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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% […]
Lead Article
The Three-Self Patriotic Movement
Divergent Perspectives and Grassroots Realities
[…] of the Three-Self association, and look at how grassroots official churches operate today. The idea of congregational autonomy—self-propagation (or evangelism and church planting), self-governance, and financial self- support, the “Three Selfs”—was first raised by a nineteenth century missionary, Henry Venn,1 who worried that foreign missionary boards had too much control over Chinese churches. The […]
Reading Tea Leaves from the 2021 National Religious Work Conference
[…] Religious Affairs Bureaus. The United Front is the most important for us to explain. Its name derives from a battlefield concept in which Communists seek allies among supporters who cannot become Communists but willingly unite against the Party’s enemy. 1 “Religious work” is what officials do to ensure that religious groups, individuals, and activities […]
The International Church Role in Chinese Missionary Sending, Part 1
Strategies for General Partnership between Chinese and International Mission Senders
The Chinese church passionately desires participation in missionary sending. The international church seeks to partner with Chinese missionary senders. In addition to prayer, the international church can support Chinese missionary-senders through resource sharing, mission-sending organization support, and through business cooperation. Chinese medical missionary tentmaking as a business opportunity is examined as a prototype for […]
Supporting Article
Tough Calls
Indigenous Investing
[…] churches. Second, he wants to challenge Chinese to be more generous to God’s work themselves. Third, he ultimately wants this project to be one hundred percent indigenously supported, although that goal is not yet viable. Should I help? For the last few years, yes, our agency has advocated for this project and annually networked […]
Raising Support—an Uphill Struggle
For a missionary, raising support is no easy task. When we were preparing for our first term of service, I wasn’t sure how we were ever going to raise the required budget. But for Chinese missionaries, the task is even harder. Coming from a culture that is not accustomed to supporting missionaries, obtaining financial […]
Financial Considerations in Chinese Missionary Sending
Sources of Support and Difficulties in Raising Finances
The Chinese church passionately desires participation in missionary sending. A study performed with long-term Chinese missionaries reveals four main current sources of support for Chinese mission activity. Common methods of missionary fund-raising are examined and frequently encountered fund-raising difficulties are reviewed. The Chinese church has difficulty financially supporting mission service and at the current […]
3 Ways Christians in China Can Support Blind People
[…] surprise I heard an automated voice say, “Hi Mark. This is Michelle.” Assistive technology has definitely reached blind people in China! What a blessing and a great support for them, which makes communication with others so much easier. Educational Challenges China has had schools for the blind for a relatively long time. In the […]
China Expats and Home Church Support
One of the least discussed aspects of the expatriate’s experience is the role of the home support community, particularly that of the home church.
Policy, Implementation, and Shifting Official Perceptions of the Church in China
[…] chance of these activities being restricted. The presence of foreign personnel or foreign funds suggests to Chinese officials that these activities are being engineered or at least supported from abroad, and that the foreign entity involved is seeking to use religious activities in China for political ends. The interplay during the past year between […]