By Mallory Schlabach, Editor in Chief
While one part of Dr. Royce Money’s trip was about meeting with Chinese officials, another was meeting with Chinese Christians.
Following the meetings, the group became a tourist group and traveled by bus to the Great Wall of China. A pastor and his wife who work in an underground church joined them. On Friday, Aug. 4, Money, president of the university, wrote:
“On the way out the pastor gave us some fascinating information about his church. His group numbered about 50 people. They were part of a larger church of 300, although on Sunday, they met in homes in groups of no more than 50.
“We were curious what he and some of his fellow pastors thought of what we were doing. Did they think we had sold out to the government? Were we being duped into thinking everything was all right in China with all Christians? We were somewhat surprised by his answer.
“He said, ‘We are thrilled that you are talking to Chinese officials the way you are doing. We are thrilled with the message you are bringing. We are praying for your success. If you make progress, all of us will benefit, both in the Protestant church and the unregistered.'”
On Sunday, the last day of the trip for many in the delegation, most people attended Beijing International Christian Fellowship where Max Lucado, senior minister at Oakland Hills Church in San Antonio and ACU alumnus, had been asked to preach. Drs. Wayne and Mimi Barnard, dean of spiritual formation and dean of residence life and student housing respectively, attended an underground church service.
“We met in an underground church, which are house churches not part of the Three-Self Church,” Mimi Barnard explained. “The worship experience was so different; it was cool.”
After talking with the pastor and his wife about their church, Wayne Barnard said he looked at Mimi, and they decided they wanted to attend an underground church while in China.
A different service
The pastor and his wife picked the Barnards up at their hotel.
After going through three or four checkpoints, they arrived in the underground parking lot of an apartment complex, where many people not originally from China live. After going through vaulted doors that required ID access, they arrived at an apartment where more than 50 people were about to begin church.
The first room they walked into was a large living room area with 75 red, plastic chairs set up for the worship service and adult class. A projector screen was set up for PowerPoint presentations for the sermon and songs, and Chinese Bibles lined each row of chairs.
The two bedrooms of the complex had been turned into a church office and a classroom for children of all ages. Children younger than high school all met together for Bible class. The small bathroom doubled as the baptistery for church members who could fit. Once a month, the church met outside of town at a nearby river with several other area churches to perform adult baptisms. Until then, elders took confessions of faith and sprinkled water on the believer’s heads to symbolize the baptism to come.
The Barnards witnessed this when a young man decided to be baptized during the service.
Despite being halfway around the world, Wayne said the church service was surprisingly similar to U.S. services.
The church had a time of worship by singing along to a Taiwanese Christian CD of worship songs.
“It was so neat because we recognized most of the songs and could sing along in English while they sang Chinese,” Mimi said before beginning to hum a song they sang while in China.
The Barnards sat in silence for a few moments trying to recall the songs they heard in Chinese that people sing in churches here.
The two main ones were “Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty” and “Father We Love You.” For the ones they didn’t recognize, Wayne said they just sat and listened, enjoying the time of praise.
Wayne said listening to the sermon was hard because of the language barrier, but a man sitting near them translated.
When it came time for communion, Wayne said he was brought back to his childhood days of taking communion in a small church in Texas because communion was served from the front of the church covered with a white lace cloth, similar to what he had witnessed growing up.
“I just went back in time when I saw the lace cloth because that was what my church did during communion,” he said. “They covered the communion until it was time to serve it; it was just special and reminded me of how small and big the world is at the same time.”
He said they were also reminded of this because the church began reciting the Lord’s Prayer during the middle of the service.
“Mimi and I started saying it in English along with them. Our church at Highland says the Lord’s Prayer every Sunday too, so now it really holds a special meaning for us because we know our brothers and sisters in China are saying it with us,” he said.
In between the various portions of the service, people were laughing and hugging and just having a great time. Wayne said the service was special because it was clear they look forward to being together. Members travel from all over the area, and they come to church for the better part of the day. After the church service, members share a meal together and fellowship together into the afternoon. For many members, this will be the only time throughout the week they will see each other.
