It has now been a couple of weeks since I returned from China. I'm now mostly asleep and awake at the appropriate times. As is usual, it takes me time when I return from China (or other places abroad) to reflect on and process what I experienced.
Still a work in process, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I wanted to reflect on my thankfulness for faith and freedom - not something that everyone on our planet is blessed with.
This trip we visited a new part of China - a province and city to which I had never been. It is a city of about 4.4 million people.
Following church one Sunday morning, we met with the Senior Pastor, as well as the head of the Red Cross and the head of the Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) for the area. (For those not familiar with China, the RAB helps to set, monitor, and enforce religious policy in China. They help to decide who is/isn't in violation of policy and what the ramifications for their actions should be.)
It was an amazing meeting!
The pastor shared about all of the incredible things that the church is doing - building houses, donations to earthquakes, health clinics, helping those in the community find jobs, rebuilding schools in the rural areas so that kids can get back to school, etc. They have received awards for their work. "We're just doing it for God," is what he told us. They have plans for building a rural church, want to setup a net training center to train co-workers, setup a community center for the elderly. The government, we were told, has given them land and a lot of support.
Knowing that rural areas are frequently very poor and the people who live there lack resources, we asked the gentleman from the RAB if we could assist by providing Bibles to the poor Christians who will be attending the new church. "Sure, no problem," he responded. We were surprised and delighted as this has not always been the case (is continues not to be in some areas).
The gentleman from the RAB told us that his role is to maintain the rights of all religious people and, if conflicts arise between religions, to serve as mediators.
In their city of 4.4 million, we were told that there are 500 registered places of worship - this could be a church, a temple, or your mothers living room. Of those, 200 are Christian, 200 are Buddhist, 100 Daoist, 9 Catholic, and 1 Muslim. There are 150,000 people in the city who believe in any religion. By RAB records, 60,000 of those are Christians.
The gentleman from the RAB told us that his role is to maintain the rights of all religious people and, if conflicts arise between religions, to serve as mediators.
In their city of 4.4 million, we were told that there are 500 registered places of worship - this could be a church, a temple, or your mothers living room. Of those, 200 are Christian, 200 are Buddhist, 100 Daoist, 9 Catholic, and 1 Muslim. There are 150,000 people in the city who believe in any religion. By RAB records, 60,000 of those are Christians.
In China, the children's belief is in accordance with their parents, as the focus for children is education. According to law, under 18 a child cannot attend church without his/her parents.
Many of the first to come to the United States did so for religious freedom; for the ability to worship where they want, how they want, and who they want. I am thankful that at this time in our history, we still have that freedom of faith.
Many of the first to come to the United States did so for religious freedom; for the ability to worship where they want, how they want, and who they want. I am thankful that at this time in our history, we still have that freedom of faith.
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