Have you ever wondered how many Christians live in the world’s most populated country?
Right from the start of our long involvement in China, the question of how many believers are scattered throughout the land has been on the front of our minds. This question is not a new one. When the great Italian explorer Marco Polo returned from China 700 years ago, Europeans were amazed to hear about the churches and Christian monasteries he encountered in various parts of the country.
Since we started serving in Asia in the 1980s, we have found that many people around the world are eager to know how many Christians live in China. Most are aware that God has been doing something wonderful in China since the Communists came to power in 1949, but little research has ever been conducted to put a figure on this phenomenon. Estimates published in recent years give wildly divergent figures, ranging anywhere from 20 to 230 million!
About ten years ago we started to collect information on how many Christians live in each part of China. The information was meticulously gathered from published sources and from our own contacts within the house church networks, and from many missionaries. This has been no small undertaking as China’s 31 provinces are broken down into prefectures, which are subsequently divided into a total of 2,370 counties and cities.
Knowing how many Christians live in different parts of China is important for our work at Asia Harvest, as it helps us pinpoint where we should send more Bibles to equip believers, and focuses projects like the Asian Workers’ fund by showing us which parts of the country need the Gospel more than others.
On our website we provide estimates of how many Christians of different church affiliations live in each of China’s 2,370 cities and counties, as well as an article explaining the methodology of how we conducted our survey. To access this information, please visit our website www.asiaharvest.org and then click on the button "The Church in China." Our statistics are constantly being updated as new information comes to light.
Overall, our survey found that China has 24 times more Christians today than it did in 1949. Xinjiang in the northwest has 708 times more believers now than at the advent of Communism! What a marvelous testimony this is to the grace and power of God. No man-made system or government can thwart His plans for the nations of the world!
As you look over the figures of what God has done in China, we encourage you to keep a few things in mind...
* The Church in China has not grown by chance. Thousands of believers have been martyred over the past 60 years, and hundreds of thousands imprisoned and experienced deprivation because of their faith in Jesus Christ. The blood of the saints has been the seed of the Church in China.
* As you read about how revival has swept China, don’t be discouraged if where you live has not experienced anything similar. Remember that just a generation ago there were very few Christians in the land. They have been catching up by the hand and mercy of God!
* Despite the spectacular growth of the Church in China, consider that today only 7.6% of people in the country are Christians. More than 92 out of every 100 people remain lost and hell-bound, perishing outside of the kingdom of God. House church leaders have told us how ashamed and burdened they feel that so many of their countrymen have yet to know Jesus as Lord. This motivates them to do whatever it takes to preach the Gospel to every ethnic group and in every city, town and village, and to do everything necessary to see Jesus Christ exalted throughout the land. It is a great blessing to be able to serve them in this mighty endeavor.