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Speeding Up? Or Slowing Down?
A Study on the Current Church Growth Situation in China
[…] views about church growth in China saying the annual growth rate is five percent, eight percent, or even ten percent. Moreover, it has been predicted that the number of Christians in China will reach two hundred and fifty million by the year 2030. Other people, however, take a different point of view, one that is not as optimistic. They believe that church growth in China is slowing down. For those who are involved in China ministry, in order to do practical, strategic planning and to be good stewards of God’s resources, it is essential to find out exactly what changes are affecting church growth and development. Therefore, a research team formed by various organizations carried out a pilot research project, Church Development and Growth in China’s Mobile, Urban Context. One of the main purposes of this research is to explore the church growth situation in China, to study the developmental trends of the Chinese church, including numerical growth, stability, or reduction in attendance. From March 6, 2017 to January 2, 2018, a survey was conducted in 263 churches at different places in China. The samples were selected from traditional Bible-belt areas where generally the Christian population density is higher than that of other places in China. We assume that if the growth rate of these areas is a certain percentage, then the whole country’s rate will not be higher than that figure. Trying to discover the trend of church growth, among other questions, we put the following three indicators into the questionnaire: The current number: number of people currently attending Sunday service in this church Number from five years ago: number of people who attended Sunday service in this church five years ago Number from previous week: the number of people who attended Sunday service the Sunday before the interview day By analyzing the above indicators, we can roughly gain the following information about these selected areas: What percentage of local churches have positive growth, zero growth, or negative growth? The average growth in congregation size of the sampled churches First of all, let us compare the current reported size to the number of attendees five years ago. Table 1: “Current Reported Number” VS “Number from Five Years Ago” Sample Churches Current > Five Years Ago No Change Current < Five Years Ago Total Municipality/Provincial Capital 69.0% 18.3% 12.7% 100.0% City 83.7% 5.8% 10.5% 100.0% County/Town 74.2% 12.9% 12.9% 100.0% […]
Editorials
The Spirit of the Enterprise
[…] ferocious wolves. (See the article by Man De in this issue for more on the “wolf culture” in the Chinese business world.) What is lacking is a spirit of steadiness, meticulous attention to detail, longsuffering, persistence and firmness. Those without a belief system have no patience and see life as just one big gamble […]
How Can Chinese Christians Foster a Reformation Spirit?
[…] faith alone Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone Solus Christus, through Christ alone Sola Gratia, by grace alone Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone They typify the spirit of the Reformation. This wisdom was bequeathed to the church in succeeding generations. The wisdom of one generation becomes the tradition of later generations. We rightly […]
Supporting Article
Spirit-Empowered Chinese House Churches (2)
Urban Revival
Liu tells us about Mission China 2030, revival, spiritual gifts, Chinese houses of prayer, and persecution among China’s urban house churches during recent years.
Christians and the Hungry Ghost Festival
For Chinese Christians in Asia, being filled with the Holy Spirit is an assurance of God’s presence and a safeguard against any attacks by evil spirits during the Hungry Ghost Festival—and beyond.
Supporting Article
Spirit-Empowered Chinese House Churches (1)
Rural Revival
Editor’s note: This two-part article is adapted with permission from Evan J. Liu, “The Spirit-Empowered Mission of Chinese House Churches,” in The Remaining Task of the Great Commission & The Spirit-Empowered Movement, eds. Wonsuk Ma and Opoku Onyinah.1 Part 2 regarding urban revival follows. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has […]
Supporting Article
“The Spirit in Fire and Wind”
An Opportunity for Silent Artists to Converse
[…] at once. The ruins of constructing and demolishing fill the void in the land, the society, and the heart-mind. On the ruins, however, there also blows the spiritual wind and burning holy fire. Where there is the blowing wind of the spirit, the holy fire destroys, purifies, and protects, but also kindles the soul, […]
The Holy Spirit at Work in China’s Churches
Reflections on the 2023 Summer CSQ
Entrusting the development of Christianity in China entirely to Almighty God and following his will alone in leading Chinese Christians in the twenty-first century is undoubtedly the most important path to experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecostal Theology and the Chinese Church
[…] affirm three distinctive doctrinal convictions. Pentecostals believe that: the book of Acts serves as a model for contemporary Christian life and ministry; the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) is a post conversion enabling for ministry; and speaking in tongues marks this experience. The impact of these Pentecostal convictions upon the contemporary Chinese […]
Lead Article
The Three-Self Patriotic Movement
Divergent Perspectives and Grassroots Realities
[…] the party-state. On such occasions, they dutifully parrot communist declarations, such as one leader did by announcing at a new church opening that Christians should “study the spirit of the party Congress.” On another occasion, one after another Protestant leader echoed formulaic denunciations of American imperialism at an event celebrating the TSPM’s founding. However, […]