70 Million Believers Officially Acknowledged

Posted on 16 April 2010.

"House churches... have at least 50 million followers nationwide," according to Liu Peng, a scholar who has researched religion under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences for many years (OMF).

In an article published in the ‘China Daily', an official English-language newspaper, Liu shared that conclusion from a survey of religious groups carried out in 16 provinces.

OMF comments: "This is the first time ever that an official public publication in China has given a reliable estimate of the number of house-church believers. It means that if the number of Protestant Christians in the TSPM (state-controlled) churches is added on (they total 20-21 million according to the most recent official statistics), then there at least 70 million Protestant Christians in China... The official figure of 20-21 million believers in TSPM churches does not normally include children under 18 years old nor the many enquirers who have not yet been baptised, so is a conservative figure. The total figure of 70 million Protestants is, therefore, also a conservative figure."

We praise God for this amazing growth (there were reckoned to be only one million Protestant believers in 1949). Yet we remember too the challenge that this fast-growing church presents. There is an urgent need for Biblical discipleship, as a letter sent to the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) shows. A man from Henan province asked: "Je-Ho-Vah can be split into gods of three stages and in my home-town people all believe in the god ‘Vah'. Is this right?"

Give thanks for the tremendous growth of the church in China in recent years. Pray that it might continue and also spread to those Chinese yet to respond to the Gospel and especially to minority people groups that remain unreached.

Pray for the many believers who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus, but still have little understanding of their faith. Pray that they might have the Holy Spirit's discernment to protect them from heresies.

Pray for more effective discipleship of new believers in China. Pray for church leaders to recognise the importance of Biblical discipleship and for more materials to be made available to train people in the ways of the Lord.