The underground “house church” movement in China is becoming more outspoken about their situation both with Chinese leaders and the West, reports the evangelical newsweekly, World (Oct. 3).
The once largely silent evangelical house church movement is said to be the fastest growing segment of Christianity in China, as well as among the most restricted and persecuted by the government. The new assertiveness is evident in the recent communiqué sent to Western media by leaders of the underground movement, which called for a “dialogue” between house church leaders and the government and asked officials to release their members who are in prison.
The document also requested that house church Christians be dropped from the government’s list of cult leaders and requested a refined definition of the term “cult.” House church leader Zhang Rongliang says the communiqué is a way of applying direct pressure to the government and letting the outside world know of these Christians’ plight. They add that there are 80 million house church members in China — a figure that is double that of even the most generous estimates of this movement.
Nina Shea of Freedom House says that these leaders are also responding to “revisionist history” from their government and Western mainline Christians who support the government-supported churches. But many Western church leaders, including evangelicals, view the communiqué as only increasing government scrutiny on house churches and that such leaders represent a small minority of Christians in China.
(World, P.O. Box 2330, Asheville, NC 28802)