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Jesus in BeijingEncouragement from the EastJESUS IN BEIJING In this new work, David Aikman, former Beijing Bureau Chief for Time magazine, presents us with an invaluable overview of recent developments in the unregistered Chinese house churches, together with a brief survey of relevant Chinese church history. It contains helpful profiles of spiritual leaders ('Uncles') recognised particularly by Chinese Christians. Invariably they are people who have survived extreme harassment and persecution, usually including imprisonment and torture, and who rightly continue to be regarded as role-models for younger believers. Names like Wang Mingdao and Watchman Nee (Ni Tuosheng) will be familiar to most UK Christians, but also included are the less well-known Allen Yuan (Yuan Xiangchen), Samuel Lamb (Lin Xiangao), Moses Xie (Xie Moshan), Li Tianen, Zhang Ronglian, Peter Xu (Xu Yongze), and a number of others. Prominent women leaders, such as sister Ding Hei, are also featured. Embedded within the text are helpful profiles of the main House Church networks, such as the Fangcheng Fellowship, Tanghe (China Gospel Fellowship), the two Anhui movements (Lixin and Yinshang), the Word of Life (or Born-Again) Movement, and the Little Flock. There is also reference to the dangerous and sometimes violent 'Eastern Lightning' cult, which actually abducted 33 Tanghe leaders! Much of the information here was gathered from personal meetings with house church leaders and photographs of many 'Uncles' are included. Phenomenal growthThe Chinese house churches still experience harassment particularly from local authorities, but their membership is currently estimated at 80 million - and the growth is still phenomenal, thanks to their emphasis on discipleship. Their long-term aim is to bring the gospel to all nations between China and Jerusalem, and other under-reached east Asian nations within the next 30 years, and so to hasten our Lord's return. The book has a helpful index and footnotes, but particularly helpful for UK churches are the appendices. The good attitude of the Chinese Christians toward their oftentimes obstructive government is evident in two statements: 'A United Appeal of the Various Branches of the Chinese House Church', written 22/8/98 (pp.293-4), and 'Attitude of Chinese House Church toward the Government, its Religious Policy, and the Three Self Movement', signed on 26/11/98 (pp.303-7). Probably most helpful for UK Christians would be the 'Confession of Faith of House Churches in China' (pp.297-303), also signed on 26/11/98, in which the leaders wisely set down only what they all agreed to accept, leaving points of disagreement for future discussion. This deals with their attitude to the Bible, the Trinity, Christ, Salvation, the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the Second Coming. It shows that they are within the tradition of historic Christianity and do not constitute a cult, as some Chinese officials have suspected. One thing I did find distasteful was the author's seeming assumption of the self-evident correctness of American culture and, by implication, the role which China could play in its future validation. I did also find a few typographical errors and one minor factual error, but the subject-matter of the book is so outstanding as almost to render such defects trivial. This is a very encouraging book which could provide pointers for British evangelicalism in the days ahead in its dealings with an ever-constricting bureaucracy. Mike Taylor© Evangelicals Now - August 2004 |