I'll Take "Things That Make You Go Whoa! for 500, Alex"

These are two articles from the China Daily, the official and very much state controlled newspaper here.
The date is two days ago, the location is right in my own district....A couple of bus stops away from me..I have cut and pasted word for word from the original article. Links are provided here for reference.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/metro/2010-03/17/content_9602273.htm

A Beijing Christian Shares His Story of Conversion
By Wu Yiyao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-17 07:54

Simon Zhang, a 22-year-old student in Haidian district, Beijing, says he was converted to Christianity two years ago when trying to figure out the meaning of life.

Zhang spoke on condition of only being identified by his surname and English first name instead of his full Chinese name.

"People wondered why I would challenge myself with such a question," said Zhang. "Other people my age were preoccupied with more pragmatic things, such as school, job hunting and romantic relationships."

But he was already on top of his studies, winning scholarships every term, and had a growing relationship with a girl. He had interned at a Fortune 500 company, and still felt like he was looking for something.

"Good academic scores, a girlfriend and bright career prospects may really have been something for my peers, but I found having it all pointless and insignificant," Zhang said. "I was just bored of everything."

When he started reading a Bible a colleague gave him, his perspective on life changed.

"I didn't hesitate much when I started to believe in Jesus, despite my usual skepticism," he said.

"All of a sudden all my questions about life were answered and what could be as amazing as that?"

Zhang's conversion was seamless, but he had trouble choosing a church.

Some churches asked congregation members to donate at every meeting and the priest would say those who did not donate were spiritually challenged," he said. "I disliked the feeling of being judged by the amount or the frequency of donation."

He then read about criminal groups disguised as Christian house churches holding secret meetings and committing rape, murder and fraud in his hometown in Jiangxi province.

"Since then I have avoided secret meetings of any kind," he said. "Secret meetings can easily go too far."

Another church he tried frequently distributed publications about non-spiritual issues, prompting him to quit.

But he says he is now happy with a 700-member house church in Haidian district, which meets openly almost all the time. He said he has gained a new appreciation for his studies and girlfriend.

House Churches Thrive in Beijing

(Check this one out for some other fascinating information and pictures not included here)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-03/17/content_9600333.htm

Churchgoers drawn by smaller congregations and more relaxed approach of authorities

Beijing has a growing number of, and an increasingly open attitude toward, "house churches," according to members of these churches and experts on religion.

"House churches" refers to Christian churches other than those government-sanctioned, officially registered ones, which include the Three Self Patriot Movement, the China Christian Council and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.

The increase in house churches is partly due to lack of space at official churches, according to Jacob Sun, a 38-year-old house churchgoer. Sun spoke on condition of being identified only by his surname and English first name, instead of his full Chinese name.

"Many of our practical needs, which are not satisfied at official churches, are well catered to at house churches," said Sun, who is also a philosophy professor at a university in Beijing.

He said he went to Three Self churches for five years after he was baptized in 1999, but then shifted to house churches for several reasons, the main one of which was overcrowding at the Three Self churches.

"Thousands of people gathered in the Three Self churches for Sunday service and sometimes you could barely hear anything," said Sun. "The congregation could hardly be considered intimate at that size."

There are more than 50,000 Christians and 17 Three Self churches in Beijing, roughly one church for every 3,000 Christian, according to a study on Chinese Christianity in 2008 by Duan Qi and Tang Xiaofeng, from the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

When the congregation size is smaller, as it is at most house churches, it is easier to develop a close rapport with fellow churchgoers, said Abel Li, a manager with a technology company in Zhongguancun. Li also spoke on condition of being identified only by his surname and English first name.

"My church's congregation of 300 members is ideal for me," said Li. "In a small congregation like this, I have more opportunities to communicate and build relationships with other churchgoers before and after services. We have also fellowships for people who have things such as occupations in common."

The other reason for the growing number of house churches could be a more tolerant approach by authorities, according to an academic who studies religion.

"The authorities have a much more open attitude toward discussion and debate on house churches," said Cao Zhongjian, an expert on religion in China at the China Academy of Social Sciences, in an annual report on China's religions in 2009.

This more open attitude has allowed some house churches to establish permanent venues. In the past many often had to continually shift location, jumping from office buildings to canteens to small apartments.

Li's house church will soon have a permanent location in a large apartment in an office building in Zhongguancun, Haidian district. The congregation raised 22 million yuan to buy it.

"We don't have to wander from one place to another, or crowd in a small apartment," Li said.

Many house churches do small things to foster a sense of community among congregation members and attract potential new members.

Lily Zhou, a 25-year-old fine arts student in Haidian district, said her house church's publication was a major factor that drew her to the church, which has a congregation of just 50, more than five years ago. Zhou also spoke on condition of being identified only by her surname and English first name.

The 120-page quarterly, which is available online, gives Zhou "a sense of belonging", she said.

"As a fine arts student I have to leave Beijing for painting and miss Sunday services from time to time, but I can always follow what is happening at the church and feel connected to other churchgoers through the publication," said Zhou.

Despite their growth house churches in Beijing continue to operate in a gray area.

"There is currently no law legitimizing house churches in China, but China's constitution and international convention allows freedom of religious belief" said Yang Fenggang, the director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University in the US.

And although house churches may continue to increase in number in the capital and establish more permanent venues, they likely have a long way to go before receiving any kind of official approval, according to a worker at a Beijing Three Self church who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Some house churches have already attempted to officially register with the authorities, but their applications were denied because their clergyman had not trained under Three Self system," said the worker.

(China Daily 03/17/2010 page28

Seriously...wow. In fact, this particular unregistered church has actually been allowed to purchase property for a church building. As John Piper says:

"This doesn't discount the fact that persecution still occurs in China. But we need to let this news soak in. This little article is huge. God is doing something incredible in this great nation. Keep praying."

I can't help but to look over this man's confession here that he had good grades, a good girlfriend, and good job prospects (the Chinese equivalent of sex, drugs, and rock and roll) and still felt void, "insignificant and meaningless" was the term he used until he came to Christ at an underground house church. I wonder how many Chinese feeling the exact same way will read this article either online or on the paper and start to question if maybe, just maybe, this could be an answer for them as well.

Thank you, China Daily.