Are you ready to go on a mission team to China? See the video and read the interview with a disciple familiar with the International Churches of Christ in China. For obvious reasons, we’ve omitted names of specific individuals or church locations.

DT: A lot of our readers have heard of the China churches but we don’t really know much about them. Can you give our readers an overview?

We’ve planted about 16 underground churches in China. Altogether there are over 700 disciples in these churches. The first one was planted over 15 years ago. The newest one was planted just last year!

DT: What’s the one thing you think most disciples outside China don’t know about the churches there?

I don’t think most disciples realize that the churches are all led by Chinese men and women, or over 90% of the funding for missions in this area comes from Chinese-speaking churches. They are raising up and training new leaders themselves, sending out new churches, and very flexible about trying new ways to be effective in ministry. It’s obvious that the church has really been planted here—it’s putting down roots and bearing fruit.

DT: Is it illegal to be a Christian in China?

No, although it’s not surprising that people get that impression since we talk about underground churches.

It’s not illegal to be a Christian in China, and especially for foreign disciples visiting China, there’s no need to worry about carrying a Bible or letting people know you are a Christian.

DT: So, why are our churches “underground”? What exactly does that mean?

Religion in China is under a greater degree of state control than in many countries—although all countries regulate what religious groups can do to one degree or another. In China, the government recognizes two churches, one official Protestant church and one official Catholic church. But many believers cannot in good conscience be a part of these government-sanctioned churches, and so they form so-called “underground” churches.

DT: What kind of difficulties does that cause the disciples?

For one, when the church reaches a certain size, it’s very difficult to meet together, since we can’t rent a venue as a church.

Holding multi-congregational conferences is pretty much off-limits, as is open evangelism.

It’s a difficulty, but also maybe a blessing, that the church can’t rely on events to evangelize but must focus almost entirely on building good relationships to share the gospel. In the West inviting someone to church is usually a major step, or even the first step in sharing with someone. In China, there are rarely visitors at church—only someone very close to being baptized would be invited to attend.

DT: We’ve heard that some underground churches are registering with the government—is that good news for our churches in China?

Yes, we’re encouraged and hopeful about this direction. It may be too early still to tell what the final outcome of this change will be.

DT: Why the apparent change of attitude towards Christianity?

I think as Chinese officials become more familiar with Christianity, they realize that Christians are not anti-government and in fact want to help build a peaceful, modern society that values family and principle. We pray for China and its leaders. Like Paul told Timothy, we teach that Christians should “live peaceful and quiet lives.”

DT: How is the typical Sunday service in one of our China churches different from in the West?

Quieter, probably! (laughter) Often it’s not possible to having singing, or if there is singing, the disciples have to be reminded to sing quietly. It’s really quite different to hear a song leader encourage you to not give it your all when singing!

DT: We heard a Chinese sister was killed recently because of her faith. Can you tell us more?

She was a young Christian. She’d been baptized only a few months earlier, and had returned to her former roommate’s flat. This roommate was living in a sinful relationship with a man she was not married to, and the sister confronted her about this.

In anger, she later told her boyfriend, who lured our sister back to the flat under pretense. When she arrived, he surprised her and brutally strangled her. She died because of her brave stand for righteousness.

Even in this tragedy God brought about some good. At a memorial service the church held for her, one brother who had left the church was so moved by her ultimate sacrifice for her faith that he decided to repent and return to God.

DT: Did the churches in China start from a campus ministry focus as in so many other places?

No. In fact, for years we did not evangelize on campus at all. Thankfully that’s changed in the last five years, due to the more open atmosphere in China. There’s also a recognition that we need to reach campus students to build up the leadership of future churches.

DT: So how are the campus ministries doing now?

In the last five years we’ve seen about 200 campus baptisms, with over 60 in 2007! Already this year we’ve seen about 40 campus baptisms, and we’re praying for many more this year.

DT: What can disciples around the world do to encourage the spread of the gospel in China.

For one, those who have business dealings in China have a great opportunity to share with their colleagues and business contacts. We’ve recently seen several young managers in multi-national companies baptized into Christ, and often their first contact with Christianity was a colleague from the U.S. or Europe sharing a Bible or a spiritual book like Purpose Filled Life.

There’s a great opportunity for single disciples who want to go to China as English teachers. They can contact This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

Pray for China. There are over 1 billion people here who need the saving message of Jesus!