Yesterday, the afternoon schedule of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) kicked-off in Athens, Greece. Time proved to be packed with group discussions based on the plenary theme in the morning - "Come, Holy Spirit, heal and reconcile".
Among the ten parallel "synaxeis" (a Greek term meaning group discussions) - delegates from different countries, languages and specialisations gathered. A greatly inspiring presentation was given by the first ever Chinese delegation who explained the challenges of mission in China today.
According to reports by Ekklesia's Simon Barrow, the General Secretary of the China Christian Council (CCC) Rev Cao Shengjie yesterday spoke to the Conference. The synaxeis was called, "Common witness in China".
In the traditional Chinese society, especially in Mainland China, Christianity is usually seen as "foreign". Thus it is difficult to promote the Gospel authentically to this kind of cultural and social settings. Rev Cao of the CCC said that the challenge of Chinese believers is to discover a distinctly Chinese perspective on mission and evangelism.
The official figures of the CCC show that the number of Protestant Christians in China is around 16-17 million. However, researchers suggest the real number is more likely to be around 50-70 million. There are also about 12 million Catholics. The amazing movement of underground or house churches has made China one of the fastest-growing countries in Christianity in the world. However, it is expected to develop even more.
Rev Cao said that the extension of grassroots education, social witness, personal evangelism and the renewal of theological thinking would make the next phase of the development of the Protestant church possible, according to Simon Barrow.
On the other hand, Rev Cao warned the Christians in the midst of many new evangelistic initiatives, "Evangelism will not meet its goal if the methods of mission are not in accord with the truth of the Gospel."
Religious freedom in China is also being highlighted in the synaxeis, as the issue was widely discussed by the world’s evangelicals, NGOs and human rights groups during the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva last month.
