While all these facts are true, I don’t think we really have much to worry about. Here’s 4 key reasons I think it’s all a bunch of worry worts worrying about nothing.

1. Throughout history, China has never been a foreign aggressor. It’s not in their cultural makeup…. The only possible exception is Tibet, which is a long and complicated story that I’ll tell another day.

2. China is looking for stability in their own country. They have enough going on domestically that a aggressive act against the U.S. is not in their best interest.

3. Whatever they are doing internationally, much of it deals with securing natural resources for their own country. They are much more interested in buying up oil and grain rights than anything else. In other words, their money is tied up elsewhere.

4. With the U.S. debt they have bought, it’s not a great idea to invest in a place only to blow it up.

Instead of the concern of China’s growing influence and how that might effect the U.S., as I talk about China, I’m showing people the incredible opportunity we have as Christians to impact China for Christ. The doors are wide open and as China continues to grow as a nation (and they will!), our concern should be how we take advantage of those open doors and influence their future through the lens of Christ and His great work on the cross. We have every opportunity to see China deeply impacted with Christ and that certainly bodes well for China’s future!

My question is: Are there any non-profit organizations that receive payments for indoor tanning services? Why even ask the question?

Greetings! I hope you all are well! Just a quick post to announce that after 3 blog posts in all of 2011, I’m really excited about using this blog as a resource of our ministry. So, I’ll be posting here a lot more, with an expanded focus. I found it hard to write often just about China, because there’s only a certain segment of what we’re hearing out of China that would interest me. As I’ve been thinking about this blog, I had a big idea. There is one additional focus that I have that I’d like to add and it running and trying to grow a small non-profit organization. There are so many unique parts of my job that I think anyone who is running a small organization, for-profit or non-profit, can relate to. So, I’ll be blogging about my job, about China, and maybe an occasional post about what I’m learning as I research for my next book.

Thank you all for your interest and be sure to get my blog updates sent directly to your email inbox. You’ll see the button to do that on the right. Also, you can follow me on twitter at MFalkenstine and our ministry at ChinaResource. Looking forward to dialoging with  you all more !

Outside In- Written by Joann Pittman, based in Beijing. I’m hoping someday Joann’s blog posts get put in a book because they are so well done and if you’ve lived in China, they bring a smile to your face!

Shanghai Scrap- Written by Adam Minter, based in Shanghai. I like his take on any number of different China related topics.

NGOs in China- A blog about developments in the nongovernmental, nonprofit, charitable sector in China. Since I direct a non-profit with projects in China, it’s a must read. They do a great job!

All Roads Lead to China- All Roads Lead to China was established with the objective of providing accurate, up-to-date information on China’s current trends, macroeconomic development, regional differences and consumer preferences, to enhance the business intelligence of executives entering China who require a sophisticated, informed China strategy. Although some of this blog’s stuff doesn’t relate, I want to be as well-rounded as I can be.

Non-profits in China- This blog aims to provide a glimpse into the vast and fast evolving nonprofit sector in China in English for scholars and practitioners outside of China. Hosted by the Houser Center for NonProfit Organizations at Harvard University. They have great insight and well-researched.

The China Beat- Launched in early 2008, The China Beat provides context and criticism on contemporary China from China scholars and journalists. I like their writing perspective of being Westerners writing about China for the Western mind.

Sinologistical Violoncellist- Written by Adam Cathcart, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of history at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, where he teaches courses on the Chinese Communist Party, Japanese war crimes, the Korean War, and the history of Sino-Japanese relations. If you have an interest in what’s happening in North Korea and the relationship between North Korea and China, this is the blog for you. I highly enjoy his writing.

China Real Time Report- This is the Wall Street Journal’s China Feed. They do a great job of providing large volumes of information about a wide range of topics. I tend to skim through some of these posts, but it’s worth it when you get to something you are really interested in.

New York Times China News Feed- Very similar to the WSJ feed. Lots and lots of articles…. Great for skimming!

Tom’s China Blog- Written by Thomas Aylmer is currently an English teacher in Xiamen, Fujian, China. This is the typical ‘My experiences in China’ blog, but it’s well written and if you’ve ever lived in China, much of this blog will hit home.

Truth From Facts- a blog maintained by four friends living in China; Two in Beijing, one in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong. They have a similar heart that I do to take myths about China or half told stories and tell ‘the rest of the story.’

