China is the country with the worlds largest population at over 1¼ billion people
The government of China has an aim to get rid of all religious groups, including Christians. For the last 50 years the church has either been banned completely or run by the government. Many Christians in China cannot meet together in church buildings but have to worship and pray together secretly in their homes.
In the last 25 years things have been slightly easier for Chinese Christians and the church has grown even though it has still been under persecution.
The survival and reviving of the Church in China was one of the significant events of the 20th Century.
The growth of the Church in China since 1977 has no parallels in history. The 1,266,000 Protestant members in 1949 had become 17million members in 2000 as well as an estimated 45million house church Christians. The Catholics grew from 3million to 12million over the same period.
The millions of people around the world prayed for the long-delayed breakthrough. The impact of 150 years of global prayer for China has been enormous. Prayer is changing China.
The faith and commitment of Christians under what may prove to be the most harsh and widespread persecution of the Church in all history. The persecution purified the Church and strengthened to withstand the government efforts to weaken or destroy it.
Families in China are only allowed to have one child, this is the governments way of trying to reduce the countries population. Family life has been deeply impacted, shown in: a higher divorce rate suicide, and the abandonment of baby girls and older people. Pray for family stability and health.
China needs more Bibles. Provision of Bibles is still not good enough, despite the large increase in the number of copies available. By 1999 it was reckoned that there were 36m Bibles in China. Amity Foundation, founded in 1986, set up a large printing operation in China, and over 22m Bibles and New Testaments had been printed by 1999. House churches have now commenced their own Bible printing presses. A further 12m Bibles and New Testaments are estimated to have been brought in by visitors. Pray that this flow might increase and that Christians might have access to a copy of God's Word. There is a great need for study and children’s Bibles.
Video and audio tapes. The increasing availability of play-back machines is making Scripture, song, evangelism and teaching tapes a useful means for spreading the gospel. Pray for all involved in preparing and distributing these tapes.
The Internet has become very popular and in 2000 there were an estimated 10million Internet users. Despite government efforts to control this medium, it is helping many religious groups. Pray for its use for the gospel.