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A Tale of Two Churches

Consider the following two churches:

In 1950, 39% of the population of the United Kingdom attended Church on Sundays. By 1979, the figure had dropped to 12% and by 2005, to 6%. In the UK, 1 million people left Church in the 1990's. The Church of England saw a 20% decline in membership in England between 1980 and 2000.

Compare this with the situation in China. In 1949 (the year in which the Communists took over), there were about 700,000 Protestants. In the year 2000, there are estimated to be over 80 million Christians, according to jourmalist David Aikman (author of Jesus in Beijing). That is more Christians than in the Anglican church worldwide (77 million).

What are the defining differences between church life in China and the UK?

Of course, the primary difference between Christians in China and the UK lies at the level of personal zeal and dedication. Christians in China have been willing for years to suffer imprisonment, beatings and torture. They are willing to die for Jesus. One of the greatest concerns for Chinese Church leaders is that with China's increasing affluence, their lives will start to become more like that of Western Christians, living in luxury and devoted to worldly pursuits and pleasures.

However, there are also structural reasons for the difference between Christianity in China and the UK. Because of the persecution of Christians who spread the Gospel in China, the church has largely gone underground. The Government-recognized 'official' churches face little persecution because they are not as interested in spreading the gospel. The result is that the persecuted Christians meet in underground 'house churches'. These churches are very different to most Western churches in organisational terms.

Whereas Church life in China is characterised by human weakness and organisational simplicity, church life in the West is more like a gaudy show - with archbishops parading round in gilded dunces hats, seas of gyrating bodies dancing to the music at their cool, consumer-friendly disco-churches (just like the children of Israel as they swirled around the golden calf), glossy brochures advertising each latest new ministry initiative, large-budget building schemes and high-tech gospel gimmicks. The Chinese instead say, 'We can’t afford any big programs or fancy Gospel presentations. All we have to give people is Jesus'. And it appears to be working.

Instead of Western 'style', the Chinese have substance. In their weakness and simplicity, they are forced to depend upon God's power - not their own devices - to spread the Gospel. In their dependence upon God, they are forced to live prayerful, holy and obedient lives, lest they hinder God's working amongst them. In their poverty and persecution, they are drawn to each other and refuse the spirit of denominationalism, instead seeking to spread the gospel in a spirit of true unity of faith. In their desire to be faithful to God, they refuse to compromise or tone down Biblical truths and practices to be more accommodating to the world.

The question that most Western Christians ask at this point is this: do we require persecution conditions to see a revival in the Church in the West?

The answer to that question is No. To see why, all we have to do is to notice the similarities between the Christians in China and the Christians we meet in the NT. The Christians in China are simply following the pattern of the early Church we read of in the book of Acts:

seeing phenomenal growth and blessing - with persecution - because they realise their own human weakness and have turned in dependance and humility to God in earnest prayer,
obediently going and spreading the gospel at His command, the Lord working with them,
unable, because of persecution, to organise their churches according to any grand human plan; forced instead to adhere to the simplicity of church life that is seen in the NT itself.

Likewise, the path to Christian revival in the West is simply to follow the Maker's instructions, to obey God's Word, to seek again the old paths which God marked out for the spread of the gospel and the building up of the church.

This book will look at ten important areas in which the modern Western church needs to return to what the NT says about Church.

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