A Prayer for China: The legacy of Bishop Ting

As the world watches the Olympics in Beijing, a shift has taken place that is unheralded in the press, but could be of earthshaking significance for the millions of Christian believers in China, according to Philip Wickeri.

"There was an important national meeting in January that ushered in a new leadership for the China Christian Council. A switch has been made to a younger generation of leaders." This was the 8th National Christian Conference, the decision making body for Protestant churches in China that meets every six years or so, he said.

Philip Wickeri

Wickeri, professor of evangelism and mission at San Francisco Theological Seminary, returned last month from one of his many trips to China. He worked for more than 20 years with the Amity Foundation in China and with the China Christian Council (CCC), the officially recognized church entity. He is the author of Reconstructing Christianity in China – K. H. Ting and the Chinese Church, a biography of the former Anglican bishop published by Orbis Books.

"I'm very hopeful" about the prospects of Christians in China, he said in a phone conversation. Assessing the general state of the church in China, he added,"There are a lot of changes ahead. There's tremendous growth with the church in China. They have a great deal of work to do. I think in general the outlook has never been better."

And the human rights crackdown in Beijing– could that foreshadow bad news for the churches?

"We read a lot in the press about the difficulties of Christians in China. A house church leader was arrested in Beijing. The Olympics have been a high security event for China. The picture is not a perfect one. But the tendency in the western media is to accentuate the problems. The house church leader who was detained was on his way to a church in Beijing. There are charges that the people attending that church are all government agents. But I know that church. They're there to worship Jesus Christ."

"There are places in China, particularly in inland China, where the local government leaders are not following the national policies, so there are abuses of religious freedom."

The CCC continues to tell the government they want to help the authorities implement this policy throughout the country, he said.

Problem of leadership 

The biggest problem for Chinese Christians is a question of leadership, Wickeri said.

"By recent estimates, five to seven new churches are opening every day– all kinds of churches. How do you educate new Christians in understanding what the gospel demands? That is a huge problem. The CCC is not a national church, not a state- approved church. It is an officially recognized church structure that assists the churches at many levels– working with groups overseas, with partnerships, with printing literature.

"Amity Press has printed more than 50 million Bibles. Ninety percent of these have been distributed all over China. They just installed a new enlarged press. That is absolutely extraordinary. China is set to become the largest printer of Bibles in the world.

Even so, there are not enough Bibles. "We need more, of course."

Bishop K. H. Ting

"The Bible is not sold in public book stores–a policy I don't believe is helpful. But it's available in churches and in private book stores."

Wickeri's biography of Bishop Ting–who is now retired and in frail health in a nursing home–extolls him as the right man at the right time for the church in China.

"Bishop Ting presided over the most extraordinary time in the Chinese church in the 20th century. He helped recreate institutions, developed theological education, printed Bibles and religious literature. He did so by cooperation, not confrontation."

Wickeri dismissed charges by China Aid Association and other covert ministries that Ting and his fellow leaders work with the police to shut down house churches and water down the gospel.

"China Aid and others think the only way the church can exist in China is to confront the government. That's not Ting's position. How do you build up a church that went through the Cultural Revolution? Dramatic moves may make for good copy, but they're not going to serve the day-to-day needs of average Christians.

"Bishop Ting is one of the greatest church leaders of the 20th century. He had an enormous impact on the life of the church."

Number of Christians hard to gauge 

The size of the church in China is another question without a definitive answer.

"You always see these numbers thrown around–150 million Christians? The way to ask that question is, 'Where are they, which provinces have the most and how do you count them?'"

The official figure, Wickeri said, is 17 million to 18 million, "based on provincial figures. But these figures are typically underestimated and include church attendance rolls and other things. A reasonable number for Protestants in China is 30 million to 40 million. I can't see much more than that."

He noted that Henan Province presents one of the most confusing Protestant pictures in China.

"I understand that there is a very large network of Christians not affiliated with the CCC. They would not be listed in the official figures. And there are other groups. Many observers would give you the total number of Christians as 30 million to 40 million, as I have. The largest number I have heard from credible sources is 60 million to 70 million."

"There are all kinds of shades of grey here rather than black and white," he said."This is true of the church in all situations all over the world."

Comparison with the situation in the former Soviet Union "is very tenuous," he added. "After the 1917 Revolution, the Russian government saw the church as one of its main enemies. The Orthodox church had extensive land holdings, etc. In China, Christians never had such a huge presence.

"Christianity in China was not then and is not now as highly institutionalized as in Russia. The clearest case for reconciliation (such as that happening between the disparate Baptist groups in Russia) is among the Chinese Catholics. The Vatican has treaded very lightly on this. That will resolve itself, once China and the Vatican normalize relations."

"But it's much more important to get back to the question of leadership. The new generation has the potential to do something their elders didn't have opportunity to do. They have a long-term view.

"And you must remember, they've risked a lot by just becoming affiliated with the church at all."