Approaching China in 1997: Understanding and Prayer with a Servant’s Heart
Samuel Ling
The perceptive Christian in the west will experience some confusion as he/she seeks to understand China through the secular and the religious press in 1997. Unfortunately, most Christians rely on the secular press in the U.S. more than any other source for the information they need for an informed missions perspective. The secular press is highly selective in its reporting, especially in the U.S. The U.S. press is often U.S.-centered, and does not help us gain a China-based perspective (there are exceptions, of course). And the Christian press is barely beginning to catch up with the vast information flowing out of China (an encouraging beginning).
There are glowing reports of marvelous openness and unbelievable avenues for foreign Christians’ involvement in China (most of which are true). There are even incredulous reports which paint such a wonderful picture of the open church in China, that foreign help (other than that provided by the agency doing the reporting) is discouraged (which is not true)! At the same time, World Evangelical Fellowship calls for prayer for the persecuted church around the world (including China--which is true) on the last Sunday of September each year (a campaign is under way for September 1997). Similar reports have come out of the mass mailings of major ministries like Focus on the Family, D. James Kennedy’s ministry, etc. On the extreme side, the ghost of Red Guards is being resurrected in missionary prayer letters, reporting 20-year-old historical stories as current news, using severe persecution of the 1960’s as a fund-raising tactic (which is not accurate and manipulative).
What is going on? Can both sides be right?
Almost everyone is asking: What is going in Hong Kong, as she becomes a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China on July 1? Do the old paradigms for understanding China still apply? Do we need new ones?
China is so vast and complex that most generalizations cannot be universally valid. Yet there are some very significant observable trends which will help us understand, and more intelligently pray for China:
1. Economic growth. China has been the fastest growing economy in the world for over a decade. Shanghai has over 1,000 new skyscrapers, and new ones are being completed. There is no doubt that, as foreign investment (many through joint ventures with the Chinese) continues to increase, American Christian men and women will be leaving their families back home, and spending weeks and months every year in China. The church in North America is getting better acquainted with this nation of 1.2+ billion people!
2. Anti-foreignism. China, however, will not be shy to announce to the world that she is sometimes “pushed against the wall.” This happens whenever she feels that the United States engages in acts subversive to her sovereignty and integrity in the international world (e.g. monitoring her human rights record, using MFN as a weapon, etc.). In August 1996 the Chinese government allowed five young men to publish their co-authored book, The China That Can Say No. I bought the 7th Hong Kong printing (dated October 1996) in San Francisco on the third Sunday of October! The book is a somewhat random collection of essays, the central theme being anger against the United States.
If Christianity does not take root as the overarching, underlying, integrating philosophy of life in China in the 21st century, this kind of anti-foreign invective will only grow. The lesson for us in the west is: encourage person-to-person, low-key diplomacy to encourage China, not to discourage her, to move toward greater freedom and plurality in the civic sphere. Writing your Congressmen/women and demanding public statements can be very counterproductive. When the church is called to pray for the persecuted church in September, let us pray -- and just pray. Let us not turn a day of prayer into a political campaign.
3. Requests for Foreign Assistance. The church in North America will continue to receive a steady trickle of reports that marvelous -- unbelievable -- open doors in China await our involvement. Christianity Today reported the opening of the Religion Department at Beijing University (China’s premiere school, with 95 departments, 3000 professors and 4000 graduate students) early in September 1996. China’s No. 2 major medical school and university is open to medical help as well as teachers of English. Another university in Beijing is open to Christian teachers forming entire curricula. China’s seminaries are open to some foreign help through teachers, library assistance, etc. Some Christian agencies have opened offices in Beijing and elsewhere in China.
All of this must be read in light of China’s need for a kind of foreign help which is sympathetic, friendly, and constructive toward her. This is not the same thing as an end to religious persecution (see #4 below). Despite the name of the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM, which stands for self-support, self-government and self-propagation, a 19th century slogan from U.S. mission circles), China’s open church has developed a strategy to receive foreign assistance on a very large scale. Mission agencies and churches with a historical track record (or “ties”) of involvement in China are returning to those regions and re-opening churches, schools, and other Christian service centers.
4. Religious Persecution. While Deng’s health is questioned by many, and Hong Kong’s return to China is imminent, China’s political leaders are tightening their control over China (and Hong Kong). They are currently in their second year of implementing a campaign to get tough (yan da) and fight crime. The Public Security (police) system has an obligation to make arrests on a regular basis, and Christians often are the targets. The charge often is “illegal assembling.” We do know that some foreign churches (international fellowships) have been ordered to stop meeting. We know of torturing, killing, and numerous arrests endured by China’s Christians all through 1996. This trend will continue in 1997, and perhaps 1998. We are probably witnessing the worst wave of persecution since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.
China is not going to stop persecuting Christians and other minorities just because she wants to develop her economy in the international community, because she feels a domestic need to do so. We need to continue to pray for those who are suffering, and those who are laboring in the name of Christ -- often single, female, young, lonely, undernourished, and burnt out. Think of a single woman in her early 20’s, traveling thousands of miles through the villages in rural China, teaching everything she knows about the Bible, having hardly any quiet time for rest and reflection -- let alone money and other luxuries of privacy we enjoy in the west -- and you have a good picture of someone you need to pray for. Think of a pastor or elder, arrested for a few days and interrogated about the foreigners he/she has met in recent weeks, and you know how to pray for China.
