The members of Chapel-by-the-Sea
Baptist Church are concerned with the Missionaries
and Martrys that suffer and struggle while bringing the Word
of God to the Chinese People. We believe that all
Christians, World-Wide, need to be made more aware of the
sacrifice, dedication and determination of the Missionaries and People of China
to freely worship our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
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China Missionaries and Martyrs |
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China Missionaries and Martyrs
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Time:
8:04:50 PM
Current Chinese Population:
2,252,019,267
Current Christian Population in China:
116,238,362
Current Christian Percentage:
5.16%
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-- ANNUAL REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
U.S. DOS
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The Chinese government continues
to engage in severe violations of religious freedom
in 2004. Government officials retain tight control and restrict the activities
of all religious communities. Religious leaders and laypersons continue to be
harassed, detained, and tortured due to their religious belief. The government
increases its persecution of the unregistered Roman Catholic
Church, which pledges to follow the Vatican. There are currently at least 20
Catholic bishops under arrest, including Bishop Su Zhimin, who has been in
prison since 1970s. In 2004, the repression of Christians
escalates in Hebei, Fujian, and Heilongjiang provinces where many were
arrested, including 12 priests attending a religious retreat.
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Conditions for unregistered Protestant groups have
worsened in 2004. Protestant Christians who refuse to register with the
Government (the State Administration for Religious Activities, formerly known
as the central Religious Affairs Bureau) have been harassed and detained. The
government closed places of worship and have cracked down hard on house
churches in various parts of the country. At least 100 pastors were arrested in
2004 in Heilongjiang, Hubei, Xinjiang, and in Henan Province. In September
2003, house church leader Zhang Yinan was arrested with 100 Christians in
Nanyang and was sentenced to two years of "re-education" through labor. In
August 2004, house church activist Liu Fenggang and others were sentenced up to
three years in prison for sending information of Christian persecution to
organizations in the United States. There is a report of a Christian in Guizhou
died from torture by the police. She was arrested for distributing Bibles.
In 2003, in Zhejiang, local officials demolished a few unregistered churches
and claimed that the destroyed churches were not zoned for religious
activities.
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In November 2004, the Chinese government issued a
new set of regulations on religion. The government claimed the new laws were
issued to protect the rights of religious adherents. The new provisions allow
religious groups to provide social services locally and receive financial
support from foreign religious institutions; however, Party officials will have
more control over religious activities and citizens who refuse to register with
the official religious organizations will be fined and penalized.
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The Chinese government suspended the official
US.-China Human Rights Dialogue (2006), which has religious
freedom as a top agenda item in March 2004 after the US. decided to introduce a
resolution against China at the UN Commission on Human Rights. The resolution
was a result of "Chinas failure to meet the commitments made at the U.S.-China
Human Rights Dialogue in December 2002." Since 1999, the Secretary of State has
designated China a "Country of Particular Concern" under the International
Religious Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
What You Can Do:
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Pray for the Christians of China that
they may be protected from harm and that the Christian message may be heard and
received by all. Pray especially for the security and well
being of the underground house church leaders who are currently in prison for
their faith.
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Write a respectful letter to one or more of the
government officials listed below. Express your continuing concern for the
safety and well being of the Christian community in China. Request information
about what steps the government is taking to ensure their protection and
freedom to practice their faith as laid out in the UNs Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and other international human rights documents.
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Contact the elected national officials (Senators,
Congressman etc.) for your area as well as the
U.S. State Department and express concern for the well being of the
Christians in China asking them to make an inquiry into their status.
