for church leaders, followed by eight days of training for Sunday school teachers. The pastor knew very well that the Sunday school ministry would be stagnant even if there were teachers available if the church leaders had no vision for it.

       The training of church workers, including Sunday school teachers, Bible teachers, Bible study group leaders or volunteer workers is an important ministry in the mainland. Training classes and centres have been organized in various areas by various churches. Of course, it is important to train up Sunday school teachers, but key to the ministry is the church leaders behind. The wife of another pastor in Eastern China told us that churches used to think that children Sunday school could be handled by a few sisters. Yet she and her husband saw that children today was the hope of the next generation of churches in China. They went all over the province to promote children Sunday school in various churches, trying to change leaders' conceptions, encourage and help them build up the ministry. This resulted in a sea change in attitudes and the setting up of systematic ministries.

Note from the Editor:
      Any kind of training needs the support of people with vision. Church leaders can help change co-workers' and believers' ideas. May the Lord work among church leaders and let them be moved by His vision so they are willing to foster co-operation between co-workers and believers. Also, may God open the eyes of more church leaders so they can see the importance of Sunday school and become advocates for Sunday school teacher training.

Resource: http://www.ccfellow.org/Common/Reader/News/ShowNews.jsp?Nid=5967&Pid=22&Version=39&Cid=226&Charset=big5_hkscs

Sowing Seeds on Local Soil

Sowing Seeds on Local Soil

       Whenever I visited a new church during travel to China, I would ask its members about their church's history. It is very encouraging to hear both their testimonies as well as their church's history. We are witness to God's work throughout history by listening to the stories, many of which were about the difficulties missionaries faced in opening the door for Jesus. Many of them had sacrificed their families and even their lives to sow the seeds for later churches.

      An elder in one church told me that the baby of one missionary died only a few days after birth, yet the missionary couple give thanks to the Lord for bringing them to the village. The villagers were deeply moved and willing to accept Christ because they saw Christ's love through the couple.

       One of the major contributions of the workers for Christ was building up a strong team of local church workers. During rainy and snowy seasons, they ran Bible schools so that indigenous church workers knew how to preach and lead Bible study after they were gone. That's the reason why churches continued to grow after they were re-opened in 1980s. It was made possible by the foreign Bible teachers who taught the Word of the Lord and led people to Christ!

       History shows that spreading the gospel and nurturing believers through locals are effective for church growth. In fact, this is one of the characteristics of the China Inland Mission (CIM) founded by Hudson Taylor in 1865. Most of the churches I visited in inland provinces were founded by CIM missionaries. In many cases, the church buildings no longer exist, but the church members, the body of Christ, have stayed strong in their faith. The number of Christians in China grew from less than 0.2 million before 1920s to more than 0.8 million in 1949. Now they are estimated at more than 50 million.

       Mainland churches have kept growing because of solid Biblical foundation. That's what we have learned from missionary organizations like CIM. That is also the reason why we focus our ministry on Bible teaching. Through training Bible teachers, translating good Bible literature, and writing indigenous Bible study materials, we are taking part in God's miracle in transforming mainland churches.

       We are now helping some partnering churches to develop systematic Bible teaching ministry. On the one hand they need to train effective Bible teachers, on the other hand they need good curriculum that even peasants with a low educational level can use and apply in their daily living. Good communication and teaching methods lacking in traditional discipleship training are also needed. We hope and pray that through all these resources, mainland churches can grow continuously even in the face of challenges such as rampant materialism.

       As Chinese, we have to thank the Lord for raising Christians from all over the world to pray for our country, and sending His servants over in the past centuries. I believe it is time for us to work together and contribute to the realization of His kingdom.


Resource: http://www.ccfellow.org/Common/Reader/News/ShowNews.jsp?Nid=5975&Pid=22&Version=39&Cid=226&Charset=big5_hkscs

The Religious State of Mainland University Students－the Privileged Group

The Religious State of Mainland University Students－the Privileged Group


Editor's Note:
      There are more than 20 million university students across the nation (about 1.5 per cent of the total population), and their number is on the rise. They will be playing an important role in the society. Yet they are under the onslaught of various forces, such as materialism, declining moral standards and so forth. Temptations are everywhere. In February this year, the Beijing Youth Daily listed the issues university students faced during their four years of studies (according to an analysis by psychologists at the Beijing Tongren Hospital): the first year is most problematic, due to the need for various adjustments; academic problems are common in the second year; problems related to love affairs are more often found in the third year; the problem in the fourth year relates to "the future". During the four-year period, university students are under all sorts of pressure. Do they have a way out? How about their religious choices? What about Christian students? The following is the sharing by a university student in western China:

Religious Faith of Mainland University Students
        Many were exposed to religions when they were small, under the influence of their grandparents. Some had even followed adults to burn incense in temples, and therefore considered themselves to be Buddhists though they did not abide by the teachings of Buddhism. On the other hand, the young generation have not had much chance to know much about Taoism, which is more "hidden from the social scene".