One more to mention:

My new blog on husbands loving their wives deeply- While I have your attention, I might as well mention a brand new blog that I’m really excited about….. Hope you men join the journey!

On the China front, what am I missing that would be good? Which ones do you all like the most?

As you can tell, there’s not a lot of other blogs that are specifically based on Christian ministry in China, which I wish there was…. Let me know if I’m missing any!

I appreciate you all and hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and New Year!

As most of you know, I have a deep heart to clarify Western perceptions about China. Many times, especially when it comes to Christianity in China, this means that I try to help people gain a fuller sense of a situation in China. Have we looked at all the angles, seen both side of a story and understood the perspective at the local level? These are the types of question I ask when I’m researching China and it may be helpful for you too.

Over the last 8 days, I’ve had a handful of friends send me an article from the Wall Street Journal by Brian Spegele entitled, ‘China’s Banned Churches Defy Regime.’ I’d encourage you to read the article, if you haven’t read it. After reading the article, there are three quick items about the article I’d like to point out that were noticeable to me. Since this blog post is not a rebuttal to Mr. Spegele’s article, I’ll keep my ‘inquisitive mind’ thoughts to the briefest length.

First, the obvious use of the word Banned in the title is noticeable, mainly because these unregistered Churches in Beijing are not actually banned. If they were banned, they would be shut down and prohibited from existing. The truth is that in Beijing, there are hundreds upon hundreds of unregistered churches that while they have not entered into the registered church system, have been allowed to continue to exist and flourish for some time now. Secondly, in doing a little research on Mr. Spegele I noticed that he is a 2009 graduate of Indiana University and has been in China less than two years. While one must assume that he’s an awfully talented kid to get a reporting job at the WSJ, as I write in my book, it takes years both to learn how the system works in China and to understand the nuances of Chinese society. It may be this lack of experience that leads me to my third point about the article, which is that I’m surprised as a journalist, he didn’t visit any of the 55,000 registered churches in China, which could have given him a more balanced approach to his article.

There is an element of his article that I’d like to address directly and it’s probably my most direct constructive criticism of the Chinese Government that I’ve ever had. Hopefully I’ve built some credibility with them and as all real friends do, sometimes it’s OK to point out blind spots in our lives. In this case, it seems clear to me that the Chinese Government, and the officials working in Beijing in particular, are making some mistakes. Let me explain:

Much of my experience in China comes from time spent with Chinese Christians, both in the unregistered and registered churches. And in Beijing specifically, I’ve really enjoyed seeing how the unregistered churches have grown and flourished. From 1998 to at least 2009, the local Beijing government gave tacit approval of unregistered church activity. During this time, I’ve seen unregistered churches do everything from work together with local officials in Christmas basket programs for shut-ins to having training schools were young believers can get grounded in their faith. These programs, while outside the regulations for religious affairs, were never banned or prohibited. The unspoken rule has been ‘Don’t cause us too much trouble and we’ll let you continue.’ They’ve not only continued, but they’ve flourished and grown and been a real benefit to their community and to the city. As to the Beijing Government’s position in not banning their activities, it mirrors the national governmental consensus that Christianity improves social stability, helps fight corruption and helps China build a hardworking, honest country.

Starting in early 2010, we’ve begun to hear about and read about more of these types of stories. Other than Mr. Spegele’s story, which details the Beijing Zion Church pastored by Jim Mingri, we’ve heard a bit about the Shouwang Church in Beijing, which is another very large unregistered church that has been in the news. They too have been getting pushback from Beijing officials. This pushback is a result of some of the larger unregistered churches in Beijing asking for greater legal recognition and because of the level of organization that these churches now have, including most of the top pastors’ participation in the Chinese House Church Alliance, which give them shared resources and training country wide. Some of this governmental pushback has included Shouwang Church’s inability to move into new space for their church that they legally purchased and an increased pressure by Governmental officials on these churches.

Now for the meaty part: The issue here is that once the Beijing government let ‘the cat out of the bag’ and gave these groups greater freedom, it’s awfully hard to put the cat back in the bag. I once put a cat in a microwave oven, (but didn’t turn it on) so I can at least attest that putting a cat in a bag or microwave or anywhere it really doesn’t want to go is hard. It’s the same for these officials. I personally believe that these officials didn’t realize what really was going to happen as these unregistered groups were allowed to grow. They deeply underestimated what happens when Christians grow in depth and understanding. What happens is that Christian roots grow deeper, which leads to an interest in expanding ministry opportunities, since Christians have an interest in non-Christians becoming Christians. This leads to an increased ability to expand, a better environment for Christian growth, which leads in the case of the Beijing house churches, to calls for increased freedom.

