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Witnesses to Power - Stories of God's quiet work in a changing ChinaGod's hushed tonesWITNESSES TO POWER - There is a lot of 'hype' around about the growth of the church in China so it is refreshing to read a book which gives documented facts about the genuine work of God there. Here is an example: Tongchuan is a largely mining community in north China. When the Communists took power in 1949 the church had 20 members. Today there are over 15,000. The main church has a congregation of 2,000 every Sunday and there are 30 registered meeting-points as well as many unregistered ones. The moving story of the persecution and subsequent growth of the church in Tongchuan is just one of 12 stories contained in this book. The testimonies include that of 95 year-old Granny Jie in Hebei who from her tiny hut helps shepherd a 1,000-strong church near Shijiazhuang... The diary of a Lisu evangelist to the unreached Dulong people in remote villages in northern Yunnan cut off from the outside world for six months of the year by thick snow... The Lahu model Christian villages encouraged by local Party cadres to preach the gospel to drug addicts who are successfully weaned from their destructive habit... The evangelism of Yangshan County in Gansu where ten years ago there was not a single believer - now there are over 1,000 baptised Christians ... And many more... This book gives a good overview of the sheer variety of God's working in China among peasants, intellectuals, tribal people and even Party members. The appendices give valuable information on the astounding growth of the gospel among the Lisu along the Salween valley. They also include the statement issued in 1999 by three theological students expelled from Nanjing Seminary, which sheds further light on the continuing campaign being waged by Bishop Ting to impose a politicised liberal theology on TSPM churches and seminaries. The authors conclude: 'This church has humbled missiologists. It has grown between ten and 20 times during the past few decades - an accomplishment that challenges most contemporary mission and church growth theories. It seems that the Chinese church can manage without many current missions requirements - funding, trained experts, paid staff, social services, outreach stations, sophisticated programmes and strategies, favourable social and political conditions, political influence, international support, concentrated media exposure, co-ordinated activities and public evangelistic rallies. It seems to come down on the most fundamental question in missiology - mission of God or mission of man, power of God or strength of man - firmly on the side of the former.' To which we say, amen! Tony Lambert © Evangelicals Now - August 2001 |