       In fact, to many Chinese, Taoism is just a kind of folk belief. People only go to it when an elderly family member has passed away or when they want advice on good "feng shui" or fortune-telling. Few people, especially those in universities, mention it except those studying philosophy who may have read the "Tao Te Ching", or those attached to Taoism research centres. To most university students, Taoism is a form of superstition. For Catholicism, among the students I know, few are its followers. Those who are tended to have been brought to churches by their relatives when they were small. Few had taken the initiatives to know about it. For Islam, few Han Chinese practise it though it is popular with certain ethnic groups. There are far more students practising Buddhism, impressed with its social teachings. Many were also drawn to it because of the widespread circulation of free Buddhist publications made with donations from people thinking that charitable donations can drive away bad fate.

University Students' Religious Inclinations 
       University students are under tremendous pressure due to uncertainty over employment. In the mainland, personal connections matter a lot and many university students are from families with little social connections. There are various categories of students: those who parents are officials or are, and can get things done through their networks. These students tend to be not serious with their studies, spending much of their time going out with boyfriends or girlfriends. They tend to live outside the campus, and may have moved in with their girlfriend or boyfriend. They seldom attend classes and have little lies with their schools. They mainly hang out with schoolmates they are friends with and care little about matters about faith, though there are exceptions. I know of a student who believes in Buddhism, whose family is quite well-off. He is living outside the campus though he has no girlfriend. It is said that there are Buddha statues in his flat. When he has no classes to go to, he spends most of his time chanting prayers and meditating. Another category of students is those from ordinary families, who are more serious about their studies and living with their girlfriend or boyfriend. They hold no particular beliefs though sometime they do go to temples. The last category is students from rural areas or poor urban families. They are very serious about their studies, because studying is to them the only way out. They pay attention to nothing else but their studies. Some of those with rural backgrounds tend to be more superstitious.

Campus Christians

       There are quite a number of Christians on campus, many of whom are attending youth fellowships in open churches. Some are going to non-open churches. There is little contact between these two groups of students. More students in foreign language colleges have accepted Christ because they had more chances of coming into contact with foreign Christian teachers, but few students from other schools attend their meetings. Some students have difficulties in finding churches for themselves, as due to various factors, some non-open churches do not accept new comers readily.

       The Christian fellowship on my campus is meeting non-openly. There were only the few of us gathering in our dormitory room when our group first began. Later we were forced to meet elsewhere. We truly realised what a trial it was to live a real Christian life.

       The sharing above can let us know more about the life and religious faith of mainland university students. Although they grew up in an atheist environment, they were influenced by their family and traditional folk beliefs. The pace of economic development in the mainland has been so rapid that a strong materialistic social atmosphere has emerged, causing many to neglect traditional moral values. University students as well have a strong passion for materialistic possessions (for example, they are the group most willing to spend on latest mobile phones; a report issued by the National Statistics Bureau in June showed that their average annual spending exceeded the average annual income of people in towns and counties across the nation); it is also common for the students to be living with a partner and involved in pre-marital sex! (As mentioned above, "moving in with boyfriend or girlfriend" is a common phenomenon.) A rich material life and sexual indulgence can only bring people temporary pleasure, plunging them into an even deeper spiritual vacuum. University students are in dire need of the gospel!

       It is not easy to spread the gospel among university students, and yet nothing is impossible with God! In fact, university student fellowships have sprung up. What they lack is teaching and pastoral care from others. Living in an environment full of temptations, the students need timely, Bible-based guidance to help them walk on the straight path, and be prepared to stand up for the Lord.

      Workers are needed to reap harvest in the field of mainland campuses. It is also important to equip the would be reapers. God has truly selected the people who will serve mainland churches. But they need to be properly nurtured and equipped before they can undertake the mission and be committed to building up the churches. May the Lord and mainland intellectual believers reap the harvest together!


Resource: http://www.ccfellow.org/Common/Reader/News/ShowNews.jsp?Nid=5972&Pid=22&Version=39&Cid=226&Charset=big5_hkscs