wfn.org | 150th Anniversary of Missionaries to China

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
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Note 468 by UMNS on Nov. 21, 1997 at 16:20 Eastern (4158 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Bloom							656(10-21-71B){468}
		New York (212) 870-3803					 Nov. 21, 1997

Celebrations to recognize 150th
anniversary of China missionaries

				by United Methodist News Service

	In recognition of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Methodist
missionaries in China, a United Methodist Board of Global Ministries
delegation has been invited to celebrations there and in Hong Kong.
	The festivities begin Dec. 14 in Hong Kong at the Ward Memorial Methodist
Church and will include Methodist delegations from Taiwan, Singapore and
Malaysia, according to the Rev. David Wu, a board executive.
	Besides Wu, the U.S. delegation includes Bishop Robert Morgan of Louisville,
Ky.; the Rev. Tracey Jones, former general secretary for the Board of Global
Ministries, and his wife Junia; Kristine Keels, a board director from
Randallstown, Md., and Susan Smalley, a board director from Kenai, Alaska.
	At the October annual meeting, Jones told board directors that the invitation
is "far more" than a remembrance of the Rev. Moses and Isabel White, those
first missionaries who arrived in Fuzhou (Foochow), China, in 1847.
	The celebrations also mark the return of Hong Kong to the Chinese people;
recognize the bonds of friendship between Chinese and American churches;
acknowledge the faithfulness of Christian churches in China and Hong Kong; and
recall the lives of all missionaries there, according to Jones.
	"There is no way we can celebrate the faithfulness of the church in China
without remembering the bitter suffering over the past 30 years," he said,
noting that Christians were not only ridiculed and humiliated, but also
imprisoned. "During the cultural revolution, all Christian churches were
closed, worship forbidden, Bibles confiscated."
	During the century between the first missionary presence and the end of World
War II, hundreds of U.S. missionaries were sent to China. But even in 1949,
Jones pointed out -- when there were thousands of churches and church-related
schools and 300 Christian hospitals -- most Chinese still considered
Christianity a foreign religion.
	After China's civil war between Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek and the Korean
War, Protestant churches were pushed by the government to unify into what
became the Three-Self (self-evangelizing, self-governing and self-supporting)
movement. By 1954, nearly all foreign missionaries had left China or had been
expelled.
	The "faithfulness" of Chinese Christians during the years that followed
sustained the church there and in 1982, the People's Republic of China
officially recognized Christianity in its constitution as one of its five
religions.
	The Three-Self Movement, according to Wu, has enabled Christianity in China
to become "the faith that grows out of the Chinese soil," rather than a
foreign-supported movement.
	After two centuries, the image of Christianity as a foreign religion has been
erased as "Christians move in tune with the Chinese experience," he said.
	Today, "you can travel far and wide in China and attend all the services with
easy access," Wu added, noting that he recently had preached in Beijing before
3,000 people. "The churches are just flooded with people."
	In particular, the churches are alive in the Fuzhou area, where the Methodist
missionary work began. The delegation will arrive there Dec. 15, hosted by the
China Christian Council, and visit the Fujian Christian Council and Three-Self
Patriotic Movement Committee as well as a number of churches, a seminary and a
kindergarten.
	They also will visit with Christians in Fuqing, Putian, Huian and Xiamen
before leaving China on Dec. 20.
	While reports of Christian persecution in China persist -- the U.S. State
Department officially criticized China for suppressing religious worship in a
report issued last July -- Wu said the Chinese Christians he knows personally
never have complained about such treatment.
	He noted that the Chinese government has returned many church buildings
confiscated by the Communists or has provided other land or compensation when
a return is not possible.
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