Open Letter: Church In China (The Prayer Foundation)

Open Letter: Church In China

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(Note: all names have been removed by us, to protect the persons involved. -The Prayer Foundation ™)

The Letter we Received:

10/31/02 Dear Monks,
Here is an e-mail I received from one of our friends in China. I am
sending it on to you in hopes that it may encourage you. If you
choose to use it on your website, I am trusting that you will not use
****'s name. It is typical of most e-mails I receive from China, although this one was sent from the States. The e-mails from believers in China use code words.
Also of interest, a gathering of more then 10 people without a permit is illegal. Or so I have been told.
Yours truly, ****

                Persecution of Christians In Beijing
                                                                                                               Greetings to you all! I just returned from China & Thailand, where
everything is going very well and we are really excited at what God is doing!

I want to update you about what is going on in Beijing, some of you may have heard about the recent problem we had there? The last week in September we had a visiting evangelist come from the south of China. He taught for four days in one of our groups, the one that meets in the house of ****. On the last day of his time there, Sunday morning, 4 men from the PSB (Public Security Bureau) came to the apartment. Two were plain clothes and two were uniformed police; and they took the whole church, about 35 people, away in vans! To the headquarters!

It was pretty scary for everyone! After a few hours they were all released. **** was kept the longest, but was released with a warning. This was a major miracle! first because they did not search the apartment! We had tons of literature that we have produced and are distributing, plus many bibles and hymnals and other prohibited things. And also because while they were being questioned they asked almost everyone for identity cards. Everyone but the visiting evangelist who didn't have one!!! He would have been in a serious problem had they found out who he was!!! So the only thing we lose is the meeting place.

We will have to find another place to hold church. Please pray for this as it is pretty difficult and expensive. We have to keep the old place because we have a lease, but can't meet there, plus find a new place. But do you know what? God is good!!! He will provide!!! The group is such a blessing. They are an inspiration to see, how they risk everything just to go to church. But in their time of need God provided a way out for them!!!                                                                             Blessings to you all!!!                                                                                    **** <><

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Another Letter:

Dear Brother and Sister Monks, Our China team has returned home ****. It has been a busy trip for the team. I received the following e-mail from a sister in China. She is a Medical School student living ****. Please use discretion if you publish this note. I have edited her broken English to make it more understandable. I have also translated the "code" words. We do not use words like "Christian" or "God" in our communications. But I have left it in her own words. I think she does very well. Please hold her up in prayer. She is a dear sister, indeed.

"Dear Friend William, ...I am a little sad this morning, but I am also very happy. Why? Because I was called to my teacher's office this morning. My teacher asked me a lot of questions. She wants me to give up church and not believe anymore. I answered her 'No!', and I talked to her. I told her I am a Christian now. I told her how different it is to be a Christian. One who is a believer fears only God. The Christian's behavior, words, actions, and heart are different from people who do not believe.... "Yours truly,****"

If this sister is asked to leave her school soon, she will lose her chance for a better education. Her family has invested much of their lives into paying for her education. These are simple hard working farming people who are putting their hopes for a better future on their daughter's education. Yours truly, Monk William (California)

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World's Largest Christian Community

The Chinese church became the world's largest Christian community due to a massive revival dating from the early 1970s, the size of which is unprecedented in Christendom. We believe the total number of Christians to be between 60-80 million (with between 10,000-25,000 converts a day), though it could be higher.

Of this number, barely 17 million worship in the two officially organized churches of China -- the Protestant Three Self Patriotic Movement (12 million members) and the Catholic Patriotic Association (5 million members). Thus we reject the right of the government appointed church leaders to speak on behalf of the entire Chinese Christian community, and we are not surprised when they deny the existence of the house church millions.

-"Open Doors" (Christian Ministry of Brother Andrew)

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(Dec. 30, 2003): Voice of the Martyrs said local Christians are only taking advantage of the government's declared policy of religious freedom, meeting in homes to worship God and to proclaim the gospel message.

"DISTRESSING" SYSTEM

"It is distressing that under the Chinese legal system they can be held for months before being formally charged or brought to trial," Mission Network News, a Christian broadcaster, quoted VOM as saying.

VOM's Hong Kong office urged Christians everywhere to pray urgently as the Chinese officials "continue arrests and repression of believers in the house churches."

In addition a dozen of churches have been destroyed in Zhejiang Province, VOM claimed.

COMMUNISTS CONCERNED

Analysts have linked the crack-down to concern among Communist authorities about the growing number of Christians in China.

Former Time magazine correspondent David Aikman, who wrote the new book "Jesus in Beijing" points out that China's current population of about 1.3 billion, includes around 70 million Protestants and roughly 12 million Catholics.

In 1949, when China had a population of about 500 million, 4 million were Christians. "That is a 20-fold increase in Christians, but the population increased only 1.5 times," he told The Washington Times, a conservative newspaper, Saturday, Dec. 27.

"It is plausible that in 30 years, 20 [percent] or 30 percent of the population will become believers. That is a magic tipping point because it means that important positions within the government are held by Christians. The case that I am making is that China is going to be Christianized if that trend continues," he said.

-Voice of the Martyrs

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China News!

Trans World Radio's exciting new broadcast to China
offers a Christian response to 'scientific atheism'. They have begun
airing a series of broadcasts to China in Mandarin, entitled Truth in
the Test Tube. The program, which was launched October 26, 2002, deals with apologetics. It also interviews Christians who are respected
professionals in the hard sciences. The hope is that once listeners
are satisfied that what is being said is indeed true, they accept God's
forgiveness through Christ. (Note from The Prayer Foundation ™: Trans World Radio also broadcasts the J. Vernon McGee Thru The Bible Radio Program in over 90 Languages worldwide.)

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Related Pages:

China Pages (Index)
Monk William In China
Worldwide Persecution of Christians
Prayer Warrior Map: World!
Deitrich Bonhoeffer On Monasticism

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