4 Facts Leaders Should Know About The Church In China

March 18, 2013 in International Leadership, Leadership with 5 Comments

Re-post by Scott Cochrane

Is this your view of the Church in China? A group of Christians are huddled up in their home, curtains drawn, secretly holding a bible study by candlelight; fearful that at any moment the authorities could burst in, confiscate their bible, and toss them in jail.

While there may have been a semblance of truth to that scene in China’s distant past, and while pockets of China still find it a challenge to live out the Christian faith, today the Church in China is experiencing explosive growth.

I am completing the first week of this trip to China, and I continue to be blown away by what God is up to here.

In particular, here are 4 surprising truths you should know about today’s China.

1.   There are more bibles printed in, and distributed from, China than anywhere else in the world.

2.   There are an estimated 100 million Christians in China; more than there are members of the Communist party.

3.   There are more than 55,000 registered churches in China. This does not include the tens of thousands of house churches.

4.   The most pressing need for the church in China is for leaders.

With all this growth in the church, there hasn’t been a corresponding growth in leadership development. Therefore the same problem Moses faced in Exodus 18 is hitting these leaders; they’re trying to do it all alone.

In one particular church of 8000 people there is a single pastor carrying out the entire ministry.

But these pastors are hungry to develop leadership skills in order to keep pace with all of this growth. They want to raise up new leaders from their congregations and see their people fired up to provide effective leadership throughout their church and community.

If this need resonates with you, please pray for these leaders, that they would receive the leadership training they need.

And pray for us in the Willow Creek Association, as we go about the task of equipping these leaders by bringing the Global Leadership Summit to more and more cities in China.

We are always looking for churches who can help us in this work; if you think your church is up to the challenge, let’s connect.

There’s plenty of exciting work to be done.

Scott Cochrane is the Vice President of International at Willow Creek Association. Loves Jesus, Nora, Adam, Amy and John. Football and hockey further down the list. Follow Scott on Twitter: @WScottCochrane

  • vanessa

    do these statistics include that government run churches that preach and distribute propaganda rather than bibles? i know i’m sounding like a read downer and i honestly don’t mean to be, but after going to china twice and having to censor myself heavily, not to mention learning about the house churches vs. the public and govt. run churches, i’m always skeptical :(

    but i do agree that God is moving in a mighty way there and more and more chinese people are coming to Christ, and that is absolutely something for which to praise Him!

  • Scott Cochrane

    Vanessa, I certainly don’t want to leave the impression that there are no problems in China. Some of them are quite concerning, all of them of very complex. But despite these challenges God seems to be doing what Jesus promised; He is demonstrating that the Church will prevail over any obstacle

  • Bob Pruitt

    1 True, many Bibles being printed in China, and can be found in bookstores there; still, in my last trip (2011) I found many who were so happy to get one from me as a gift; one woman took one from me and just clutched it to her chest like it was the most precious gift she’d ever received….& maybe it was.
    2. 100 million Christians may well be a conservative estimate; so hard to get an accurate count on something like this, in a place like this. I do know from friends I’ve been around there, when one underground church gets broken up by the authorities, (and this does happen) it seems two more pop up in its place. The church ‘ain’t going away in the middle kingdom….
    3. While the many of the registered churches have been closely scrutinized by officials, censored, etc. I was at one, a very large one, that preached the truth, had people come to know the Lord, and had an on fire youth group on their knees crying out to God for the Spirit to fall……..an absolute beautiful sight that evening…..
    4. I can’t wait to go back again; going there this summer; hope to be in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, & Shenzhen sometime in mid July. Let me know if I can be of any help to you, or anyone while I am over there….. bp
    my card says: teacher, traveler, listener, friend
    & “fishers of kids”

  • Scott Cochrane

    Bob, you’ve accurately described both the challenges and the opportunities in China. Thanks for weighing in!

  • Gary Lewis

    I sent you a note on Twitter but how can churches here in the States get involved? We have some people in our church with a heart for China. Thank you.