Oct 14, 2015
What is happening with Adventism in China?
Here are the challenges that the Adventist Church faces in China:
1. Technically there is no organized Adventist Church in China, at least not by western standards. But they are well organized in their own way.
2. The government still “controls” religion but it’s a far “looser” control than the past. As long as congregations register with the government TSPN there is plenty of wiggle room.
3. The loudest voice crying “foul play” about Chinese religious liberty is Falun Gong. I’ve received their magazines displaying the maimed and persecuted in gory detail. But my interest in listening to their cries is tempered. They are on the warpath with the Chinese government and go out of their way to irritate officialdom. A few years ago they even “hijacked” a government satellite. Now that is really putting technology to work!
4. There are many versions of Adventism in China (“Old Adventists,” “New Adventists,” “Wilderness Adventists,” and others), and the world institutional Adventist Church works with all Seventh-day Adventist groups, even though the various versions do not cooperate well among themselves.
5. There are really wild religious groups like the “Lightning from the East” that have devastated Christian churches and even Adventist churches.
6. The Adventist Church struggles in China because there are no Adventist seminaries to train workers. However, we do have Internet online training through Griggs University Asia where hundreds of individuals increase their understanding of Adventism.
7. Evangelism is not officially allowed but this is loosening up in ways.
8. Some local churches have their own websites. By the year 2009, there will be 210 million Chinese on the Internet.
Click on Link:
http://spectrummagazine.org/node/860
