And it truly is a great metaphor for the great challenges of China, how to overcome all the mysteries of that culture, of its, uh, politics, uh, of its history. And, uh, I’ve been to China now 30 different times. I have been to probably over 40 cities in China. Uh, I have, uh, I’ve been to many different parts of China, you know, there are parts where they eat mostly rice and other parts where they eat mostly noodles and some parts where it’s real spicy foods, other parts where it’s not.
It’s a vast, wonderful place. There are millions of Christians in China today. And they’ve gone through, uh, many, many ups and downs, many challenges that are ongoing in China, even to this day. And, uh, I’m getting ready to go back to China this week. And so I wanted to give you a few updates and some.
Perspectives on the state of China and the challenges of our brothers and sisters living there, and our particular challenges as we try to, uh, bring the gospel of life, uh, and to reduce abortion and infanticide engender side, or the killing of baby girls in a place like China. You would love China if you could come with me.
Uh, the people especially are wonderful. There’s there everywhere I go, there’s a spirit of hospitality towards a foreigners. Sometimes I’ve traveled alone and I’ve looked a little bit lost in an airport or a train station. And immediately someone will stop and say, can I help you? Chinese people love to practice their English.
Uh, so they’re very eager to talk with foreigners, especially Americans. They love to have their pictures taken. Oftentimes I’ll just be sitting in a chair or a bench and someone will come down and sit next to me and, and take out their cell phone. I want to take a picture of themselves with a foreigner.
Uh, I think my, Grey hair stands out a lot in the sea of black hair over there in China, so I tend to attract a lot of attention that way. Um, there’s very little crime in China. I’ve always felt safe there. Um, uh, and the Christians in China, you would love them. Here’s a picture of me meeting with some of the leaders in one particular part of China.
It could be anywhere in China. The people are the same. And I think if you’ve ever had a chance to travel around the world, you find that that believers who believe in the same gospel, who are filled with the same Holy Spirit. Uh, truly are united with you and me. You, you feel a connection and then you feel a privilege when you get to meet people who have in many cases suffered for their faith or endured a lot of things because of their faith and you feel that, uh, that, uh, sincerity in their part, their hunger for the word of God and all the places I’ve been around the world.
I will say that the Chinese. Uh, people have a devout hunger for the Word of God, and they love good teaching. Sometimes we would show up at nine o’clock in the morning, and we would teach the Word. And around four in the afternoon, they’d say, Can you stay till nine or ten o’clock tonight and continue this?
This is kind of a symbol of their hunger. There’s a lot of things about China that are difficult to understand. I ran across this quote one time. This was Winston Churchill, and he was saying this about the country of Russia. He said, Russia, it’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. And I’ve always felt that that was much more appropriate to China than it was to Russia.
There are just so many things about China that are going on. difficult for me to grasp. And anyone who says that they understand China is probably someone who’s out over their skis a little bit. Uh, most of the people that are real experts in China have a very humble attitude toward assessing it.
Because one part of China is so different than another part of China. And the politics is constantly changing. Joanne Pittman, She is a person who has studied China for many, many years, lived in China, is a student of China, um, is connected with a service called China Source, which tracks the news and developments in the church in China.
And recently, she gave a seminar evaluating where things are right now in China. I want to share them with you because I think they’re very appropriate. She said there are three trends today going on in China, and these are different than what they were, let’s say, 14 years ago when I went to China the first time.
Number one, uh, there’s a trend toward what she calls securitization. Uh, security is a national, state, local, party, uh, security. permeates everything in China. Everything is a national security issue. So the idea of privacy is kind of rare in a place like China. But it really is a trend. And you’ll see when you land now in China, there are cameras everywhere.
There’s facial recognition everywhere. This is very different than when I first went to China in 2010. Number two, there’s a strong emphasis within the political structure of China today, uh, for what they call the Sinification of, or the Sinization of the Chinese people. This really refers to helping the people understand everything through the lens of of the Chinese Communist Party so that you’ll see everything from their particular perspective.
This implies, uh, applies also to things like the Bible. There needs to be a, a Chinese view of understanding the Bible, a Chinese view of teaching the Bible, a Chinese view that teaches Christianity in a way that is, um, in sync with the CCP in China. Of course, that creates a lot of tension. That’s why there is a unregistered church and there’s a lot of conflicts between the government and many of the house churches because of that natural, um, uh, recognition within the church that we have a Supreme Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our ultimate authority.
Uh, and it’s not the government, whether it’s in China or the United States or anywhere else. The third trend that is probably very accurate is the stagnation that’s going on right now in China. And this is where I see our great opportunity today. Uh, their economy is wrestling like ours is wrestling. And in many ways theirs is worse than ours.
Uh, the real estate value, uh, in China. There’s a big real estate bubble. Um, the foreign companies have been leaving China of late. Uh, lots of people want to get out of China and migrate into other parts of the world. Uh, many, many Christians in China have looked for ways to get out of China. Uh, they feel, um, discouraged about the future in China.
Here is. The great opportunity that we have, uh, all of this. In China, in my view, uh, has one particular entry point for that stagnation and that is the lack of population growth in that country. They have a fertility rate that’s about 1. 02 percent and you need 2. 1 percent just to maintain a level population.
But right now, because of their long history with abortion and too much infanticide and gendercide going on, Uh, China needs babies, and the government’s attitude toward births has changed dramatically in the last four or five years, especially. Well, who in China wants to help women have babies? It’s the church.
So, in many ways, there’s an opportunity now for the church to show that they truly are, as Christians, uh, able to help mothers have babies, and do it in a way that the Christian government actually welcomes and appreciates. And so maybe there’s an opportunity for a thawing of relationship and for their long contentious relationship to begin to thaw out and to be a little bit more collaborative.
Anyway, when I go to China this month, uh, these are some of the things that I’ll be looking at and seeing and visiting, uh, some of the believers there and, and learning. Uh, how they are taking the gospel of life and really helping hundreds and hundreds of mothers have their babies. It’s an exciting time, uh, but it’s also a very difficult time for the people in China.
So pray for me, but even more. Pray for the church in China. Uh, they really want to follow the Lord’s will in their life with great courage, great humility, great devotion. And it will be our privilege to go there and be of some encouragement to them in the name of Jesus. Thank you.