The Beijing officials have looked at this growth and become a little leery. But Christianity is not only about adding social stability and fighting corruption (although it helps with these things too), but about the Holy Spirit working in people’s lives and changing them from the inside out. It’s also about these new people taking this message of what Christ has done for them and sharing it with as many as possible. As the government is now seeing, you can’t control the Holy Spirit and the Chinese Christian church is now 70 to 80 million strong and it’s not going away. Even if they were to detain 1000 people a month (which they are not), it would take 5000 years to detain all the Christians in China and I’m hoping the Lord will have already come back way before then!

So what now? Three things: First, we in the West can continue to pray for God’s will to be done in this situation in Beijing. I’m not sure what’ll happen but since I do have an interest in seeing Chinese come to know Christ, I pray that God would intervene in ways that only He can. Secondly, I would encourage the Beijing local government to see that these Christians are not out to overthrow you (which is their #1 concern). I know there is a history in China of religious groups wanting to overthrow you, but these one is different. These Christians in your city are good people who love Jesus, but they love China almost just as much. If you really didn’t want these churches to grow beyond a certain size, you should have thought about that in the mid 1990’s when you were opening things up for them. Too late now…. And finally, I would encourage the House Church Leaders of Beijing, especially in the larger churches to be careful not to push back too hard. Remember Jesus’ admonition In Matthew 5:38-41, ‘You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. The government may not quite be ready for the changes that you’re asking for. Yes, I understand them and I mostly agree with them. But as they push back, be careful to ‘kill them with kindness,’ therefore showing them the love of Christ even more.

Very short post today. First, just a quick note to let you all know that Sarah E (my daughter) and I had a fantastic trip to China and oversaw our largest Bible Distribution event ever. The rural Christians outside of Pingdingshan, a mid-level city in Henan province, were as thrilled as could be to have a Bible of their own. I’ll be posted the trip newsletter here when it is finished, as well as short video pieces from the trip.

Secondly, I wanted to pass along a link for those of you who are China watchers. Joann Pittman, who is a friend and colleague in China work, has written a great article that you can find here. Joann has succinctly covered the juxtaposition of what we experience in China. I highly recommend it to you all!

Happy Monday to you all! I hope you all are well! Since I often continue to get comments like “I didn’t even know you could do what you’re doing in  China!” I thought I would re run a section of my book that deals with coming to China and learning how the game works there. This is from Chapter 3, with a few minor changes. Please read it with an open heart and learn from the people I’ve learned from.

‘The onslaught of foreign companies who have set up operations in China is staggering.  Since China’s reopening to the West, over three decades ago, over 600,000 foreign companies have been lured to invest in China, and many of them set up offices and operations in China.  I can guarantee one thing about every one of those 600,000 companies: each one had to register with the appropriate State agency that oversaw their area of industry, and each one had to pay the appropriate taxes and file the appropriate annual reports with State agencies.  They also had to learn and abide by the Chinese laws dealing with their industry.  By following these steps, the Government allows them to legally stay in China and continue their operations.  They know this process is a reality for doing business in a foreign country.

Given this reality, I have always found it odd that only the foreign Christian community thinks it is acceptable to work outside of the laws of China. Over the last thirty years, thousands of Westerners have taken the Gospel to China. Most of these foreigners have taken a clandestine approach to ministry, due to their perceptions of their inability to openly work and live in China. By working full-time in a non-Christian job, which gives them legitimacy to legally live in China, they conduct Christian ministry during their free time. Normally, their sending agencies instruct them to be very careful about their speech, because Chinese governmental authorities listen to their phone conversations or to conversations they have with others in public. They must watch what they say to whom, because they don’t know when they will be ‘found out.’ In my opinion, the fear of danger and the concept of safety have caused people to take the will of God back into their own hands. In the discussion of changing Western perceptions, I believe this is an important missing piece of the puzzle: when a Westerner comes to China, he has his ‘Western goggles’ on. He views life and discerns situations differently. The culture and environment in which each of us grew up helps us to see life from a certain perspective.