“Being at this church reminded me of how much we take for granted,” Wayne said. “Religion and Christianity is so accessible here, and we can become apathetic if we’re not careful. We often take for granted the fellowship we have and the ability to be open and expressive in our faiths and beliefs.”
Following code
The Religious Affairs Bureau closely monitors all religions, regardless of legal status in China. A separate bureau, the Public Security Bureau, actually enforces the law by cracking down on illegal or unregistered groups. These officials work at a local level and therefore usually don’t consult with the RAB on how to enforce the rules – meaning no one follows a uniform way or form of punishment for breaking religious code.
Dr. Larry Henderson, missions coordinator for Asia, paused for a few seconds before attempting to describe the underground churches.
“They are different,” he said. “Some are really underground and you don’t know they exist. You cannot get in with out a personal invitation, clearance, even investigation because they don’t want to be exposed. Who knows how many underground churches or Christians there are because they are hidden and don’t want to be seen.
“Some underground churches are barely underground though. They are careful about what they say, and how they are perceived and as a result, they are able to operate with relative freedom,” he said.
Henderson said freedom comes from being secretive, quiet and modest with what little slack the government gives a group.
“I see a continuing loosening of restrictions on religion,” he said, “as long as Christians act in a respectful manner. If Christians start to flaunt their freedoms, we will see the government cracking down again.”
Dangers Christians face
Cracking down is what most underground Christians fear. For many it could mean a fine, a ban to meet again or often imprisonment.
Henderson recalled a time when he was preaching in Laos, a community country he said that borders and considers itself a little brother of China, and follows suit in whatever laws China makes. He had left his home of Bangkok for Laos to teach and preach for five days. He arrived at the home where he would be preaching when several Laos citizens gave him a warning.
“On the first day, they told me, ‘Larry, see that guy sitting back in the corner over there? He’s a government spy.’ So I was careful from the beginning with what I said and how I said it,” he said.
Henderson said everything he said was true, but he didn’t try to press any political buttons.
“We knew he was there, and he knew we knew, so we assumed that everything would be OK,” he said.
The last day he preached was a Friday, and by 2 p.m. he was on a plane back to Bangkok.
“Four hours later the police came in and arrested 44 Christians. Although some were released soon after, many were held for 18 months or longer,” he said.
After that narrow experience in Laos, he became more cautious on his next trip.
“The next time I slipped into Laos, our mission was quiet,” he said. “Before, we had met in a house, but the windows were open and we were singing so people in the town knew what we were doing. This time the doors were locked, drapes were drawn and a system was in place in case someone came.”
A variety of food was laid out in the kitchen, and hiding places were created so Bibles and songbooks could quickly be hidden in case an unwanted visitor arrived.
“If someone came, it would immediately turn from a Christian gathering into a friendly dinner,” Henderson said. “Several people came late to the worship, and to see the fear in the eyes of the Laos Christians, to see who it was at the gate was sobering – they had been to jail. I hadn’t.”
By law, Henderson could have been punished had they found him when they broke up the religious meeting the day he left the country. According to the revised Regulations on Religious Affairs, “Non-citizens are not mentioned in the new regulations, and so are still covered by Decree 144, Regulations Governing the Religious Activities of Foreigners in China, which prohibits foreigners from doing the following: establishing sites of religious activities, religious organizations or liaison offices; running religious institutions and schools within China; or appointing religious personnel, recruiting believers and undertaking evangelic activities.”
After discussing the dangers, Henderson picked up a book that lists the world’s 10 worst dictatorships and read a few lines about China.
“This book was printed in 2004, and it says the Communist party still controls all of the media and has 30,000 Internet security agents working to protect what people know,” he said. “More than 300,0000 Chinese are currently serving re-education sentences in labor camps and at least 4,000 executions still take place a year, which is more than in all other countries combined.”
Although the executions aren’t all religious persecutions, it’s still a sobering fact, he said.
Despite statistics, Henderson said people need to know something about Christianity in China.
“No. 1: God is working in China,” he said, his voice rising in excitement. “We need to be in prayer and be in preparation. We need to be praying that God will raise up workers in China, and those of our students that have a heart and interest in China need to be preparing.”
Read about student mission work in China next week in Part III.