We need to discourage Christian agencies from North America who engage in foolish acts, e.g. dumping tracts from a vehicle driving along in the street; loudly praying and singing within hearing of neighbors, etc. All of these will endanger the safety of Christians, especially in the days after the foreign Christian has left town. We must learn to do ministry in China which (a) respects the safety and security of Christians inside China, (b) have the long term welfare of the church in China in mind, not just the short-term publicity benefits of the mission agency back home in North America, and (c) is based on a spirit of servanthood and partnership with the church in China (as well as the overseas Chinese church, in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and elsewhere).
The missions community is approaching a moment of internal division, as the Christian “consumer” receives sensational, glowing reports of strategic open doors in China (see #3 above), yet at the same time stories of severe persecution (point #4). We must learn to search the Scriptures for a balanced, comprehensive strategy to deal with the whole church in China (not just one segment).
5. The Changing Language of Discourse in Hong Kong. The issue of 1997 emerged around 1982, and Britain and China began discussions on the future of Hong Kong. By 1984, the Christian press in Hong Kong have published dozens of books and hundreds of articles. Where was the North American church then? Who taught Chinese to read, to understand, to get alongside the Hong Kong to pray and to offer support? We continue to do missions without learning the language -- to our detriment!
By the mid-1990’s, the secular press of Hong Kong was doing self-censorship, learning not to criticize China openly. By July 1996, as the one-year countdown began, the churches in Hong Kong are perceptibly learning a new language of discourse. Partnerships are now in place between seminaries and other Christian agencies in Hong Kong, on the one hand, and their counterparts in China. Seminary graduates from China are doing further study in Hong Kong; Hong Kong’s seminary students are doing internships and exploring short term opportunities in China. Major publishing exchange projects are in place.
Churches in North America should not flock to Hong Kong in June 1997, as if to attend a parade or to watch fireworks (in any case, hotel rooms and airline tickets have long been sold out). Our duty in 1997 is to respect the wisdom and the tact of the Hong Kong church as she develops new relationships with China. Some of this is reminiscent of the early 1950’s, the first years after the Communist Revolution of 1949. The wise mission minded Christian will want to read up on the history of the church in socialist China (such titles abound, if we look in the library).
This is not the time for sensationalism. It is time to deepen our understanding, and pray that our brothers and sisters will continue to be salt and light in a most strategic region in the world -- the intersecting point between China, the most populous nation on earth and the fastest growing economy, and Southeast Asia, the most strategic economic region on earth.
6. The Intellectuals’ Openness to Christianity. Christian servant-workers in international student ministry (one of the most strategic mission fields in the world, but one of the least funded and supported) have long observed the unprecedented and the incredible openness of mainland Chinese scholars (600,000, in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Britain, Europe, Japan, Singapore) to the Christian faith. They ask a barrage of thoughtful questions. They are receiving Christ, getting baptized.
In 1997, the urgent need is for the church in North America to identify Christian leaders among PRC’s, and to encourage their growth and development in character, biblical knowledge, theological understanding, and ministry skills. Many PRC churches will be planted. Many PRC ministers, writers, and evangelists will be groomed. Are we ready? Will we have John the Baptist’s mindset: “He must increase, I must decrease”?
7. The Changing Face of the Overseas Chinese Community. The Chinese church and the Chinese community in North America have already experienced a tremendous sea-change in the last 10 years -- mainland Chinese are occupying a growing sector. This will continue. Hong Kong immigrants will continue to come, with their middle class background and marketable skills. They do not have the same understanding of North American life as those of us who have been here for a number of years. There is a tremendous opportunity to share the gospel with them, and to incorporate the Christians among the immigrants into the ministry of the church.
Many North American Christians (non-Chinese) are not aware of the tremendous change and growth taking place in the Chinese church in Canada and the United States. They do not understand the strategic role that overseas Chinese Christians have already played in serving China and the Church in China. Many Hong Kong church leaders bemoan the small number of American Christian mission leaders, who would consult these Hong Kong brothers and sisters before launching a major ministry thrust on mainland China. It’s high time we learn. And if we want to receive the wisdom of the Hong Kong church, North America’s Chinese community is not a bad place to ask: many of Hong Kong’s church leaders are here!
8. A Global Perspective. Finally, we need to develop a global perspective. As Overseas Missionary Fellowship’s “Pray For China Fellowship” renames itself to “Global Chinese Ministries,” let’s not forget to pray for China and the suffering Church there, while developing a global perspective. John Naisbitt’s Megatrends Asia (published in the fall of 1995 in Asia, January 1996 in North America with an unfortunately truncated ending) should be required reading (available in paperback in 1997). We need to understand that the network of Chinese people is global, stretching from Jakarta and Singapore to Vancouver and New York, and touching places like Melbourne and Johannesburg and Munich. The sooner we develop a global sense of the Chinese community, the more intelligently we can pray and strategize our ministry -- taking into account the strategic role which overseas Chinese can play in the long-term discipling of the 1.2+ billion.
Christians must learn to sift through the secular press and the religious press in 1997. We need to see better sources (the foreign press is far more informed on China), and more importantly, constantly question what kind of lenses we use to understand the changing scene in China. Pray for wisdom (James 1 tells us God wants us to ask!). Pray for a servant’s heart (with increasing demands for wisdom and strategic ministries, discouragement is often just around the corner). Pray for long term effectiveness -- for your long term effectiveness, as an ambassador for Christ.
Naperville, Illinois
February 2, 1997