Official Contacts:
President of
the People`s Republic of China:
President Hu Jintao
The State Council General Office
Yongneixijie
Beijingshi 100017
People`s Republic of China
Telegram: President Hu Jintao, Beijing, China
(Salutation: Your Excellency)
Permanent Mission of China to UN
Ambassador Wang Guangya
350 East 35th Street, New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-655-6100
Fax: 212-634-7626
Email: chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn
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Wen
Jiabao
Premier People's Republic of China
Guowuyuan
9 Xihuangchenggenbeijie
Beijingshi 100032
People's Republic of China
Fax: 86-10-6-512-5810
Zhou Wenzhong Premier,
People`s Republic of China
Guowuyuan
9 Xihuangchenggenbeijie
Beijingshi 100032
People`s Republic of China
Fax: 86-10-6-512-5810
Li Zhaozing
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People''s Republic of China
No. 2, Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Beijing 100701
People's Republic of China
Tel: 86-10-6-596-1114
Email: webmaster@mfa.gov.cn
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China's
Confession
Length: 42:17 Mins
Click the Image to view this
Video
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One of the major points of contention about the
Chinese missions, and about the missionary movement in general, regards the
development of independent native churches. Since the beginning, Chinese and
foreign critics have accused the 19th-century Christian missionaries of keeping
the native churches dependent on the mission boards in Britain and the U.S. for
financial support and clerical leadership alike. In some cases, the criticism
is warranted, but much can be attributed to
jingoism
and xenophobia on the part of succeeding Chinese governments, and in the West
to ideological rejection of perceived
Victorian era
priggishness and paternalism. The survival of the Christian movement through
such upheavals as the
Boxer Rebellion,
the Japanese occupation, and the Cultural Revolution suggests that most of this
criticism is unfounded. This topic is addressed repeatedly in the journal of
Dr. Nathan Sites,
a missionary who served in Fukien (Fujian)
province from 1861 until his death in 1895. Dr. Sites, like many other
missionaries, argued and labored for the creation of a strong and independent
Chinese church. In this effort, he ordained many of the earliest native
Christian ministers, most famously a former
Confucian
scholar by the name of Sia Sek Ong. After his ordination, Rev. Sia toured the
United States, where he was feted with honorary degrees and an audience with
President
Grover Cleveland.
(Sites, Sarah Moore (1912). "Nathan Sites: An Epic
of the East." New York: Revell.)
Popularity and Indigenous
Growth (1900-1925)
The opening of the twentieth century ushered in what
has been called Christianity's Golden age in China. It was a period of
transition for both the church and the nation. China moved from Qing dynastic
rule to a warlord-dominated republic to a united front of the Guomindang and
Chinese Communist party in league against warlords and imperialism.
Christianity enjoyed unprecedented popularity for two decades. Variety within
the Protestant community increased; conservative, evangelical societies
strengthened their presence; the social gospel approach gained momentum, and
Chinese formed their own faith sects and autonomous churches.
Reaction to the failures of nineteenth century
reform movements and to international humiliation subsequent to the
Boxer Uprising
helped create a readiness for change in China. Many Chinese assumed that to
modernize, China would have to import and adapt from the West. Since
missionaries contended that Western progress derived from its Christian
heritage, Christianity gained new favour. The missionaries, their writings and
Christian schools were accessible sources of information; parochial schools
filled to overflowing. Church membership expanded and Christian movements like
the
YMCA
and YWCA became popular.
The number of
Protestant
missionaries had surpassed 8000 by 1925 and in the process, the nature of the
community had altered. Estimates for the Chinese Protestant community ranged
around 500,000.
There were also growing numbers of conservative
evangelicals. Some came from traditional denomination, but others worked
independently with minimal support, and many were sponsored by fundamentalist
and faith groups like the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
the Christian Missionary Alliance,
and the Assemblies of God.
Pentecostal,
charismatic and Millenarian preachers brought a new zeal to the drive to
evangelize the world.
Parochial schools also nurtured a corps of Christian
leaders who acquired influential positions in education, diplomatic service and
other government bureaus, medicine, business, the Christian church and
Christian movements. In the Christian community, individuals like Yu Rizhang
(David Yui 1882 - 1936), Zhao Zichen (1888-1989), Xu Baoqian (1892-1944), and
Liu Tingfang (Timothy Liu
(1890-1947) stand out. Most were characterized with liberal theology,
commitment to social reform, deep Chinese patriotism, and acquaintance with
Western learning. Many of these leaders held popular revival meetings in
Christian schools throughout China and, along with conservative churchmen like
Cheng Jingyi (1881-1939), sparked the drive for greater Chinese autonomy and
leadership in the church.
They became Chinese spokesmen in the National
Christian Council, a liaison committee for Protestant churches, and the Church
of Christ in China (CCC), established in 1927 to work toward independence. Even
so, progress toward autonomy proved to be slow, for Western mission boards were
reluctant to relinquish the power of the pocket book, which gave them a
decisive voice in most matters of importance.
