MINISTRY / On the government's watch list

"I fear I'm being watched. I shouldn’t meet with you." 

Watched by the government

Those were the words of one of the house church leaders 316NOW works with. Both he and our liaison were in a city hundreds of miles away from their hometowns. Nonetheless, he feared the long arm of China's surveillance network scrutinized his every move.

Imagine being on a government watch list. Not because you have ties to a radical group of revolutionaries. But because you are a Christian who shepherds a dozen other Christians so through them even more come to faith in Jesus.

The Chinese Communist Party considers Christianity a threat. It is working to turn the official Chinese Protestant Church's organization and messaging into a public relations tool. That makes independent house churches a menace. House churches with connections to the West are even more of a menace.

Watched over by God

Training house church leaders in China imposes challenges that go beyond anything the American Church experiences. Fortunately, our God is greater (Psalm 95:3). And his Word cannot be chained (2 Timothy 2:9b).