While evangelicals are usually associated with the unofficial and illegal underground churches in China, there is a new trend of these believers working with official church bodies.
The evangelical digest Current Thoughts & Trends (December) reports on missionaries who willingly work with the Chinese government’s Three Self Patriotic Movement and are establishing flourishing evangelical seminaries, Bible institutes and congregations. A leader in this kind of ministry is China Partner, which works with Three Self seminaries and Bible institutes in supplying teachers and other pastoral training resources.
China Partner also teaches Westerners about China, advising them about the extent of ministry still possible under official auspices. These missionaries cite the lack of conflict and suspicion from officials as the major advantage in working with the official churches. There are currently 51 American Protestant agencies involved in similar work, such as Bible publishing, teaching English, and working with health care and adoption programs.
