House churches in China report on rapid growth

Liu Qiang* remembers 12 years ago bicycling past churches in the countryside. Believers there in China met behind boarded up doors and windows.

"Obviously they are doing something bad if they are having to close up everything," Liu recalls thinking as a teenager.

After Liu became a Christian he learned why churches met in secrecy. He now is a house church pastor.

Times have changed, Liu said. There's a chalkboard in front of his home where his house church meets -- an open invitation to their neighbors to worship Jesus.

Freedoms, at least in some areas of the nation, have grown. Keep reading

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Through foreign exchange student ministry I have met a number of Christians from mainland China. The depth of their faith, the ways they came to faith, and their resolve to practice their faith in the face of Communist Party censure and government crackdowns has been inspiring. 

Photo: IMB/HughJohnson