The Western concept of law implies that there is a direct relationship between the laws and how they are implemented. For example, when a person exceeds the speed limit and a policeman tracks his speed on a radar gun, a definite penalty is set by the law for that infraction. If the person is traveling twenty miles over the limit, the penalty is X; it’s always going to be X - no questions asked.

In China, where relationships take precedence above everything else, people are the rule of law, not words on paper. In any given situation, the person with authority has the right to implement the law or policy of his own choosing; he can even implement a law that conflicts with the written law. Most of the Chinese assume that this liberty is a right belonging to the person in authority. The application of laws is fluid in nature. In some cases, the Chinese know that the application is more relaxed, and in other cases, the application is more restrictive. A Westerner who has arrived in China deduces one of two things:

1. Comply with Chinese laws or policies with Western rigidity; or

2. Disregard all Chinese laws, assuming they are all equally arbitrary, and assume that any individual has the right to exploit them for personal benefit.

The problem here is that the Westerner doesn’t have the context within which to discern which laws are flexible and in which situations. Why do they lack the context? It’s simple: they are not Chinese! The Chinese people, of course, have grown up in this environment, and they completely understand this interpretation of the law. They find it interesting that we Westerners would think of these things differently.

Given this context, it seems to me that the onus is on the Westerner to figure out this situation, upon arriving in China. The foreign workers must assume their positions properly within the confines of the written law. We are the guests and newcomers, and it is therefore our responsibility to understand and abide by the laws. Due to our lack of experience, we do not yet know the degree of flexibility in the application of these laws. This is further complicated since that the application will change from one Government department to another. As we begin our ministry, we must wisely act within the solid line of the letter of the law. Once we begin to understand the language and culture, we can begin to push out a little and test the application of the laws.

As you try to understand this concept, there is a great quote from a Chinese pastor as he was helping us understand China:

“If there are fifteen Government regulations out there, you foreigners should follow all of them, since you are guests in this country. However, we Chinese might choose twelve of them that we follow carefully, but three of them we’ll challenge, and try to get our Government to reconsider. If you foreigners challenge the Government, you force us to choose between loyalty to our Government or to a foreign group. Because of the history of foreign Christians in China, it is better if you stay here long term, building relationships, supporting and encouraging us as friends, as we, the Chinese, lead the way for change in China.”

If the outsiders are the ones challenging and disobeying the laws, it puts our new Chinese friends in a tough situation. For example, I think of the case of the ‘tract bombers’: foreigners who come into a Chinese city, map it out, and over the course of four or five days, and under the cover of darkness, they literally bomb the city with tracts. They put tracts in bicycle baskets, on apartment doors, around shopping malls, anywhere and everywhere they think people will see them and read them.

Traditionally, there have been two problems with the ‘tract bombers.’ First, although their bombing may provide some excitement and a thrilling sense of danger, it has proven to be very ineffective. Since Christianity is not a ‘native’ religion, and because few Chinese have had even the most simple teaching on the Bible, a ‘Four Laws’ type presentation in a tract makes very little sense to them. Secondly, when local officials wake up the next morning, looking for someone to blame for this outright violation of Chinese law, they usually blame the local Chinese pastors, sure that they must be the culprits in this endeavor. To the Government official, it is only logical to blame the local Chinese Christian. So, while the foreigners have a compelling story to tell of their adventures in China to their constituents back at their home church, they’ve actually done more harm than good for the cause of Christ in China. In my mind, a more prudent method of evangelism would be to ask the local Chinese Christians how they may want to partner together to reach the lost in China’s cities.

Let these truths sink deep into your mind and heart, because I know they are not intuitive for the Western Christian. It is possible to come to China as a learner, to take a back seat for awhile while you learn which laws are interpreted in what ways and who you can trust. Be careful when coming to China to be aware if your actions are a blessing or if they are a curse to the local Christians.  I’d welcome additional questions about this and I will be dutiful to respond to your questions!

When we in the West think of China’s Communist Party, we rightly observe that the Party is the only political party authorized to hold political power in China. While China’s economic rise is being watched closely around the world, the country’s changing political landscape is intriguing as well. As we study Chinese elite leadership, we come to realize that China’s top decision makers are not a monolithic group of elites who share the same views, values and visions. Instead, we see that there are two distinct factions within the Communist party. These two groups, the elitist coalition, better know as the princelings and the Youth League group, also known in China as the populists or ‘tuanpai’ compete against each other for power, influence and policy initiatives. Both the mass media and the scholarly community in the West have been very slow to grasp the changing nature of Chinese elite politics and the emergence of these two factions in Chinese politics. In this blog post, I’d like to explain the formation of these two competing coalitions, present core evidence of a growing bipartisanship between them and analyze what this may mean for people of faith in China.

