Church Planting

Deceitful Mask of Freedom

If you were on holiday in China, you might be surprised to see Christians openly worshipping in churches without fear of punishment. You might be puzzled to learn that the government, infamous for its religious restrictions, recognises 17 million Christians. You might even conclude that religious freedom exists in communist China. But you would be mistaken.


‘I Will Build My Church’
The real number of believers is probably four times what the Chinese government claims. That’s because many Christians won’t obey the mandate to register with the government-authorised church: the “Three Self Patriotic Movement.” They don’t want to join a church that’s controlled—and censured—by the Communist Party. Instead, believers worship in a network of underground house churches—small congregations that secretly gather in the living rooms of believers.

But the Chinese government is cracking down: Recently, the National People’s Congress launched a “Strike Hard” campaign against all “unauthorised” groups. That’s when they declared unregistered churches “illegal cults.” To enforce the campaign, Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers may at any time disrupt a house church, close it down, and arrest its leaders.


‘The Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail’
Despite such threats, The Bible Network’s trained church planters are establishing churches at ever-increasing rates. By partnering with local churches, The Bible Network is faithfully training church planters and helping to establish even more churches in this carefully-controlled country.

In addition, The Bible Network equips many of these church planters with the materials to train others in how to plant churches. In fact, the news of Jesus has already begun penetrating unchurched minorities in China through this “train-the-trainer” approach.

In 2008, partners of The Bible Network enabled 3,905 new churches to be established around the world. Since 1938, partners of The Bible Network have provided God’s Word to people in more than 60 countries, and in over 700 languages. But millions of people are still waiting for their own Bible.



You Can Help

You can help by providing bibles to China, including Bibles for Children and Study Bibles for church leaders. Each gift of £10 will provide 1 Bible for a Chinese Christian and 1 Study Bible for a Chinese Church Leader and 1 Children’s Story Bible for a child in China. You can help build the church in China. Your investment includes all printing and shipping costs. Click here to make a donation today.


To read more about our method of Scripture Placement please click here.

To read about Leaving A Gift in your Will please click here.