For all the talk about underground churches in China, a megachurch in the communist nation sat 5,000 on Easter Sunday. The $11 million building holds more than twice the capacity of Westminster Abbey in London.
“It is a wonderful thing to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It gives us great confidence,” Jin Hongxin, a 40-year-old visitor who was admiring the 206-foot golden cross above Liushi church’s altar in the lead up to Holy Week, told The Telegraph. “If everyone in China believed in Jesus then we would have no more need for police stations. There would be no more bad people and therefore no more crime.”
Indeed. The Telegraph story then goes on to toss out some facts and figures. Yes, the People’s Republic of China is officially an atheist nation. But it seems more and more of its 1.3 billion citizens are seeking some form of spirituality—and the gospel is right there to answer that hunger.
That led the Telegraph’s Tom Phillips to point out a conclusion that some are coming to: The stage is set for China to become the largest Christian nation on the globe.
“By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon,” Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule, told the Telegraph. “It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change.”
Could this be true? And if so, what does that say about the United States of America? Is China gaining Christ at a time when America is losing its religion? Sound off in the comment box below.
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