Adding to the diversity and also to the conservative
trend was the proliferation of completely autonomous Chinese Christian churches
and communities, a new phenomenon in Chinese Protestantism. Noteworthy was the
China Christian Independent Church
(Zhongguo Yesujiao Zilihui), a federation which by 1920 had over 100
member churches, drawn mostly from the Chinese urban class. In contrast was the
True Jesus Church
(Zhen Yesu Jiaohui), founded in 1917; Pentecostal, millenarian and exclusivist,
it was concentrated in the central interior provinces.
Sometimes independence derived not so much from a
desire to indigenize Christianity as from the nature of leadership.
Wang Mingdao
(1900-1991) and Song Shangjie (John
Sung, 1900-1944) were zealous,
confident of possessing the truth, and critical of what they peceived as
lukewarm formalism in the Protestant establishments. They drew on the
revivalism and mysticism of Western "faith sects" and the Pentecostalism of the
True Jesus Church. During the 1920s and 1930s both Wang and Song worked as
independent itinerant preachers, holding highly successful and emotional
meetings in established churches and other venues. Their message was simple:
"today's evil world demands repentance; otherwise hell is our destiny". To this
doomsday prophecy, Song added faith healing. Their premillenial eschatology
attracted tens of thousands of followers set adrift in an environment of
political chaos, civil war, and personal hardship.
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"At the time of the Communist takeover
in 1949, there were roughly 900,000 Protestants. Today, the Center for the
Study of Global Christianity, which puts out the much-consulted World Christian
Database, says there are 111 million Christians in China, roughly 90 percent
Protestant and mostly Pentecostal. That would make China the third-largest
Christian country on earth, following only the United States and Brazil.
"The Center projects that by 2050, there will be 218
million Christians in China, 16 percent of the population, enough to make China
the world's second-largest Christian nation. According to the Center, there are
10,000 conversions in China every day.
"The most audacious even dream of carrying the
gospel beyond the borders of China, along the old Silk Road into the Muslim
world, in a campaign known as "Back to Jerusalem." As David Aikman explains in
Jesus in Beijing, some Chinese Evangelicals and Pentecostals believe that the
basic movement of the gospel for the last 2,000 years has been westward: from
Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Europe, from Europe to America, and from
America to China. Now, they believe, its their turn to complete the loop by
carrying the gospel to Muslim lands, eventually arriving in Jerusalem. Once
that happens, they believe, the gospel will have been preached to the entire
world.."
-- John Allen
"I suspect that even the most enthusiastic accounts
err on the downside, and that Christianity will have become a Sino-centric
religion two generations from now. China may be for the 21st century what
Europe was during the 8th-11th centuries, and America has been during the past
200 years: the natural ground for mass evangelization. If this occurs, the
world will change beyond our capacity to recognize it. Islam might defeat the
western Europeans, simply by replacing their diminishing numbers with
immigrants, but it will crumble beneath the challenge from the East."
-- Oswald
Spengler
Here is a four-part video series issued in 2003,
called "The Cross: Jesus in China" and produced by Chinese documentarian Yuan
Zhiming, interviews many of the leaders of this revival. I have watched all
four of these and recommend them for your awareness and inspiration.
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The Pioneer and the Heroine
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Robert Morrison
(1782-1834) The Pioneer
Preparation.
Robert Morrison was an unlikely candidate to be the first Protestant missionary
to China, but like so many of the heroes of the faith, God looked upon his
heart and not his outward appearance. Morrison was born into a Scottish
Presbyterian family of humble means. He showed no special academic talent until
he dedicated his life to Christ at age 16. Soon afterward, he began to train
for missionary service, studying Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Chinese. Morrisons
mother made him promise not to become a missionary during her lifetime, but
upon her death in 1802 he joined the London Missionary Society (LMS).
