November 13 1995

ARTICLE TOOLS

Find similar articles E-mail this page

The Chinese church has experienced phenomenal growth despite four decades of religious repression and persecution. While definitive numbers are difficult to obtain, the Chinese Church Research Center (CCRC) in Hong Kong estimates the church in China has grown from about 840,000 Protestant believers in 1949 to over 60 million today. (While other experts place the number of believers much lower, all are agreed on the fact of the phenomenal growth.) Approximately 90 percent of these Christians meet in unofficial house churches scattered throughout the countrysides and cityscapes of this vast and populous nation.

From an office complex crammed amidst the teeming business world of Hong Kong's endless high-rises, Jonathan Chao tirelessly researches and ministers to the ever-developing church in the People's Republic of China, whose border lies only 25 miles from Hong Kong Island. He has demonstrated his special burden for the Chinese church through various activities: he is the founder and director of the CCRC, founder and president of the Chinese Mission Seminary in Hong Kong, and founder of China Ministries International, to mention just three of his many accomplishments. When not in Hong Kong, Chao teaches at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, and at Wheaton College in Illinois.

While Hong Kong has been an effective base for Christian missionary efforts in China for the past century, Chao anxiously anticipates July 1997, when Hong Kong—now run as a British colony—will be taken over by China, pursuant to a long-standing political agreement between Britain and China. It is unknown whether the Chinese government will allow Hong Kong Christians like Chao to enjoy their present level of religious freedom. With ...