Top Evangelist: China House Church Meeting with US President to have Great Impact

KUALA LUMPUR – The distinguished Chinese evangelists Rev. Stephen Tong has said the recent meeting of 3 Chinese house church Christians with the US president Bush would "have great impact to the future of China."

|PIC1|Speaking at the weekly Bible exposition Monday in Kuala Lumpur, Tong drew the attention of the audience to the issue.

The three Chinese Christians activists Yu Jie, Li Boguang and Wang Yi, who are around 2.5 to 4 years in faith, were criticised by other official Christians for not being qualified to represent Chinese Christianity. However, as they are all influential attorneys and authors in Mainland China, and represent Christian intellectuals of the future generation, according to Tong.

The opening of dialogue between China and the United States is seen internationally as vitally important.

Bush, being the president of arguably the most powerful country in the world, could still be educated about the reality of the situation in China by the three representatives. Especially given the fact that the three Christians also once belonged to the official Church in China, Tong commented.

Last Wednesday, the meeting at the White House was the first ever between Bush and house church Christians since China has taken over by the Communist Party in 1949.

|TOP|At the same time, it coincided with a controversial Bible ministry exhibition sponsored by the government-sanctioned China Christian Council and Three-Self Patriotic Movement of Protestant Churches (CCC/TSPM). The exhibition is taking place across the United States from late April to mid June, and aims to show that religious freedom does exists in China.

A number of evangelicals, who mostly support the house church movement, have dismissed the exhibition.

Bush’s decision to accept the unprecedented meeting with the three house church Chinese Christians to discuss matters of religious freedom appears to be a declaration of open defiance to the Chinese government.

Tong also expressed his concern about the safety of the three Chinese Christians after their visit with Bush. He said on Monday, "Will they be arrested after going back to China? We must pray for them. Our serving is a spiritual warfare. Even when we pray, preach, give testimony or evangelise, we face spiritual warfare." |AD|

According to various sources, Yu Jie and others have been warned by Chinese officials that they will face "serious consequences".

Nevertheless, in an interview with the Gospel Herald last week, Li Baoguang said, "As a Christian, we only worry about today, we entrust everything to the hands of our Lord Jesus. We are not worried about the future, just believing that our Lord Jesus is guiding us."

Looking at the example set by the three Chinese Christians, Tong exhorted Malaysian Christians to set up pure faith in the Lord so that they can represent the future generation of Christian in Malaysia.

"You should not only aim to influence Malaysia, but you must look to have impact on Chinese Christians around the world," said Tong.



[Editor’s Note: Emily Wong reported from Kuala Lumpur for this article and Eunice Or from San Francisco.]




Emily Wong & Eunice Or
Christian Today Correspondents