“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…” (opening lines from A Tale of Two Cities)

Setting

A megachurch in a large American city occupies a prominent piece of real estate near the urban center.  The sanctuary and parking accommodate thousands.  Greeters welcome visitors inside while attendants direct traffic outside.  Amenities compare to downtown office buildings – spacious foyers, comfortable air conditioning, fresh coffee, with modern sound and light systems.

In China, an underground house church meets in a living room of an apartment in a rural area.  Attendees pack the tight space, standing or sitting on plastic chairs and floor cushions.  Temperatures can reach 100 degrees with no A/C.  Authorities recently became aware of their gatherings, possibly requiring a move soon to a more secluded, secure location.  Bibles are notably absent and hymnals are shared.

Strategy

Visible signage, colorful banners, branded billboards, and invitational mailers proclaim a consistent message – “come as you are” because “no perfect people are allowed”.  The target audience is young families – services and sermons are designed specifically to accommodate them.  The blueprint for church growth has also been the same since its inception – engage the kids and you’ll get the parents.  No smaller church in town can possibly match the facilities, gadgets, and social activities of the children’s ministry, middle school, and teen youth groups.

The Chinese house church has no name or public advertising.  Curtains are drawn and doors close after the room fills, which it usually does through the power of word of mouth and the Holy Spirit.  It’s easy to attract attenders and police attention in this heavily monitored area because these Christ-followers are committed enough to risk exposure.  The audience is everyday people – young professionals, college students, and migrant workers.  Who’s conspicuously absent are casual seekers and cultural Christians.  No attempts are made to entertain and engage, except in God’s Word.

Format

The megachurch offers multiple services, which are carefully choreographed and time-boxed.  Leaders understand how busy Americans are, with limited time on weekends between soccer games, ballet recitals, and NFL starting earlier every year.  Society used to organize events around church, but now church conforms to culture.  The fast food formula consists of three songs, announcements, a (25 minute) sermon, and an offering – rarely longer than an hour from entry to exit.  Sunday school and lunch afterward are historical relics.  A small subset of the congregation carve out time for a Wednesday small group or Friday youth group.

Back in China, worshippers wake up at 5:00am to travel and gather before daylight.  Services are as short as 4 hours and can go beyond 12 straight.  There’s no script, leaving room for the Holy Spirit to take over.  The atmosphere is emotional, intense, informal, biblical, and prayerful – thankful for the privilege to learn more about Jesus.  Deep, personal sharing trumps rigid, liturgical programs.  While the church in America debates multi-site, these disciples opt to meet multiple days per week.  Multi-site means more expense, but increasing the odds of being caught could cost their lives.

Teachings

Topics are culturally relevant.  Messages address parenting, relationships, and life’s typical struggles in a biblical context – delivered concisely and eloquently.  Members have several Bibles at home, but few bring one to church.  Children learn the Old Testament stories and New Testament parables but aren’t taught their inconvenient truths.  Lessons emphasize God’s love, provision, and forgiveness.  There’s no good news (Gospel) without bad news, but little is said about the Bible’s recurring references to sin’s severe consequences, God’s holiness, sanctification, or damnation.

Meanwhile, a young leader in China without a seminary degree preaches hard truths.  Unsettling verses aren’t ignored.  Palatable interpretations aren’t offered.  Practical application is favored over popular themes.  The Gospel is shared regularly, not to reach seekers, but in gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice and in celebration of His resurrection.  Those brave enough to accept an invitation to church are primed to accept an invitation to salvation.  Few have Bibles at home, so they’re eager to consume biblical education.  It’s quite a different experience teaching the persecuted what they may die to hear.

Discipleship

Ask the megachurch’s leadership about the Great Commission and they’re likely to start talking about small groups.  Small groups make a church “sticky” but don’t make disciples.  Learning how to follow in Jesus’ footsteps requires a level of personal confession and accountability rarely seen in that context.  Jesus taught the crowds but discipled individually and at (intimate) tables.  The ripple effect is parents ill-equipped to disciple their children, leaving that responsibility to youth group (which, as we discussed, doesn’t do that well either).

Because Christian evangelism and Scripture are banned in China, individual churchgoers become the pastors within their families and neighborhoods.  Discipleship-driven, evangelistic cell groups dot the landscape.  Christ-followers are eager to share Jesus with those they love.  They’re being prepared well to do so by the church, knowing it’s the only hope of getting the message out.  The fields are ripe for harvest in China because a communist system, a leader, and the state cannot fill mankind’s God-shaped hole.

Resistance

Many high school graduates who grew up in the megachurch’s children and youth ministries have come home at Christmas break announcing doubts about their faith.  They knew the Bible stories but weren’t ready to answer questions by progressive classmates and professors – unable to explain or defend creation, the goodness of God, the existence of evil, and the reliability of the Bible.  Parents had reinforced the church’s “positive” messaging at home, so when “negatives” were finally presented in college, they had no response to what appeared to be valid objections.

Congregants of the Chinese house church would (literally) take a bullet for their beliefs.  As with the early Church, where persecution was rampant, there was no “Christian vs. disciple” dichotomy – those were synonyms.  Their soil is rich and roots are deep.  Seeds planted in China aren’t struggling to grow between rocks or on hard ground, capitulating when trouble comes.  They understand the underpinnings of the Gospel and will sacrifice their time to learn about it and their freedom to share it.

As a Result…

Over 80% of American congregations have shrunk or plateaued.  Of the rest, 80% are growing due mostly to transfers from other churches, not conversions.  Church attendance has declined more in the past quarter-century than any other period in our nation’s history (40 million).  U.S. adults identifying as Christian decreased 25% since the early 1990s.  Only 52% of born-again believers have witnessed to someone at least once in the past year and 95% have never led someone to Christ, opting (and encouraged) instead to invite friends to church to hear from a “professional”.

In the past 50 years Christianity has exploded in growth in China – from roughly 1 million to 100 million believers, with a projected 250 million by 2030.  Since the days of the early Church, decentralization, infiltration, transformation, and empowerment have always led to rapid multiplication.  Terrestrial and online evangelism is courageous and creative – discretely distributing Christian materials and bypassing online firewalls despite censorship and surveillance.

It’s Your Turn…

Does the stark contrast between this tale of two churches make you think helping the persecuted should be a high priority?  Yet according to a recent survey, that’s only the case for 3 of the 150 largest churches and 2 of the 20 largest Christian denominations in the U.S.  Given the wealth gap between the American megachurch and Chinese house church – and the fact that most collections taken up for the poor in the New Testament went toward the persecuted – does it surprise you that only 0.5% of church giving today supports Christians in highly restricted countries?