Evangelizing China

A former Beijing bureau chief for Time magazine, Aikman also gives at least anecdotal evidence to believe that the number of Christians in China is now approaching a hundred million. Many China watchers are skeptical, but Aikman insists they miss the significance of the growth that house church networks are producing.

Along the way, Aikman highlights the significant commitment of Chinese Christians to evangelize outside of China, especially along the Silk Road. The so-called “Back to Jerusalem” movement, with roots in the early twentieth century, has become the hallmark of Chinese mission strategy. Chinese Christians are particularly interested in engaging Muslims with the gospel and view their non-Western background as giving them a distinct advantage over American and European Christians. Apparently, the movement is already sending Chinese missionaries outside of China and has embraced the goal of sending out a hundred thousand missionaries in the coming years.

Some early reviewers have expressed concern about how much Aikman has revealed about churches and missions in China, particularly some of their innovative and unorthodox methods–which, given the regime’s hostility, is a real danger. But much of the material Aikman uses is already in print. What “Jesus in Beijing” does is weave that material in with the author’s interviews of key players in the story. His contribution is first in his story-telling ability and second in his interpretation of what the growth of Christianity means for the future of China.

It is here that one might express certain reservations. Aikman seems to see a Christian trajectory that has particular political overtones, such as a Christian worldview leading to supporting war as a primary means of fighting terrorism. This tends to downplay other Christian views in play in China. What would happen if Chinese Christians were gradually discipled into an Anabaptist view of peace?

Aikman predicts that China will be between 20 and 30 percent Christian within thirty years, by taking the growth rate of Christians from 1949 to 2000 and projecting it forward. But the Christian growth rate in the twentieth century was approximately three times faster than overall population growth–which will be difficult to maintain. Mathematically speaking, large movements tend to slow over time, since hundreds multiply much faster than millions. Nonetheless, even more moderate projections see Christians making up well over 10 percent of China’s population in the coming decades. That raises the question of how other religious and nonreligious movements will respond, from neo-Confucianism to Buddhism to Chinese folk-religion to Islam to atheism. In every case, there is the possibility of resurgence and the corresponding impact on Chinese government and society. The history of China is full of surprising religious and cultural turns.

Aikman’s thesis is not diminished by any of these caveats. The Chinese government will do well to recognize sooner rather than later the enormously positive contribution that Chinese Christianity can make to China’s role in the global milieu. Indeed, it is past time for Westerners in general to pay attention to the growth of Christianity outside Europe and North America. “Jesus in Beijing” is a well-documented and engaging start.

Todd M. Johnson is director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.