What can I do?
Changing Times
Since the late 1970s much has changed. China is much more open. China now welcomes visitors, has more economic connections with us than ever, and is daily in our news. In fact, every day thousands of articles are published about China in North America. Yet, all the news about China sometimes makes us all the more confused about this mysterious country. We hear about great poverty and great wealth; a communist system and free enterprise; a one-child policy and a growing population.
Much has changed in the churches of China as well. A generation of Christians has come that knows little of the severe persecution of the past. The line between registered and unregistered churches has become less clear. Cults and sects have sprung up. The church has grown rapidly over the last decades. Estimates of the number of professing Christians in China now vary from 20 million according to the government to well over 100 million according to some organizations.
The reports concerning the churches may be difficult to piece together, since they speak of increasing tolerance and increasing repression, freedom of religion and persecution, sound churches and sects, a focus on miraculous healings and a focus on sin and grace.
