Articles from The Straits Times - September 4, 2010
We need to uphold our dear brothers and sisters-in-Christ in China in our prayer.
Our Christian brothers and sisters in China are less clever than us? You think they don't know about Confucius teaching? You believe they can be so easily fooled into something that is fake? The growth of believers in China is a clear testimony that Jesus is God and their steadast faith is a great encouragement to us.
The Little Red Book of Mao's Thought is being replaced by the Little Red Bible, the Word of God!
God bless you all reading of these articles.
Jesus in the office
Office churches draw young white-collar Chinese in major cities
BEIJING: The stock market has closed for the day but trader Peter Zhang lingers in the office as his colleagues head out noisily to the bars for happy hour and a raucous karaoke session.
His dinner is KFC chicken, his companion the Bible. At 7pm, he leaves for another office building in the heart of the city. This is where his underground church meets.
As China steamrolls ahead in its urbanisation, Christianity is finding congregations in the archetypal city space - the office.
These so-called office churches have sprouted across major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, and are fast becoming the choice worship venues of young white-collar Chinese in their 20s and 30s.
They come dressed smartly in shirts, some carrying Starbucks coffee in one hand and the latest smartphone in the other. They use electronic Bibles.
The sermon that evening, as befitting the urban crowd, focuses on the temptations of modernity and the excesses of consumerism.
'Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. May we not be dragged into the pursuit of riches, big houses and power like the rest of modern Chinese society,' says Pastor Moses, who declines to disclose his real name in the interests of protecting the anonymity of the church.
Unlike the songs in the official churches or even the home churches, the hymns in the office outfits are more cosmopolitan, such as tunes from the popular American-Chinese worship group Streams Of Praise, delivered on an electric guitar.
The concerns of the church members are office-related too. A woman who is dressed in a Burberry power suit shares her experience navigating her life as an employee of a state-owned enterprise and as a member of an unsanctioned office church.
She says she is under pressure to join the officially approved church after her human resources manager found out recently that she is a Christian.
'I pray Su Ge will protect me from being demoted,' she adds, referring to a popular nickname young Chinese Christians use for 'Big Brother Jesus'.
The office church is also praying for protection - from its landlord. While home churches face direct pressure from the authorities, the office congregations are squeezed by their landlords who are usually pressed by the police to stop renting their premises to the religious groups.
As Pastor Moses says, the present landlord is wary about renewing the lease after he was questioned by the local police.
On hearing this, Mr Zhang, suddenly filled with confidence, turns to his prayer-mates: 'So what? Even so, we will still grow - we started as five believers and we are now 50. We have answers that modern Chinese society is craving.'
[email protected]
________________________________________
A woman in a Burberry power suit shares her experience navigating her life as an employee of a state-owned enterprise and as a member of an unsanctioned office church. She says she is under pressure to join the officially approved church after her human resources manager found out recently that she is a Christian. 'I pray Su Ge will protect me from being demoted,' she adds, referring to a popular nickname young Chinese Christians use for 'Big Brother Jesus'.
========================================================================
Jesus in the house
Despite pressure from the authorities, this house church has not registered and worships from temporary abodes
BEIJING: Even before the pale winter sunlight seeps through the tattered yellowed blinds of Sister Xi Le's apartment, the hymn leader of the putaoyuan (vineyard) church is busy setting out 40 stools in the sparsely furnished living room for worshippers.
Her flat is the latest temporary abode for the house church, which cannot rent public premises as it has steadfastly refused to register as a Three-Self Church despite pressure from the authorities since it was founded some 10 years ago.
As Sister Xi Le sets up a Casio digital piano donated by a church member, two ruddy-faced men in their 20s burst into the room, barely bigger than the average bedroom in a Housing Board flat.
They bear a big bag of groceries and 20 well-worn hymnals and Bibles printed in Hong Kong and hand-carried to Beijing. 'Praise God, we have green bean soup after lunch today!' says one of the two later, beaming as he bustles in the kitchen.
The 26-year-old, surnamed Li, is still clad in his grey Adidas down jacket as he flits between a huge simmering pot and a chopping board where apples are being cut for the Sunday schoolchildren.
As the grandfather clock strikes 9am, a young girl, whose English baptism name is Dove, stands on duty at the door to open it for the house church members and their guests. She hands them coverings for their snow-dusted shoes, before shutting the door tightly behind them. Everyone speaks in hushed tones. 'The neighbours complain to the local police if we sing or pray too loudly,' Dove says.
A middle-aged church pastor stands up in front of the TV set in a corner of the room and reads from Psalm 46 in the Bible: 'Be still and know that I am God.'
'Pray for the brothers and sisters who risk their lives for the Good News,' she tells the congregation of wizened folk in Mandarin-collar shirts who sit shoulder-to-shoulder with leather-clad youth.
A murmur rises in the room as those gathered lift their hands in prayer. The heat in the room rises, too, as more worshippers arrive, squeezing into the living room. Space soon runs out and some move to the hard wooden floor in the adjoining bedroom and kitchen.
At 9.30am, the church service proper starts on the dot. Sister Xi Le opens with a popular hymn China Morning 5am composed by Xiaomin, an uneducated Hunan village girl, whose compositions have become popular across the mainland and Taiwan over the past 15 years.
The congregation sings - softly but with gusto - to the off-tune Casio played by a nervous amateur. Some worshippers share songbooks, while others squint at blurred PowerPoint slides of lyrics Sister Xi Le projects onto a small part of a wall.
Then the pastor stands up to preach from the book of Joshua - an Israelite leader who brought God's people into the 'Promised Land' - reminding the congregation to 'be strong and courageous' in the face of adversity.
'I have been in prison three times, I have faced opposition even from good Christian brothers... But I know the true God triumphs,' she says in a voice shaky with emotion and memories.
The congregation responds to the sermon with nods and calls of 'Amen', interspersed with the shrill voices of four little children reciting Sunday school lessons - or sometimes fighting over toys.
Then it is time to welcome newcomers. A young girl from Inner Mongolia, accompanied by her colleague to a house church for the first time, introduces herself. 'Thanks for showing so much care and warmth to me,' she says shyly.
'Welcome, we have green bean soup for you!' calls out Mr Li, as the congregation laughs and applauds.
get real man im trying to get him to see other's points of view.
