Churches in China

Today, K-Love Radio, in partnership with ICM, raised money to build churches in China, specifically the Hunan region. Apparantly, the government has somewhat relaxed their constant persecution of Christians for the moment and there is an opening for the Christians in China to establish houses of worship in accordance with the prevailing Chinese laws. The goal is to raise enough money to build as many church buildings as possible.

As I listened to the ads on the radio tonight, I was struck by the fact that so many people are giving to this cause. I suppose this is a good thing. But then, as a reminder of the kind of government is in power in China, I read the following in the Voice of the Martyrs newsletter:

When Chinese house-church historian Zhang Yinan applied for a passport, in order to attend a prayer breakfast in Washington this month, police immediately surrounded his house and followed his wife to the hospital where she works as a nurse. Zhang, 50, was arrested on September 26, 2003, and imprisoned for two years on charges of "attempting to subvert the national government." He was released last September, but the Lushan County Police Bureau has retained his personal documents, including his identity card, making it impossible for him to travel. Police in Henan used Zhang’s personal prayer journals as evidence to accuse him of trying to overthrow the government. Zhang recently demanded the return of these journals and other documents, but police officer Li Haitao, Zhang’s chief interrogator, refused. When asked for an explanation, Li said he had to continue studying the journals to find any other incriminating evidence against Zhang.

Pray Zhang will hold fast his faith and witness to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Pray God will give Zhang His mind-boggling spirit of love toward the officials who are harassing him. Pray Li Haitao will actually read Zhang’s journals and be drawn to the One who is calling him.

I know that my fellow Christians are compelled to help our brothers in China. But do we really want to help them build church buildings where the government can control them and persecute them if some government official thinks they are stepping out of line? I would rather support those underground house churches that have multiplied and continue to grow uncontrolled by the government.

New calendar

A new calendar of house church events has been added to the home page. All new events will be added to this calendar.

Megachurches

In the middle of the responses to George Barna's "Revolution", there now is a new report by the Leadership Network on megachurches based on a Megachurches Today 2005 survey sponsored by Leadership Network and the Hartford Institute of Religion Research. The full report is available at http://hirr.hartsem.edu/org/faith_megachurches.html .

The report by Leadership Network is available at http://www.leadnet.org/about_OurNews.asp and is called "New Research Debunks 11 Myths About Megachurches". From the report it appears that there has been an increase in megachurch growth from 2000 to 2005. Some excerpts from the report:

The Megachurches Today 2005 survey is the most thoroughly researched study ever made of the Protestant megachurch movement in the United States. Since June 2005, more than 1,800 churches have been contacted by e-mail, phone and mail, with complete data for more than 400 qualifying congregations received, tabulated and analyzed.
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According to Warren Bird, Leadership Network’s Director of Research, “Based on the results of this survey, we are able to conclude that there are at least 1,210 Protestant churches in the United States today with average weekly attendance of over 2,000. That is nearly double the number of megachurches that existed five years ago.”
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The wide-ranging survey includes data on the many attributes that together define the nature and impact of megachurches in our society. Collectively, the results debunk 11 of the most common beliefs about megachurches, namely:
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I won't list those 11 things; I'll let you read them for yourself; but I just want to comment on a couple of things.

First, let me say that I have no doubt that most of the so-called megachurches are used by God in very mightly ways. I don't want to be too critical of these churches because I have many friends that are very happy being part of one of them.

Second, this research seems to fly in the face of some of Barna's research of late. Unless you look at how the research is done. On January 10, The Barna Update featured a survey that I commented on earlier, "Surveys Show Pastors Claim Congregants Are Deeply Committed to God But Congregants Deny It!". The full report can be found at http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=215 . This survey was done by two separate telephone surveys, one to a random selection of congregants and one to a large number of senior pastors at various Protestant churches. On the other hand, the research done for the megachurch survey was done by sending mail and email surveys to the churches themselves.

I think this is important to remember when looking at the results of the research.

I have no doubt that the number of megachurches has increased lately but Barna's research indicates that 80% of the growth is from transfers from other churches. Most major denominations have a very large number of churches with less than 100 members. It appears that many of these churches are losing people to the megachurches through transfers. This has to be happening if the church has not grown considerably in recent years, as Barna's research has shown. Barna's research has shown that the real growth is in the numbers not attending any institutional church.

Ishmael’s Rage

Blogger Peter Shaw gives a very Biblical perspective on all the rioting going on around the world in response to the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammad:

The Danish cartoons depicting the image of the Muslim Prophet Mohammad is just the latest ignition switch for the rage of the Muslim world against seemingly everyone else. However, as you read or hear the headlines about the daily torchings and fire-bombing of Western Embassies by Muslim mobs, do not fail to note the prediction of an all-knowing God .....

Read the rest at http://workingclay.blogspot.com/2006/02/ishmaels-rage.html

To read what other Christian bloggers around the world are saying about this madness, go to http://www.blogs4god.com/

House Church Retreat

Last weekend the long awaited regional house church retreat with George Patterson was attended by approximately 50 people that are "out of the box" and experiencing God in house churches throughout Phoenix and Arizona. The Prescott Pines Camp was a great place for this and the weather was perfect. George gave up his weekend to come down from Portland to train us on the principles of church multiplication.

For more information on the retreat, see http://www.eastvalleyhousechurch.org/News.htm