Growth of the House Church in China (in Video)

A documentary on the growth of the Christian Church in China. The first of four parts. For the first time in history, Christianity in China, especially the House-Church, is given an honest, insightful, and comprehensive account. The film answers the question raised by many people outside China: how did the number of Chinese Christians increase from 700,000 in 1949 to approximate 110 million today despite communist control? This is a story of true Christian revival.

Jesus in China-Part 1. Seeds of Blood.


Jesus in China-Part 2. The Bitter Cup.


Jesus in China-Part 3. The Spring of Life.


Jesus in China-Part 4. The Canaan Hymns.




China’s House Churches Grow Despite Persecution
By Chris Mitchell
CBN News Middle East Correspondent
CWNews

CWNews.com – Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ commanded His followers to take His Gospel to the ends of the earth. This command, known as the Great Commission has yet to be completed.

But a movement out of China believes an inspiring vision will help them and Christians worldwide to fulfill that command, possibly within this generation.

The history of the Chinese house church is a powerful chronicle. in 1949, Mao Tse Tsung expelled the Western missionaries and began a campaign to purge China of Christianity. During this long campaign of persecution, many in the West feared that the light of the church would be extinguished.

But like a stream in the desert, the church not only survived the harsh conditions, it thrived. Today, it is estimated that there are from 70-million to 100-million Christians in China. Brother Yun says it was like a modern-day book of Acts.

Brother Yun told us, "We just went everywhere. We found people who didn't know about Jesus. We healed the sick, we cast out demons and we led people into salvation of Jesus, and that is what we are doing today."

During this time, Brother Yun, like many other Christians, was imprisoned and tortured, but his faith remained strong.

Brother Yun said, "It's that God Himself or Jesus Himself in a special way helped me to overcome this thing. It was more like, in myself, in my spirit and in my heart, I have to focus my eyes on Jesus. Think about His suffering for me. And so I was receiving strength from His suffering and that made me strong enough to overcome the persecution."

Even in jail, he says, the Holy Spirit moved powerfully.

Brother Yun went on, "And I saw a revival to break through: many multitudes of heavy criminals and gangsters came to salvation. And the change in their lives was so dramatic, that even the Director of the Prison, he recognized it, and he said, ‘This Jesus is amazing! How He can change the people, who is He?"

Brother Yun left China in 1997. Along with Peter Xu, his pastor, they're proclaiming to the church in the West a vision that's captivated the church in China.

The vision is one of the most ambitious goals in church history. The idea is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ back along the ancient trade routes known as the Silk Road. These routes would take the Gospel through some of the most inhospitable regions in the world.

This region, also known as ‘the 10/40 window,’ contains some of the people on earth most resistant to the Gospel - the Hindu world, the Buddhist world and the Islamic world. Despite the formidable challenge, many Chinese see an opportunity and as Jesus said, “fields white unto harvest.”

"Jesus has the keys to any locked doors. It may be a closed nation, where religion has jailed people and Jesus has the key to all these doors.

"And every day my faith grows, and I truly believe today and in the very soon future, Jesus is going to open the door for the Gospel in the Buddhist nations, in all of India and in the entire Muslim world."

Gordon Hickson is the UK coordinator for the Back to Jerusalem Movement. He believes the church in China is uniquely prepared for this task. It's expected as many as 100,000 missionaries will be needed. Many of these Christians have been forged in the furnace of persecution.

"This is a total life commitment. They are willing to die for this vision. And that's very humbling for people--when you are working with people who are willing to lay their lives down for a vision which is costing them their lives."

"Most of the people who are beginning to be trained in this, before they even come into the training schools, they have to be willing to say, "I'm ready to die outside of China. I'm willing to actually be buried outside of China. So that's heavy stuff."

The leaders of the Back to Jerusalem Movement believe the idea could help complete the great commission in our generation and help fulfill China's destiny.