China expels Christian workers

According to one report the largest expulsion of foreign Christian missionaries since 1954 has been taking place in the lead up to the Bejing Olympics.

Up to 100 foreign Christian workers and missionaries were expelled since February.

Nobody knows exactly how many Christians there are in China â€” 50 million? 100 million? Bob Fu of the China Aid Association thinks the number may be even higher. He tells how:

The Director of China’s State Administration of Religious Affairs, who is the highest Communist Party official in charge of all religious affairs, Mr Ye Xiaowen, in two closed-door meetings last year at Beijing University and in the China Academy of Social Sciences, claimed the number of Christians in China, including both the underground and the government-sanctioned churches, both Catholic and Protestant, has reached 130 million members.

No one doubts that despite state repression, despite limited resources, despite a lack of formal training institutions, despite the absence of complex organizational structures, the Church in China is strong and growing dramatically.

I wonder what they have that we don’t?

Chinese house churches Christianity moves south

By: Steve | 08/23/07 | Uncategorized | Trackback | Comments [RSS 2.0]

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Keith

Comment by Keith | 08/26/07 at 11:30 am

It’s sad these folks have to leave China. Most are working so hard to benefit the Chinese people and wouldn’t cause a bit of trouble. I’m glad they were there, and hope they can return.

There will always be ups and downs for permission to stay in China. Now the gov’t is nervous because of the upcoming Olympic games. So, all those who haven’t build trust with the gov’t get kicked out – they make the gov’t nervous. Or maybe just a petty official who doesn’t like Christians. Who knows. After the Games they may be able to just go back in and continue whatever they were doing. Or maybe they have to move to another area of that large beurocratic country.

I wonder how many of these Christian workers had long “established” reasons for being in China that weren’t overtly Christian. Some, it seems, go to great lengths in this area, spending huge amounts of time and money to establish their credibility as something other than a missionary. Yet, who are they fooling? “Out,” says China, “We knew it all the time,” wink, wink.

I wonder if this approach is another example of “law” based Westerners operating in “relationship” (and face) based China. Where who you know and what they think of you matter more than any official, legal standing. I bet many workers had very good, established legal reasons for being in China, that the gov’t officials managed to easily curcumvent when they felt like it.

Lessons for me:

1. Build relationship and trust with the people in charge, especially those who could be embarrased by something I do.

2. Don’t put too much effort in the “legal” excuse for being there. It’s all wood, hay and stubble to the gov’t when they don’t want you around. No protection there.

3. Have a short-term / long-term strategy. Have a long-term 5-10 year strategy, but divide it down into 6 month objectives. Each objective should stand alone, provide help, and be sustainable. This way if you have to leave after just 2 years you have at least 4 objectives accomplished that you leave behind. Too many are working toward something big and never finish, and sadly, because the payoff is when it’s all completed, they have little to show for the effort they put in.

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China expels Christian workers

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