Formation of the Two Groups

Today in China, there are two political coalitions that presently balance one another in the CCP leadership. The differences between these two coalitions are reflected not only in their leaders’ distinct personal careers and political associations, but also in the socio-economic groups and geographical regions they represent.

One coalition can be identified as the “populist coalition” led by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. The core faction of the populist coalition is the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL), the so-called tuanpai who worked in the national or provincial leadership. Most of the populist coalition’s members have advanced their political careers through local and provincial administration, many have leadership experience in rural areas, and many have worked in the fields of Party organization, propaganda, and legal affairs. Like Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, leaders of the populist coalition often come from less-developed inland provinces (China’s “red states” or more commonly known in China as “yellow states”); they usually have humble family backgrounds. Leaders of the populist coalition are more effective in addressing the concerns and needs of the population at the grassroots, especially the so-called “vulnerable social groups” such as farmers, migrant laborers and the urban unemployed.

The other coalition might be called the “elitist coalition,” led by former Party chief Jiang Zemin. Often called princelings, they are leaders who are the children of former high-ranking officials. Princelings probably form a less cohesive network than other political factions, but their shared political identity and interests may push them to work together as a formidable elite group. A majority of princelings have advanced their careers in the more prosperous coastal regions, as Xi Jinping, current Vice President of the PRC and heir apparent to the Presidency in 2012, did by serving as a top provincial leader in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, the power base of former President Jiang Zemin. Many have advanced their careers – and, therefore, have expertise – in the areas of finance, trade, foreign affairs, information technology, and education. Some are returnees from study abroad (so-called haiguipai). An overwhelming majority of returnees come from, and work, in the coastal regions. These leaders often represent the interests of entrepreneurs, the emerging middle class, and the economically advanced coastal provinces (China’s “blue states”).

A New Spirit of Bipartisanship

With these two factions within the Communist party, we are seeing a new spirit of Bipartisanship within the leadership in China. Factional politics is, of course, not new in China. What is new is the fact that factional politics takes place at a time when strong-man politics as characterized in the Mao and Deng eras comes to an end. The decisive role of the “strong-man” in decision-making has been replaced by a collective leadership in which the top leader, Hu Jintao, is no more than the “first among equals.” Hu, Wen, Xi Jinping and other leaders have to be constantly engaged in coalition building, political negotiation and compromise. What is new is the fact that these two coalitions should not be simplistically categorized in ideological terms such as liberals and conservatives, pro-market and anti- market, or reformers and hardliners. While these two factions represent different regional and socio-economic interests and divergent policy priorities, both have valid socio-political concerns. The two coalitions tend to fix each other’s problems, thus avoiding a single-minded approach. What is new is the trend that factional politics is no longer a vicious power struggle and zero-sum game in which a winner takes all. Neither the elitist coalition nor the populist coalition is willing to, or capable of, defeating the other. Tuanpai officials are long in terms of organizational and propaganda skills and they often have had experience in rural administration, especially in poor inland regions, but they are short on skills in handling the international economy. To a great extent, both coalitions share a common purpose: to ensure the survival of the CCP rule at home and retain China’s status as a major international player abroad. This makes Chinese bipartisanship sustainable. In my analysis, this “one Party, two factions” formula will remain as the dominant feature of Chinese elite politics in the next 10 to 15 years.

Two Final Thoughts: For those who keep abreast with Chinese internal affairs, at times we see what seems to be contradictory actions in the areas of rule of law, development of religious freedom and the revamping of laws in China. A human-rights lawyer will get arrested, and then two days later he’s released. A church group will be told they can’t worship in a particular place, and then a week later they get permission. When we see these types of activities going on, we can recognize them as this bipartisanship at work in China. Tuanpai officials arrest, then the princelings release. On the encouraging side of this bipartisanship is that the two factions are clearly helping each other govern more effectively and clearly offer a set of checks and balances. As China continues to reform its ability to govern with rule of law, these checks and balances will help China’s people of faith as the Communist Party in China governs with a more even hand. Since 2006, President Hu has promoted a ‘harmonious society’ as one of the key tenants of his administration. This platform signifies a move away from the party’s focus on all-out economic growth to solving the worsening social issues and tensions that have come to the forefront in China today. Not only can the two factions use their unique experiences to help move China forward into the future, but they each bring to the table experiences that will lessen harassment of people of faith, seeing them as more and more of a benefit to society.

