SARS Update

by Tony Lambert

SARS had spread by May to at least 24 of China’s 31 provinces and administrative regions. The total number of cases has soared to 5,236 with 289 deaths. (May 19)

In Beijing, schools were closed and drastic action taken to quarantine thousands of people. The World Health Organization has advised against travel to Beijing, Guangdong, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. China’s economy has been seriously affected with growth originally projected at 7% this year slowed to only 5.5% according to some analysts.

Christian ministry has been disrupted as churches have closed services and villages have prevented the entry of strangers. In some areas fear of the unknown has fed panic which has led to serious social disorder. To date, people (mainly peasants) in Beijing, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Henan and Chongqing have destroyed SARS facilities.

Many overseas Christian workers have so far stayed in the country. However, some have left as they have been asked by local officials, or even their home churches, to leave the country at short notice.

Please pray for the Chinese leadership. Pray for Chinese Christians as they witness to the love of Christ to many fearful people. And pray for Christian professionals from many Christian organizations as they face difficult decisions. Pray that the epidemic can be brought under control. Many short-term and summer work programs in China have been canceled. We pray that those planning to go there in September for the new school and university year will be able to do so.

Survey of the Chinese Church Part III

HEILONGJIANG

Population: 36.9 million

Capital: Harbin (6 million)

Christian situation: China’s Siberia with winter temperatures going down to 35 degrees below 0! The church has seen spectacular growth in recent years, as the following table shows:

1920 1,500

1948 15,000

1965 7,450

1985 26,325

1989 140,000

1994 600,000 (300,000 baptized + 300,000 seekers; ANS)

1997 300-400,000 (CCBI)

2001 500,000 (registered with TSPM)

2003 1,000,000 (inc. est. 500,000 house-church believers)

The most recent statistics show 500,000 registered Protestants meeting in 1,200 churches and registered meeting-points. It is estimated that if house-church Christians are also included the total figure is probably over one million. This means the church has grown 134-fold since the Cultural Revolution! However, there are less than 50 ordained pastors and elders in this huge province.

Harbin, the capital, which once had a huge Russian Orthodox emigré population which now numbers under 100, has about 180,000 registered Protestants. Many Christians are scattered in remote mountain and forest areas, so gospel radio has a very high response rate.

Minorities: Heilongjiang is home to about 500,000 Chaoxian people (Koreans), many of whom are Christians. However, there are also 1.2 million Manchus, 45,000 Daur, 3,000 Ewenki, 4,000 Oroqen and 4,000 Hezhe who are all largely unevangelized.

HUBEI

Population: 60,280,000

Capital: Wuhan (7.5 million)

Christian situation: According to local Christian Council leaders, the registered church has grown from about 150,000 in 1990 to 500,000 in 2002. There are about 400 churches open in the province. The huge city of Wuhan has 60,000 registered Protestants but only six large churches are open. (Tianfeng, March 2003) This means that less than 1% of the province and its capital are registered believers. Even allowing for house-church believers this makes Hubei one of the least evangelized of China’s heartland provinces.

The Zhongnan seminary in Wuhan is evangelical and has had a vigorous building program in recent years to cater to several hundred full-time students as well as to give short-term training to rural church workers.

Minorities: Hubei has over 200,000 different kinds of Miao people, 80,000 Hui (Chinese Muslims) and 55,000 Dong. Very few are Christian.

HUNAN

Population: 64,400,000

Capital: Changsha (5.8 million)

Christian situation: Hunan was fiercely anti-foreign in the 19th century and one of the last provinces to be entered by the China Inland Mission. It was also the birthplace of Chairman Mao. The registered Protestant church has grown from 120,000 in 1993 to 300,000 in 2000. However, house-church Christians have estimated there are over 500,000 believers in the province if house-church believers are included. There are over 800 registered churches and meeting-points, but only 32 registered pastors. However, they are aided by 37 seminary graduates and over 1,000 lay workers. Cults are active in the province and the indigenous and sectarian True Jesus Church is also very strong. With less than 1% of its population Protestant Christian Hunan is still relatively unevangelized.

Minorities: Hunan has 1.6 million Miao, 750,000 Dong, 500,000 Yao, 95,000 Hui (Chinese Muslim) and, surprisingly, 6,000 Uyghurs in a small colony in the north of the province. These groups are largely unreached. Gospel recordings and the Jesus film are being produced in the southern Dong language. (Operation China)

JIANGSU

Population: 74,380,000

Capital: Nanjing (5.4 million)

Christian situation: Jiangsu as a coastal province was one of those first evangelized during the missionary era. It has since seen spectacular church growth:

1949 50,000

1965 60,000

1985 125,000

1988 250,000

1989 400,000

1991 640,000

1995 900,000

1997 1,000,000 (Official TSPM stats of registered believers)

In 1991 35,346 people were baptized, and in 1992, 38,366. By 1995 there were over 3,200 registered churches and meeting-points but only 104 active pastors. The church is strongest in the northern part of the province in Xuzhou and Huaiyin. In 1991 the magazine Zongjiao (Religions) noted that some counties in northern Jiangsu had 7% of their population Protestant. Nanjing has the national seminary, Jinling, headed by Bishop Ding and also the Amity Printing Press which so far has printed over 30 million Bibles and New Testaments. House-churches are active, but Jiangsu has set up an efficient system of monitoring and registration. Cults are active with the Lingling cult beginning in Huaiyin in Jiangsu in 1983.

JIANGXI

Population: 41,400,000

Capital: Nanchang (1.7 million)

Christian situation: This poor, inland province was the base area for the start of Mao’s Long March in the 1930s. Registered Protestants have increased from 100,000 in 1992 to 400,000 baptized members in 2000 (4-fold growth in eight years, and 10-fold growth since the communists took power in 1949 when the church numbered only 40,000!). They meet in about 2,000 registered churches and meeting-points. However, by 1997 there were only 137 registered pastoral workers in the entire province. Nanchang has about 50,000 registered Protestants and 150 churches and meeting-points (only two of which are in the city centre). Yichun City has 50,000 Protestants. In Duchang County the number of believers rose from only 617 in 1987 to 6,787 in 1996 (more than 10-fold growth), according to an official publication. House-churches are very active, especially Little Flock, with itinerant evangelists crossing into Jiangxi from Wenzhou and other areas. However, with only 1% of its population officially Protestant, Jiangxi is one of China’s least evangelized provinces.

Copyright by OMF International 2003