Monday March 08, 2010 - China adopts Christianity as its own

Author: Paul Hockley

Despite occasional clampdowns on unregistered churches, China’s support for Chritianity is now official, the deputy of the country’s leading seminary claims. Reverend Dr Gao Ying, vice president of Nanjing seminary said, “China doesn’t resist Christianity any more. We no longer call Christianity a foreign religion because it has been moulded into our blood”. With Chinese government records reckoning there are some 28.6million Christians in its registered churches, Dr Gao admitted that her 220 students are a drop in the ocean in the face of the church’s growth. Every year some 880 apply but the shortage of teachers and premises prevents China’s theological education from keeping pace. Kua Wee Seng, co-ordinator of the Bible Societies’ China Partnership has worked with the Amity Printing Company to produce 50 million Bibles for the Chinese church. “This is a time of opportunity” he said.