Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

The moving church

Today I may have done something illegal: I went to church.

It certainly didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong. There were some Christian songs, a pleasant choir, and a thoughtful sermon made by the pastor (All done in Mandarin). It was quite pleasant, and no different from my experiences with Christian churches in America.

But here in China, some would much rather see the church and it's worshipers gone.

Because it is not registered with the state, the Chinese government has been trying to shut the church down. Recently they've gone as far to kick the worshipers out of their original residence, and have even detained the group's leaders from attending church services.

I was introduced to the church by one of my classmates, who had begun attending services there. Though I'm not Christian, I became curious after hearing about the church and it's plight.

In China, all religious groups must register with the government. But there are many underground churches that choose to remain independent from the state's influence. My classmate says he can tell there's a difference: when he went to a state-sponsored church in Beijing, he felt the sermons were too basic and lacked the depth he liked. My classmate was later connected to the underground church through his own back in America.

The underground church has about 800 members and is one of the largest of its kind in Beijing. Naturally this would draw the attention of the authorities. After they were kicked out of their former residence, church-goers were forced to hold Sunday services in a park earlier this month. That was, incidentally, also the same day man-made snow fell on Beijing.

Since then, the church has been moving around, finding new places to hold services each Sunday.Today they met in one of the buildings at an office complex. Where they will meet next week, church-goers will find out later.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal also wrote an editorial regarding the church. In it, the paper notes how some of the congregation's members were barred from going to the church in recent weeks.

One of those detained was the church's pastor. Yet somehow, he was present at today's services. My classmate, his girlfriend and I met the pastor later that day. After introducing ourselves, my classmate essentially asked: "I know we are trying to find a new place to hold sermon. But even if we do, can't the government just kick us out again?"

This was a good question. The church is trying to raise money to pay for a new permanent location. But they still lack the funds. I imagine even when they do gather the funds, it'll take some time before they can actually find a suitable place. So I expected the pastor to give us a long answer, explaining his rationale.

Instead, he calmly just nodded his head and said: "I believe everything will be fine."

No detailed breakdown. No alternatives given. Not even frustration vented over how ridiculous this situation was. "Everything will be fine" the pastor repeated with a terse smile.

And that was that.

As a journalist, I usually feel compelled to get more thorough explanations, especially when there are so many what-ifs to be wondered about it. But in this case, I could tell that all those pessimistic possibilities lingering about didn't much matter. The pastor's answer was simple: faith.