China: momentum for change

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

China: momentum for change
- a call to pray for China, and for North Korea

By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)
Special to ASSIST News Service

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- For decades the Chinese government has been denying the true extent of Chinese Christianity. In 2004 the government-backed Amity News Service put the number of Protestants at 18 million. However China Aid Association reported on 8 January 2007: 'Mr Yie Xiaowen, the director of the Chinese State Administration for Religious Affairs, said in two internal meetings held in Beijing University and Chinese Academy of Social Science . . . that the number of Christians in China has reached 130 million [10 percent of the population].' This is a remarkable acknowledgment. The vast majority of China's Christians are Protestants who worship mostly in unregistered house churches. Even though repression and persecution persist and Christian leaders are still being arrested, the Chinese Church is dynamic.

Today there is growing momentum amongst the 'masses' for a cultural change. Driven by desperation, courageous Chinese citizens are increasingly willing to expose and challenge endemic corruption, repression, brutality and injustice like the recent scandals of brick kiln slaves and contaminated pharmaceuticals. They see the problems with a state undergoing economic reform and opening up to free markets for the purpose of wealth creation, but failing to engage in political or social reforms to encourage accountability and to rein in greed, lies, corruption, exploitation and other evils. Without ethics and self-restraint, free markets inevitably fall prey to corruption and failure. This reality is presently being debated openly by Chinese economists. One government economist, Zhao Xiao, has openly linked successful market economies with Christianity which provides ethics and enables self-restraint. He is calling for 'cultural transformation'.

There is serious debate about political reform within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In the July issue of Yanhuang Chunqiu, China's most progressive journal, liberal members of the CCP questioned the legitimacy of the whole system and blamed China's shameful corruption and injustice on the CCP's monopoly on power. Earlier, its February edition triggered an ongoing debate by publishing a piece by Beijing academic Xie Tao who scorned the CCP's continuing reverence for the 'utopian' ideal of communism. The openness of the debate is remarkable in itself. According to the Economist, one suggestion has been that the party gives up insisting its some 70 million members be atheists. The Economist comments: 'Mr Hu might one day actually accept this. The party has begun to speak more positively about the role of religious groups in fostering a "harmonious society".'Indeed, China analysts have noted that the rhetoric has shifted from 'economic reform' to 'harmonious society'.

Religious liberty in China, when it comes, will not only transform China but will have a ripple effect across East Asia. Prayer is especially required for North Korea, the state attributed with the most corruption (at the highest levels of government), the most repression (resulting in extreme brainwashing of the 'masses') and the least structure (with no independent judiciary, civil society or political opposition). There is a desperate need for 'breaches in the fortress' of North Korea so news and ideas and the gospel can flow in.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:

God in his infinite wisdom to continue building and preparing his Church in China for the time of liberty so the Church may emerge to be a blessing to the whole nation and the world.
all Chinese Christians presently repressed and persecuted to be fortified by the Holy Spirit with grace, peace and faith, especially those in prison, that God will sustain and bless them.
God to direct the growing open debate in China for his purposes, in his mercy opening the eyes, minds and hearts of many Chinese to truth, for his glory and the benefit of the nation.
our irrepressible Sovereign Lord to intervene personally in North Korea - opening doors, shedding light, revealing truth, regenerating hearts and laying foundations; may his own arm work salvation for him (Isaiah 59:14-19).

'Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter.' (Psalm 24:7 NLT)

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LINK

Churches and the market economy
http://www.danwei.org/business/churches_and_the_market_econom.php

Elizabeth Kendal is the Principal Researcher and Writer for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC) www.worldevangelical.org/rlc.html. This article was initially written for the WEA RLP(Religious Liberty Prayer) mailing list

Elizabeth can be contacted by e-mail at rl-research@crossnet.org.au.

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