Telegraph article: China to be nation with most number of Christians by 2030.

[Xavier]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10776023/China-on-course-to-become-worlds-most-Christian-nation-within-15-years.html

Thoughts? About 60% of the world's population lives in Asia and China alone accounts for roughly a third of that. China is officially atheistic, but there are millions in China who find communism and materialism false and unsatisfactory, and have found Jesus Christ or His Church. Most of those mentioned are Protestants, though some are Catholics also. If we are interested in finishing or fulfilling the Great Commission, we cannot neglect China, and it likely will have an important role to play in 21st century global Christianity. Catholics should carefully study what Protestants are doing correctly and what the Church could do better.

Eta: See also https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/China-officially-atheist-could-have-more-12633079.php

"It is said to be China's biggest church and on Easter Sunday thousands of worshippers will flock to this Asian mega-temple to pledge their allegiance – not to the Communist Party, but to the Cross.

The 5,000-capacity Liushi church, which boasts more than twice as many seats as Westminster Abbey and a 206ft crucifix that can be seen for miles around, opened last year with one theologian declaring it a "miracle that such a small town was able to build such a grand church".

The £8 million building is also one of the most visible symbols of Communist China's breakneck conversion as it evolves into one of the largest Christian congregations on earth.

"It is a wonderful thing to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It gives us great confidence," beamed Jin Hongxin, a 40-year-old visitor who was admiring the golden cross above Liushi's altar in the lead up to Holy Week.

"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," she added.

Officially, the People's Republic of China is an atheist country but that is changing fast as many of its 1.3 billion citizens seek meaning and spiritual comfort that neither communism nor capitalism seem to have supplied.

Christian congregations in particular have skyrocketed since churches began reopening when Chairman Mao's death in 1976 signalled the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Less than four decades later, some believe China is now poised to become not just the world's number one economy but also its most numerous Christian nation.

"By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon," said Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule.

"It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change."

China's Protestant community, which had just one million members in 1949, has already overtaken those of countries more commonly associated with an evangelical boom. In 2010 there were more than 58 million Protestants in China compared to 40 million in Brazil and 36 million in South Africa, according to the Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Prof Yang, a leading expert on religion in China, believes that number will swell to around 160 million by 2025. That would likely put China ahead even of the United States, which had around 159 million Protestants in 2010 but whose congregations are in decline.

By 2030, China's total Christian population, including Catholics, would exceed 247 million, placing it above Mexico, Brazil and the United States as the largest Christian congregation in the world, he predicted.

"Mao thought he could eliminate religion. He thought he had accomplished this," Prof Yang said. "It's ironic – they didn't. They actually failed completely." ...

[Prayerful]

Francis is working with his brother Communists, the ones in China, to make sure that doesn't happen.

[Xavier]

I would truly love for the Shepherds and Apostles of the Church, i.e. our Bishops, to be leading the charge here, with the Army of Catholic Priests, Nuns and Monks, beside Families and Laity interested in prayer and other support of evangelism, but since that's sometimes lacking today, sadly, here's a report on Christianity in Asia from an evangelical site, mentioning both China and India, and prospects for Christ in Asia. From Asia Harvest Hopefully, there will be a Council or something later this century properly re-uniting separated Christians with the Catholic Church. Anyway, at least some people are coming to Christ, and some to His Church.

"All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace." (Isaiah 54:13) The world seems like a very dark and depressing place at the moment. If we spend too much time watching the news it's easy to think that evil is winning and God's kingdom is losing. Nothing could be further from the truth! We recently spent an extended period of time meeting our project leaders throughout Asia. After weeks of praying and strategizing with these key co-workers, we felt greatly encouraged. Despite many hardships and struggles, the kingdom of God is advancing in extraordinary ways, and entire communities are being transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been serving the Lord in India since 1991. To be honest, in the early part of those 25 years we often felt demoralized about the prospects for the Gospel there ... More than once we said, "India is so complex that only God can reach it." Well, we have some good news: God is reaching India!

While the Gospel continues to face many barriers in the cities, where resistant Muslims and high-caste Hindus tend to live, the bulk of India's population lives in more-than one million rural villages. About 90% of those villages are inhabited by poor Hindus and tribal people, and it is among these precious groups that the Lord is reaping a mighty harvest.

If you are familiar with the work of Asia Harvest, you will know that China has been our major focus since we began in the 1980s. Indeed, we gained a reputation for knowing something about the Church in China, and even wrote several books on the mighty revival there. Now, we are seeing and hearing testimonies from throughout India that are very similar to stories that came out of China when the revival fires burned hot in the 1990s. We are excited to be in a position to help the kingdom of God advance in India, as we have in China. In fact, after much prayer and many meetings with key ministry leaders, we would like to make a bold prediction: In the next decade or so, India will be home to more Christians than China!

Experts say India will surpass China as the world's most populated country just six years from now, in 2022. India's population currently stands at over 1.2 billion people. The government claims that 3.5% are Christians, which would give a total of about 42 million believers. However, every Indian church leader we know says the government's estimate is ludicrously low, and that the true percentage of Christians in India may already be at least 8 to 10 percent. If true, that would give a total number of between 96 to 120 million Christians in India today. Hallelujah!

The Holy Spirit is doing a powerful work throughout India, especially among the poor and downtrodden of society, and many are pressing into the kingdom of God. This is not going unnoticed. The Hindu newspaper on August 30th last year ran an article about religion in the large state of Odisha with the headline: "Population of Christians Grew by 478% in Odisha in 50 Years." The article summarized how Christianity in the state far outpaced Hindu and Muslim growth over that time.

While the population in many Western nations is aging, when you travel to a place like India you are instantly struck by the extraordinary number of children everywhere. In fact, 40 percent of India's population are children under the age of 15. For the kingdom of God to flourish throughout the thousands of ethnic groups in India, the children must hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ!"

[Antoninus]

Sadly, most Christians in China are now Protestant. When the Reds took over it was the reverse, with Catholics outnumbering Protestants by more than 3 to 1. I imagine Prots will outpace Catholics even more now that Francis made that Judas deal with the ChiComs:



"The number of Catholics increased from about three million in 1949 to about nine million in 2010, which kept up with the general population growth. Meanwhile, the number of Protestant Christians increased from less than one million in 1949 to about 58 million in 2010."

https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/christianity-s-growth-in-china-and-its-contributions-to-freedoms