Underground

It was interesting to read the account of CBC reporter David Gutnick about his visit to an underground church in Beijing. It has been many years since my own mission trip to Asia, and yet I am still occasionally reminded of the massive crush of people, the attention on a tall, white man (some of it unwanted, as in the case of the secret police), the sea of humanity in front of me as I walk down the streets.

We in the Western world have no clue what it is like to be persecuted. It is interesting to read some of the comments on the blog. How ignorant we are to the workings of Chinese society. There is a real reason why people choose to be members of underground churches, rather than attend the state-sponsored ones. The state-sponsored church denies the supernatural -- no miracles, no creation (however you interpret that as having occurred -- I won't go into that topic now), no resurrection, no Jesus. Cut out the Christ, and you are only left with -ianity. Sounds like inanity to me.

Things have definitely changed since my last experience with the underground church. There is no way that they would have ever agreed to even meet with me when I was there. Now they openly allowed a foreigner to not only meet them, but worship with them. Doors are opening into China, and many seem to be opening from within. It is incredible what prayer has accomplished there in the span of a few very short years.