World Council of Churches in China to check Christians’ conditions

Rwbyr Alfars

The Secretary-General of the World Council of Churches, Olav Fykse Tveit, paid a visit recently to China, one that was described by many as “historic”.

Father Tveit said the visit was exceptional, even as he visited China in November 2016 to attend a number of meetings.

During the latest visit, he said, he admired the ability of the churches to reach people of all ages everywhere in China. He added that his visit aimed to strengthen relations between the World Council of Churches and the China Christian Council, a member of the council.

Father Tveit referred to the progress made by the church in China and the growth in the number of its followers.

China, he said, is now home to the world’s largest Protestant church. He added that China is on the way of becoming the country with the largest Christian population in the world.

There is not a specific estimate of the number of Christians in China. Nonetheless, some estimates put the number of Christians in the country at 200 million.

In 2004, the Communist Party of China said the number of baptized Christians in China reached 18 million.

This means that the total number of baptized Christians in the Asian state can be 28 million now. This figure, of course, does not include children, because the Communist Party does not allow children under the age of 18 to be baptized. This means that the number of baptized adults and children in China can be 34 million in total now.

There can also be 136 million Christians in China now, who follow underground churches in the country.

In 2006, the head of the Communist Party said the number of Protestants in China reached 110 million. This means that the number can be 159 million now.

Although Christians are a minority in China (roughly 11 percent of the population of 1.4 billion), they outnumber the Christians in other countries.

Father Tveit’s visit to China, according to Scott Pacey, a professor of contemporary Chinese studies at the University of Nottingham, aimed to organize Christians in the country, not control them.

There is religious freedom in China, he said, but this freedom must be practiced within limits.

“The Communist Party views any rival ideology as a threat to its existence,” Pacey said.

Chinese observers believe the crackdown against Christians in their country was launched against the background of fears from the rise of the number of Christians in the country. During the years of the Great Proletarian Cultural Evolution (1966 – 1976), all houses of worship had to shut their doors because they were looted by government agents.

Nonetheless, the church was given more freedoms in the last few years. The Chinese government did this partly to avoid international condemnation. In China, the suppression of Christians used to come at a cost.

Now, however, few countries are ready to condemn any negative practices in China, lest they should jeopardize their relations with a country that has the world’s second largest economy.