CP: How fast are the churches under the TSPM growing?

Fu: According to the incomplete statistics last year there are over 23 million Protestant Christians. This figure not just includes registered Christians, but also the non-registered Christians. So now we have over 57,000 churches in China. Every year we also build a lot of new churches. We have in fact published over 55 million copies of the Bible. Annually we print 3.5 to 4 million copies Bibles, so we can say whoever wants to get Bible in China can find Bibles.

United Bible Society provides subsidies for our printing paper so we can support those who cannot afford a Bible and they can still get a free Bible.

We have 21 seminaries and Bible schools in China. So there are all together over 1,800 seminary students studying at theological schools. There have been 12,000 seminary graduates serving at different churches. But the number of our pastors and church workers cannot meet the need of the growth of Christians.


CP: What are some of the challenges that the TSPM faces given its rapid growth?

Fu: In fact, we have many challenges and one of that is we cannot train enough people to work for the church. So in fact apart from training full-time pastors we also train a lot of lay leaders to take care of our ministries.

We only have about 3,700 ordained pastors. And we only have 5,000 ordained elders serving at the churches. And about 25,000 non-ordained preachers. But we have 150,000 lay leaders so they are the ones that do evangelism in China. Our challenges come from the need of our Christians and their expectations are higher and higher.

We have more and more educated people joining the church. So they will have a different need in terms of pastoral care and they will ask different questions. They have more issues that they have to deal with and find answers to so this is a challenge for our church workers.

And then we also need to get more involved in social services. This is an expectation raised from society. In fact social service will promote social stability and social harmony. So many people hope the church will have a part in social service. And just now we had meeting with the general secretary of the World Evangelical Alliance and we also talked about the importance of social services. So we need to do more studies and find more resources to do social services.


CP: What do you think about the idea of mass evangelism in China?

Fu: Well in fact we do that too. Especially around Chinese New Year, we have two or three days of mass evangelism, we call it revival meetings. And also we do that during the summer. So in fact our Christians are quite familiar with mass evangelism, or we can say revival meetings or crusades.

In fact our Christians welcome this very much, to their understanding of what mass evangelism is that they can have church meetings for longer periods of time and listen to more messages. They really enjoy it.

I think this is one of the reasons that contribute to the growth of the churches in China.

CP: How many people are you talking about when you say revival meetings?

Fu: Well it depends in fact on the size of the churches, from 1,000 to 8,000. So 4,000 to 5,000 is normal.


CP: Is there diversity among TSPM churches, or do they have the same preaching style and programme?

Fu: Well our traditional backgrounds are different. So probably the worship style of the coastal area may be different than inland China. Some churches will take more active approach and some churches are more traditional. Some carry more denominational features.


CP: How are the TSPM churches funded?

Fu: Christian member offerings.


CP: How does a Chinese Christian join a TSPM church?

Fu: So up to six month training. We require that they attend inquiry class for six months. So in fact every day two hours in the evening. So a pastor will call them to gather and teach them the basic understandings of the Bible. So in fact when they are up to five months in training they will take some exams. So the pastor thinks he or she is ok, this person can request to be baptised. Then after that he becomes a full member of that church.


CP: What is the TSPM’s view on house churches?

Fu: In fact in China there is not such a concept as house church. So in fact Christians in China have this tradition that they like to meet in people’s homes during the weekends or evenings to share and chat. So in fact we support this kind of form of worshipping and we also provide them learning materials and Bibles. Some of those Christians also go to our churches on Sunday and also some of them have good relationship with our churches and pastors.