According to the World Christian Database, China has 111 million Christians, about 90% of them Protestant, mostly Pentecostal—more than the 75 million that belong to the Communist Party.  That would give China the world’s third highest number of Christians, behind only the United States and Brazil.

The Center projects that by 2050, there will be 218 million Christians in China, 16 percent of the population, enough to make China the world's second-largest Christian nation. According to the Center, there are 10,000 conversions in China every day.

If current growth trends continue, China could become the world’s largest Christian country well before the end of this century.

The growth of Christianity in China is even more remarkable in view of state discouragement and frequent persecution of religious activity.  Foreign missionaries were expelled after Mao Zedong led the Communists to power in 1949, so virtually all Christian growth is attributable to home-grown evangelism.

Asia Times columnist Spengler thinks that East Asian Christianity could overwhelm even Islam.

China may be for the 21st century what Europe was during the 8th-11th centuries, and America has been during the past 200 years: the natural ground for mass evangelization. If this occurs, the world will change beyond our capacity to recognize it. Islam might defeat the western Europeans, simply by replacing their diminishing numbers with immigrants, but it will crumble beneath the challenge from the East.

In the meantime, official persecution remains a constant threat for China’s Christians.  A recent instance: The military raided a house church in Xinjiang province, north-western China, detained several believers and their relatives, and confiscated Bibles and other religious materials.  China Aid has obtained a government document that holds families responsible for trying to “reform” Christian relatives and ensuring that they do not engage in religious activities or meet with other believers.

The document issued by agencies under Division 49 of 3rd Agricultural Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps holding relatives of Christians responsible if these Christians are found to be in a gathering, sharing Gospel materials, Bible studies, or other activities.  According to this document, the relatives of Christians have the obligation to help the Christians reform; they must always be watchful of the activities of the Christians; they must make sure these Christians don’t meet in a gathering and prevent them from establishing ties with each, sharing Christian literature, and materials, etc.

Employed family members who fail to fulfill those duties can be suspended from their jobs so they have more time to “educate their relatives until they become good citizens again”.

h/t for Asia Times link: Transfigurations

Previous related posts: