In February, Chinese government officials and Chinese house church leaders met together to discuss the house church situation in China. Rarely do we at DongTeam have such a great opportunity to talk about the greater events concerning Christianity in China, and even more rare still would we even know about such things, but when this news arrived in the mail from a reader, we had to share it with all of you and ask for prayer for the Dong.
Every aspect of the house church movement in China was discussed and papers presented on numbers, growth, history, distribution, trends, and more. Other discussions included the current system of administration of Chinese Christians and possible improvements.
The simple fact that such a symposium would even take place, including both government officials and house church leaders, is amazing. Changes in policy toward house churches at a national level would obviously have direct effect on Dong churches, because very few Dong Christians are able to function within the government sanctioned system, simply because they do not live near state sanctioned churches. Let's pray.
Father, we do not understand all the issues and we certainly cannot perceive the motivations that would bring about such a meeting, but we are hopeful. Though, from the Chinese house church's own statements, persecution has been the purifying fire which has kept the church pure, we join with them in prayer to warmly welcome any opportunities to live in harmony with the government.
We are thankful to you, oh Lord, for the work you are doing in the hearts of many government officials. Again, we have no idea of all you are doing, but we can see the evidence of your work, and we give you praise. We ask that you would give wisdom to the house church leaders in China to know how they can cooperate and build trust with the government, but, of course, we also ask that you would keep their witness strong and pure.
Jesus, you are the King of Kings, the ruler of all nations, and all things created are under your authority. We praise you for who you are and ask that you would continue to do your mighty works through Chinese Christians so that your name would be more widely known and claimed.
Are any of those papers publicly available? A website for the symposium?
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good question, and as mentioned up above, we are not exactly on the cutting edge of information of this kind. One, it is sensitive, and we try to stay out of that. Two, we just are not privy to that kind of information, unless it has been passed WAY down the grapevine.
ReplyDeleteDo some searching online, though, and you might find something. I somehow doubt, it, though. Those papers MIGHT be published, but almost certainly only in Chinese and only through the government research centers directly involved in the meetings.
Do be praying, though.