Chinese church sees dozens come to Christ, in China

Erik Burklin in China to help train
 Christian leaders.

China (MNN) ― Ministry reports out of China are mixed. Some report ministry is more open than it's ever been before. Other groups say Christians are oppressed more than ever. We know both are true. We've told you about stories of house churches being closed down and Christians arrested. However, here's a story not at all like that one.

President of China Partners Eric Burklin just returned from China. He says one registered church pastor is seeing many turn to Christ through hotel outreach "by renting a ballroom at a local hotel, and then having each church member bring a non-Christian friend or family member to this special event. They have dancing, plays, and music. At the end, he preached an evangelistic message, and 60 accepted Christ."

Burklin says pastors are using avenues outside the local church to introduce people to Christ. This pastor says he's baptized more than 200 new believers.

Many people wonder if this is illegal. Burklin did, too. "I asked this pastor very specifically, 'Isn't this illegal?' He said, 'Well, we didn't ask authorities ahead of time. We just did it. We figured that if they weren't going to say anything, we were just going to do it.'"

China Partner provides training to church leaders in the country. Burklin says the leaders are asking for something controversial -- youth training. It's illegal to evangelize children under 18. "They would have to figure out how they could legally do that. The government is very concerned about not forcing anybody under 18 to make a decision in any religious direction."

Despite that, China Partners is raising money for this new ministry push. Burklin says it's important, especially since many young people who are in their late teens and early 20's are interested in knowing about God. He says a conversation with a 22-year-old university graduate at McDonalds in China proves this. "This conversation at McDonalds turned into a day-long witnessing [event], because the next day we invited her to come to church where we were doing our training. And she did show up."

If you'd like to help China Partner with youth ministry training in China, click here. 

Youth longing for peace in the Arab world

The key role played by young people during the transformations in the Arab world throughout the past year was a recurrent theme for the recent World Council of Churches (WCC) Christian-Muslim consultation on “Christian Presence and Witness in the Arab World”.

The consultation was organised by the WCC programmes for Churches in the Middle East and Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation in collaboration with the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) in Antelias, Lebanon.

The consultation took place from 24 to 28 January 2012 and brought together a number of religious leaders, scholars and young activists.

The participants' passion and longing for political and religious freedom, human dignity and rights, and social and economic justice for all people of the Arab world marked the event.

The importance of equal citizenship for all was reiterated frequently. The politics and relationships between the values of citizenship and its links to religious institutions were debated.

Short but vivid sketches highlighted recent events, problems and signs of hope in a wide range of countries. It was acknowledged that in some parts of the Arab world, Christians and Muslims were afraid of the uncertainties that the future might bring.

However, it was also noted that the people of God must not deal in the currency of fear. It was important that the religions themselves were willing to become part of the process of transformation.

As one participant put it, “We need religious leaders who are willing to play a prophetic role, and to be people of vision and wisdom.”

A number of specific proposals and suggestions were put forward in the final communiqué of the meeting.

This consultation was in one of a series of meetings being held in preparation of a major international ecumenical gathering on the Christian presence in the Middle East. This meeting is being planned by the WCC in partnership with the MECC, and is due to take place in December 2012.

[Ekk/3]