China expels Christian workers
According to one report the largest expulsion of foreign Christian missionaries since 1954 has been taking place in the lead up to the Bejing Olympics.
Up to 100 foreign Christian workers and missionaries were expelled since February.
Nobody knows exactly how many Christians there are in China - 50 million? 100 million? Bob Fu of the China Aid Association thinks the number may be even higher. He tells how:
The Director of China's State Administration of Religious Affairs, who is the highest Communist Party official in charge of all religious affairs, Mr Ye Xiaowen, in two closed-door meetings last year at Beijing University and in the China Academy of Social Sciences, claimed the number of Christians in China, including both the underground and the government-sanctioned churches, both Catholic and Protestant, has reached 130 million members.
No one doubts that despite state repression, despite limited resources, despite a lack of formal training institutions, despite the absence of complex organizational structures, the Church in China is strong and growing dramatically.
I wonder what they have that we don't?
