China - Fast Growing Christian Population

The Church Growth people should look at history. Christianity grows best while being persecuted. A famous ancient saying is, "The more you mow us down, the faster we grow," often translated more poetically as "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."

Protestant Christianity is an enormous force in the People's Republic of China.

Asian Times

Last month's murder of reverend Bae Hyung-kyu, the leader of the missionaries still held hostage by Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan, drew world attention to the work of South Korean Christians, who make up nearly 30% of that nation's population and send more evangelists to the world than any country except the United States. This is only a first tremor of the earthquake to come, as Chinese Christians turn their attention outward. Years ago I speculated that if Mecca ever is razed, it will be by an African army marching north; now the greatest danger to Islam is the prospect of a Chinese army marching west.

People do not live in a spiritual vacuum; where a spiritual vacuum exists, as in western Europe and the former Soviet Empire, people simply die, or fail to breed. In the traditional world, people see themselves as part of nature, unchangeable and constant, and worship their surroundings, their ancestors and themselves. When war or economics tear people away from their roots in traditional life, what once appeared constant now is shown to be ephemeral. Christianity is the great liquidator of traditional society, calling individuals out of their tribes and nations to join the ekklesia, which transcends race and nation. In China, communism leveled traditional society, and erased the great Confucian idea of society as an extension of the loyalties and responsibility of families. Children informing on their parents during the Cultural Revolution put paid to that.

Now the great migrations throw into the urban melting pot a half-dozen language groups who once lived isolated from one another. Not for more than a thousand years have so many people in the same place had such good reason to view as ephemeral all that they long considered to be fixed, and to ask themselves: "What is the purpose of my life?"

The World Christian Database offers by far the largest estimate of the number of Chinese Christians at 111 million, of whom 90% are Protestant, mostly Pentecostals. Other estimates are considerably lower, but no matter; what counts is the growth rate. This uniquely American denomination, which claims the inspiration to speak in tongues like Jesus' own disciples and to prophesy, is the world's fastest-growing religious movement, with 500,000 adherents. In contrast to Catholicism, which has a very long historic presence in China but whose growth has been slow, charismatic Protestantism has found its natural element in an atmosphere of official suppression. Barred from churches, Chinese began worshipping in homes, and five major "house church" movements and countless smaller ones now minister to as many as 100 million Christians. [2] This quasi-underground movement may now exceed in adherents the 75 million members of the Chinese Communist Party; in a generation it will be the most powerful force in the country.

While the Catholic Church has worked patiently for independence from the Chinese government, which sponsors a "Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association" with government-appointed bishops, the evangelicals have no infrastructure to suppress and no hierarchy to protect. In contrast to Catholic caution, John Allen observes, "Most Pentecostals would obviously welcome being arrested less frequently, but in general they are not waiting for legal or political reform before carrying out aggressive evangelization programs."

ELCA To Study the Bible

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 7, 2007

ELCA Assembly Affirms 'Book of Faith' Bible-Study Initiative
07-CWA-010-JI


CHICAGO (ELCA) - The 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) today adopted "Book of Faith: Lutherans Read the Bible," a sweeping five-year initiative to boost study of the Bible throughout the 4.8-million member church body.

That initiative grew out of a 2005 proposal made by the ELCA North Carolina Synod to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The ELCA Vocation and Education staff developed the recommendation for action here.

The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 6-11at Navy Pier's Festival Hall. About 2,000 people are participating, including 1,071 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Living in God's Amazing Grace: Thanks be to God!"

The recommendation, consisting of nine points, was approved Aug. 7. It stressed the importance of Scripture for believers "throughout the ages" (one of those points), and thanked the North Carolina Synod for proposing the initiative. It was adopted by a vote of 1,000 to 19.

The companion recommendation - expanded from eight to nine points after lengthy discussion - gives specific suggestions for ways to "invite and encourage all members, expressions, institutions, and partners of this church to commit themselves regularly and increasingly to hearing, reading, studying, sharing, and being formed by God's Word," the proposal said. It calls for use of existing resources and developing new material for use in studying the Bible.

Three other amendments to that second recommendation ultimately were defeated. The final vote to adopt was 956 to 93.

As the initiative came to the assembly floor, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, said it "invites this whole church to become fluent in the first language of faith - the language of Scripture; and to be renewed for lives of witness and service as the Holy Spirit engages us."

The Rev. Stanley N. Olson, executive director of the Vocation and Education unit, said that "Book of Faith" is "designed to remind us of the power of God's Word. Join the conversation that God initiates," Olson urged.

Olson introduced Dr. Diane Jacobson, a professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., and newly named director of the "Book of Faith" initiative. Jacobson will devote half of her time to the initiative.

Jacobson told the assembly, "The vision of the … initiative is this: that the whole church become more fluent in the first language of faith - the language of Scripture - in order that we may live into our calling as a people renewed, enlivened, and empowered by the Word. … The fulfillment of this vision depends on all of us."

At a news conference after both recommendations were approved, Olson likened the "Book of Faith: Lutherans Read the Bible" proposal to the Lutheran Reformation - "not a rehash of various Bible-study programs the church has used over the years, but a "renewal growing out of the Word."

Olson said that like the Reformation, the initiative will be "foundational," and directed to all ages and all aspects of Christian life.

Jacobson said that a main point of the initiative is to "study Scripture as the primary source about itself," with "more people reading the Bible more often, at all levels of this church."

Beth A. Lewis, president and CEO of Augsburg Fortress, the ELCA publishing ministry, told those at the news conference that Augsburg "has some resources in the works" that can be used in the "Book of Faith" initiatives, with "many more planned," for both print and electronic media.

***

GJ - Stan Olson and I were in the same Greek exegesis classes at Yale. His wife became a pastor. Strangely, he also served as a pastor in New Ulm, People's Republic of Minnesota. Coming from the ALC side of the merger, Stan officially welcomed joint communion services with the Reformed, which was David Preus' (ALC cousin of Robert Preus) passion and goal.

Missouri and WELS should feel calmer about all their joint work and joint meetings with ELCA, because ELCA is going to study the Bible.

Besides, they all attend the same seminary. Not Luther in the Twin Cities - Fuller in Pasadena.