Vocational Ministry
Morrison reached Macau, then a
Portuguese colony, on September 4, 1807. Hostility from Catholic missionaries
forced him to travel to Guangzhou, so Morrison arrived in Chinese-ruled
territory for the first time on September 7, 1807. Except for one short
furlough, he spent the remaining 27 years of his life in China. At this time it
was a capital offense for a Chinese person to teach the language to a foreigner
or for anyone to preach or print books about Christianity in Chinese. Morrison
persevered in the face of these formidable barriers, and also in the face of
hostility from the foreign merchant communities in Guangzhou and Macau.
Morrison had the joy of baptizing the first Chinese Protestant Christian (Cai
Gao), ordaining the first Chinese pastor (Liang Fa) and translating the Bible
into Chinese with the help of LMS co-worker William Milne. After baptizing Cai
on July 16, 1814, Morrison wrote prophetically in his journal, "May he be the
first-fruits of a great harvest, one of millions who shall come and be saved on
the day of wrath to come." Morrisons mastery of Chinese enabled two other
major works, a grammar and a dictionary. His great talent as a linguist also
led to employment as a translator for the British East India Company, the
primary importer of opium into China. This position provided him with a legal
basis for residency in China and with funds that he used to support his
missionary work. However, Morrisons links to an opium merchant and an
imperialistic government have been used to tar missions work down to the
present day.
Family Ministry
Morrison married twice, and his
diaries and letters are full of love and concern for his family and great
loneliness during their times of separation. In 1809 he married Mary Morton in
Macau, and since foreign women were not allowed in Guangzhou, he was often
separated from her. In 1815, battling ill health, she returned to England with
their two children. After five years, the family was reunited in Macau, but
Mary died the following year. In 1824, on his only home furlough, Morrison
married Eliza Armstrong. They lived together in Macau until 1832, when Eliza
returned to England also due to poor health. Morrison died in 1834 at his home
in Guangzhou, the beloved patriarch of a small Chinese church and missionary
community. He was survived by two children from his first marriage, both of
whom became involved in China missions, and four children from his second
marriage. He was buried in Macau next to Mary. Eliza published his memoirs and
died in 1874.
Quotation
When asked if he expected to have a
spiritual impact in China, Morrison responded, "No, sir, but I expect God
will."
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Lottie
Moon (1840-1912) The Heroine
 Lottie Moon was
a heroine for today-a woman passionate about a lost world, a woman who didn't
hesitate to speak her mind.
Birth
Born Charlotte Diggs Moon Dec. 12, 1840, in Albemarle County, Va.
Salvation
Lottie rebelled against Christianity until she was in college. In
December 1858, she dedicated her life to Christ and was baptized at First
Baptist Church of Charlottesville, Va.
Education
Lottie attended Albemarle Female Institute, female counterpart to the
University of Virginia. In 1861, she was one of the first women in the South to
receive a master's degree.
Pre-missionary life
Lottie stayed close to home during the Civil War but eventually taught school
in Kentucky, Georgia and Virginia.
Missionary appointment
Edmonia Moon, Lottie's sister, was appointed to Tengchow, China, in 1872. The
following year, Lottie was appointed and joined her sister there.
Missionary work
Lottie served 39 years as a missionary, mostly in China's Shantung province.
She taught in a girls' school and often made trips into China's interior to
share the good news with women and girls.
Letters home
Lottie frequently wrote letters to the United States, detailing Chinese
culture, missionary life and the great physical and spiritual needs of the
Chinese people. Additionally, she challenged Southern Baptists to go to China
or give so that others could go. By 1888, Southern Baptist women had organized
and helped collect $3,315 to send workers needed in China.
Lottie's death
Lottie died aboard a ship in the Japanese harbor of Kbe on Dec. 24, 1912. She
was 72 years old.
Lottie
Moon Christmas Offering
In 1918, Woman's Missionary Union named the annual Christmas offering for
international missions after the woman who had urged them to start it.
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The members of Chapel-by-the-Sea Baptist Church
are concerned with the Missionaries and Martrys
that suffer and struggle while bringing the Word of God
to the Chinese People. We believe that all Christians,
World-Wide, need to be made more aware of the sacrifice, dedication and
determination of the Missionaries and People of China to
freely worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We hope that
you will support the missions and organizations listed above so that they may
continue their important works. Remember what a source of comfort and
inspiration your Bible is to you and support the
Bibles Unbound project.
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