Future of Christianity in China
Tuesday, October 12 2010 @ 09:17 PM EDT
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from The future of Christianity in China [comments]: ...The official church is like the Church of England; there might be some closet christians in it. The most exciting thing about the chinese church is that it doesn't meet in church buildings. The chinese church is going back to how christianity was in the 1st, 2nd centuries; completely free of any culture or system, or buildings. Paul, Jesus, and others, all preached in people's homes.
When church is done in a home, there are generally 30 people, or literally as many as can fit; I was in one meeting where I looked down at my feet and necks were craning up; they are hungry for the gospel out there; not for its political benefits, but for eternal life. What this means is that there are no leaders in the house churches, and so women and male leaders aren't as much of an issue in China, as it is far more democratic.
If the CCP wants to halt Christianity it just needs to make it official; that worked for Christianity in the Roman Empire; Constantine turned christian beliefs away from a person into a religion and took Jesus' message out of the homes and into the buildings he could control, with appointed holier-than-thous, pagan gods became saints, smells and bells took away a relationship with God and turned Him into somewhere you used to go until you turned 15.
Religious Christianity in big buildings is little more than a theatrical parody of Jesus in people's homes having broiled fish with them. God's kingdom is not of this earth, therefore no country holds His baton for long. Alexandria, Damascus, Antioch were all once great centres for Christianity; their passing doesn't show that God loses interest in countries, rather, there is no Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Christianity, for a time, will pass to China, and then on to somewhere else; as Jesus said "flee from town to town".