OMF workshop - "Lessons From the Church in China"

"Lessons From the Church in China" was also pretty interesting. It gave me a very good history lesson on what happened to the Chinese Church since 1950. Basically since 1950, the Three-self churches (三自教會) started. They aligned themselves with the communist government. Some people don't like that, and underground family churches began to appear. The Three-self churches were helping the government to oppress the family churches at first, but they found themselves also in trouble when the government began to tie the rope on their necks. The low point for churches in China was during the Culture Revolution, when no religious was allowed. Surprisingly, that was also the point the church saw the biggest growth. I think the more the oppressions, the stronger the Christian faith. After the death of Mao in 1976, the church began to resurface, and began to growth again. Of course, the important thing is, "what now"? They found out one interesting thing, "The less you say, the more you can do". So basically, the Chinese government is basically covering one eye. They give you a lot of freedom, as long as you don't "make-it-big" or "shout-it-loud". Also, they also found China is too big. No one organization could cover the whole China. All organizations need to work in a coordinately manner... or at least not get into each other's way. Oh, also need to help the Chinese church to be self-reliance. i.e. Don't just give them fishes, teach them how to fish!