Pastor Presents in Historic China Meeting
As a Church of God pastor, bishop, and educator from Knoxville, Tennessee, I was happy to be an official participant in a historic and unprecedented international meeting of Christians in China.
By Dr Tony Richie
In 2007 I became the first Pentecostal appointed to serve on the Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), which organized the China meeting. I have also worked with the CCIA in Eastern Europe and Latin America. In the China meeting, in addition to regular commission business and worship, I presented a theological report on “Freedom of Religion and Rights of Religious Minorities.” I also presented my research on “The American Tradition of Freedom of Religion and Contemporary Christian-Muslim Relations.”
Much anticipation and enthusiasm preceded the 2012 convening of the commission consisting of Christians from across the denominational spectrum. The excitement was partly because this was the first time since its 1948 inauguration that the World Council of Churches, of which the CCIA is a part, has held its meeting in the People’s Republic of China. Focus was on the unique situation of Chinese churches and ecumenical relations in the region.
However, the meeting was not without some controversy. It took place from June 9-16, hosted by the China Christian Council (CCC) and the National Committee of the Three Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China. The CCC, with 23 million members, is the largest member constituency of the WCC in Asia. The WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit also attended the meeting, his first visit to China since taking office in 2010. Dr Mathews George Chunakara, director of the CCIA, was also present. However, the CCIA moderator, Kjell Magne Bondevik was not present—thus the controversy.
As reported by the Washington Post, Fox News, the China Post, and others, the government of China denied a visa to Bondevik, a former Norwegian prime minister and also an ordained minister of the Church of Norway, apparently still displeased over the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to a Chinese dissident more than two years ago. The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2010 prize to imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo and has repeatedly called for his freedom. He is serving an 11-year prison sentence for advocating democratic reforms and China has denounced his sympathizers as supporting a criminal. The Nobel committee is independent of the Norwegian government, but that has not stopped China from canceling political meetings and purchases of Norwegian salmon. Bondevik says the Chinese Embassy in Oslo gave him no reason for denying his visa. He was the only one of the 30 delegates to the meeting to be denied a visa.
Nevertheless, Bondevik prepared a written statement for the CCIA meeting. “As Christians we are working in the world, but we are not of the world. Churches are in a better position to contribute to stronger civil societies,” stated the Rev. Kjell M. Bondovik, moderator of the CCIA in an opening address which was delivered in his absence. Commissioners sorely missed him. Yet the commission meeting proceeded smoothly enough, considering his absence.
The main deliberations of the CCIA meeting took place in Nanjing. These included a seminar on “Understanding China” invoking diverse perspectives on market reforms and development in socialist systems, poverty eradication and environmental sustainability, China’s religions and religious polices, churches in China and other themes. The event included meetings in Shanghai, with Sunday worship services in local Chinese congregations, followed by visits to experience urban and rural models of life in the context of modern China.
The Rev. Gao Feng is president of the China Christian Council (CCC). In a speech in China on the 14th of June Feng said the church in the People’s Republic of China today presents four characteristics. It is “independent and autonomous, post-denominational, fast growing and faced with lots of challenges and emerging difficulties.”
Speaking on the “Church in China Today” Feng said “the demographic situation of Christianity is fast changing; however, there are more challenges that we also are faced with.” “Many grassroots churches don’t have ordained pastors,” he said. “Lay leaders who manage churches and preach on Sundays may not have formal theological education; seminaries lack faculty members and library resources. The changes in the religious policies of the Chinese government after the cultural revolution, especially since the early 1980s, have helped the reopening of churches, setting up new seminaries and reopening old ones and printing Bibles.”
In a separate session of the seminar on the role of religion in creating a harmonious society in China and religious policies in China, the Vice Minister for Religious Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Jiang Jianyong, said, “If there is no religious harmony, then no social harmony exists in society and it is in this context that the government recognizes and encourages the role of religions in developing a harmonious society.” “Policies of the Chinese government calling on religion for building a harmonious society are based on four principles: harmony within one religion is prerequisite; interfaith harmony; harmony between religions and society for peaceful order; harmony between religions and the state,” he explained.
