Christian church attendance is on the rise in China, despite a growing number of human rights abuses documented in the Communist country.
Rev. Erik Burklin of China Partner, Inc., a Chinese Christian training leadership program, recently traveled to the country and heard about a surprising development: 100,000 new believers are coming to Christ every year in China, a nation previously seen as spiritually and culturally impenetrable.
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The growing number of Christians in the predominately Taoist country has been forecasted by multiple media outlets over the years, but this is one of the few times a missionary has obtained visual evidence and a series of first-hand accounts to back up predictions.
The Bible was once a banned book in China, but today it’s a bestseller – and Christianity is growing! pic.twitter.com/6lEQ9eDBZz
— Bible Society (@biblesociety) March 13, 2017
In 2014, the Telegraph reported that “China is on course to become the ‘world’s most Christian nation’ within 15 years.”
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Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly, Burklin credits the government for the swift progress and Christian infiltration.
“A person with the central Chinese government [donated] close to $7.3 million for a new chapel at Union Theological Seminary in the city of Nanjing,” The Christian Post reported earlier this week.
Regardless of where the money and membership are coming from, Burklin finds it all simply “unbelievable,” he told Mission Network News in an interview.
Despite this good news, Open Doors USA has reported that the persecution level of Christians in China remains high. Over the last three months, the global Christian watchdog organization has covered the ongoing Bible restrictions and the brutal murder of Chinese Pastor Han Choong Yeol. Han was killed by North Korean secret agents as a “warning” to Christians in China who regularly assist in protecting North Korean refugees fleeing from their homeland.
Please remember Han Chung-Reol, pastor who was assisting #North Korean #refugees in Changbai and was found dead https://t.co/gdyguitkRo
— International Christian Concern (@persecutionnews) May 4, 2016
As Faithwire has reported in the past, though the country continues to experience significant highs and lows, “China serves as a clear example of the borderless, limitless work of redemption taking place in a country that many would classify as God-forsaken.” The story is far from over.
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(H/T: Christian Post)
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