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing police on Sunday detained dozens of worshippers from an unapproved Christian church who were trying to hold services in a public space after they were evicted from their usual place of worship, a parishioner said.

Leaders of the unregistered Shouwang church had told members to gather at an open-air venue in Beijing for Sunday morning services, but police, apparently alerted to their plans, taped off the area and took away people who showed up to take part.

China’s Communist government allows worship only in state-approved churches, but many Christians belong to unregistered congregations. Such “house churches” are subjected to varying degrees of harassment by authorities.

More than 60 million Christians are believed to worship in China’s independent churches, compared with about 20 million who worship in the state church, according to scholars and church activists.

A church member who went to the gathering spot for services and managed to evade police told The Associated Press that about 200 people were taken away and were being held at a local school. Their cellphones were confiscated, said the man, who would give only his English name, Kane, for fear of police reprisals.

An AP videographer saw about a dozen people escorted by police onto an empty city bus and driven away.

After reading a bit about Shouwang Church, I felt compelled to respond briefly. I know a bit about this church, since Beijing has become the hub of our work in China. Shouwang church is an unregistered church that has seen great growth since its founding in 1993. Within its congregation are mostly young professionals, many of whom have spent time studying overseas. It is within an ‘overseas Chinese’ mentality that the church operates, meaning that while overseas, these Chinese Christians were used to ‘doing Church’ in a more open fashion. When deciding to come back to China to live and work, they started a church that doesn’t really fit into the classic ‘unregistered/registered’ church paradigms that most Chinese Christians have grown accustomed to. Shouwang Church on one hand doesn’t want to register with the Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) in Beijing, feeling like that would be an unnecessary step in the development of their church. Interestingly, they have registered with Beijing governmental authorities as a ‘social organization,’ meaning that they had no qualms with registration, just not the kind that the Beijing gov’t would have wanted them to register with. I understand this from a Christian perspective, since all of the Beijing RAB people I’ve ever met tend to be more liberal theologically. On the other hand, Shouwang Church firmly has believed in the engagement with gov’t officials, including working together with officials to help in social needs. For example, last Christmas the Church worked with local officials in the area where their church was meeting to distribute Christmas food baskets to the underprivileged in their area.

All of this puts Shouwang Church in an unusual position, where they don’t fit in with the normal registered churches, having rejected the opportunity to come under their wing. But they also really don’t fit into the unregistered church either, because of their willingness to work together with gov’t officials where joint objectives are met. This rubs most unregistered church folks in Beijing the wrong way also because of their disdain for the gov’t. In other words, they are pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable in China, forming new boundaries. Look at even where they’ve been meeting: They’ve been renting a whole floor in an office skyscraper, using of the space for offices, some for classrooms and some for their sanctuary, probably breaking some zoning codes along the way. Sometimes those forming new boundaries in China run against resistance from authorities. I don’t look at this, as the article states, as a communist party crackdown. I look at this as a ‘stretching the boundaries’ case where the Beijing gov’t can learn from this and change their religious registration codes. The reason they had such a police presence because this church has made them ‘lose face.’ Chinese government officials definitely don’t like being made to look bad, but I think it is just these kinds of situations that China needs because it makes the government officials confront shortcomings in their system.

And that’s where my heart is caught, helping them confront and fix shortcomings. Most of you have probably heard me say that our ministry has a heart to ‘Support and ensure a viable environment for religious freedom’ as a part of our effort to impact China for Christ. In my work in this area, I’ve found that Chinese gov’t officials understand their shortcomings in this area and want to make changes, but those changes will come slowly because of the enormous ship that they have to turn around. Imagine a ship with 1/5 of the world’s population on it! The captains of the ship want to turn it around, but it’s quite a job. And that’s where we as Westerners can come in: To help, encourage and office support where needed. Because the ship will be slower in turning if we in the West only criticize and demean the Chinese in these areas. They already know a change needs to be made, so why not get on board and be helpful rather than unhelpful. As to how we can be most helpful,

And as to Shouwang Church, I think long term they will be fine. They won’t disband. They will regroup, find a new place to meet and carry on.