Jianyong added that China gives freedom to all religions, but expects that religion and religious activities would not interfere with affairs of the state and its administrative matters. In China, there is no predominant religion and all religions are treated equally, he insisted. The Chinese government believes that the “state cannot develop or extinguish any religion”.
The geo-politics and geo-economics of an emerging world order have many underpinnings in Asia. A new political architecture with new centers of power appears to be taking shape. Various elements in this configuration can play different roles including the formation of new economic and strategic alliances in which Asian powers become strategic partners.
The CCIA meeting discussed the emerging situations related to the democratization process that has advanced in several world contexts, especially since the beginning of the Arab Spring in early 2011. Despite positive aspects to these developments, such political changes have also allowed for strengthening of religious fundamentalism and extremism. Religious fundamentalism and extremism continue to be concerns for those committed to peace and justice. In a world passing through alarming crises, churches may be reminded of the values of prophetic witness and prepared to be the repairers of the broken walls in a divided world, where they are called to be instruments of justice and peace for all God’s people and their struggles.
The CCIA further identified advocacy priorities for the immediate future. These included global advocacy on freedom of religion and the rights of religious communities, the rights of stateless people, the right to self-determination for the people of French Polynesia, Palestine and West Papua; ratification of the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and their families, responding to conflicts and accompanying churches and peoples in other situations of conflict.
Additional areas of priority concern for the CCIA are the politicization of religion and growing religious intolerance in several Middle East, African and Asian countries; democratic governance and the rule of law in Zimbabwe and Myanmar; peace and reconciliation in the Korean peninsula, Nigeria and South Sudan.
My wife Sue and I were struck with the sharp contrasts we saw in China. Other commissioners seemed to agree. On the one hand, there was opulent wealth, modern technology and transportation—at least in the urban areas, with a government that claims to be transitioning into a more open society. China has mass numbers of converts to Christ (by some accounts, more than 4,000 daily out of a 1.3 billion population), dynamic congregations worshiping in beautiful church buildings, a seminary full of ministerial students (the majority of new converts are young with nearly half of the ministers female), and at least some level of government support. Amity Printing Company is expected to print its 100 millionth Bible by November 2012. Around 60% are for domestic use and about 40% are exported to countries in need of Bibles. It is mindboggling to think of communist China, where some used to smuggle Bibles into the country, as a leading printer and exporter of Bibles today. A related Christian organization, Amity Foundation, is doing extensive social work among the poor and needy with government approval. And the communist government of China has rewritten the constitution to include a role for religion. Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism are now recognized as legitimate religions. Widespread Confucianism is usually considered more of a philosophy than a religion, though some religious components are clearly evident.
On the other hand, admittedly there is also abject poverty, especially in rural areas and western provinces. And the majority (nearly 180 million by some estimates) of Christians in China are in the “underground,” or more formally, non-registered, churches. They are still considered illegal and apparently still suffer some level of oppression and possible persecution. Government officials and members of the registered church tend to be vague and dismissive about these “underground” Christians, many of whom are said to be of Evangelical and Pentecostal persuasions.
An unofficial informant confided to me that there are indeed some extreme, fringe-type groups among the house churches; but, he quickly added, the majority appears to be solid Christian disciples. I know those I was able to connect with directly (and discreetly) gave me a good impression. They have a strong emphasis on conversion evangelism, which tends to make them suspect to a cautious government. In turn, many of them are suspicious of a government that until recently filled the role of a fierce persecutor of people of faith and still seems to be overly concerned about maintaining strict control of their so-called “harmonious society.” Indeed, some observers claim oppression and persecution still occur. Nevertheless, there appears to be some progress for freedom of religion and for religious believers, including Christians, in China. The way forward may be slow but hopefully it will also be steady. The people of China, particularly our brothers and sisters in Christ, need and deserve our prayers.
