CHINA: ALREADY, NOT YET
By Blake Killingsworth
In the field of eschatology, there is a common saying in regard to the role of the Kingdom of God
on earth – “already, not yet.” The Kingdom of God is already present in the world in the hearts of the
people of God, and it is also not yet present because so much more is still to come. As I flew home
from my recent trip with the Baptist World Alliance delegation to China, this phrase came to mind, not
with reference to the Kingdom, but with reference to the Chinese church – already, not yet.
ALREADY
As guests of the China Christian Council, our delegation had the chance to see firsthand the work
that the Lord has been doing among the Protestant churches in China, and the sight was nothing less
than impressive in the area of Bible distribution, social action, and Christian conversion.
In the town of Nanjing, we toured the Amity Printing Press, the largest distributor of Bibles in the
world. Begun in 1986, the group recently celebrated the printing of their 65 millionth Bible. The press
is currently capable of churning out 1.5 million Bibles per month, with copies provided in not only
Chinese, but also in eight minority languages as well as French, English, Spanish, and a variety
of other languages. We also heard stories at each of our locations of individuals coming to Christ
through the reading of the Bible, often as an assignment from a class teaching English to students.
Being good Baptists and “people of the book,” these stories brought smiles to our faces.
There were also incredible examples of the church engaged in the social aspect of the Gospel.
In a seminary in Nanjing, we discussed a new movement among the Chinese churches known as
Reconstruction Theology. Drawing no connection to the western version of the same name, this
movement is attempting to point the Chinese church back to the supremacy of the Scriptures and
especially those passages that call upon the church to be Christ’s hands of love and service to the
world around them. Another example came from the work of the Amity Foundation. Founded in 1986,
the Amity Foundation is a Christian organization whose mission is to serve the Chinese community
through medical aid, elderly care, special education, clean water initiatives, and a variety of other
non-government organizations.
We visited various churches on our tour, each of which showed evidence of dynamic, Spirit-filled
activity. Perhaps the most striking symbol of this came as we toured the
PHOTO: BWA President David Coffey with Gao Ying, vice president of the Nanjing Union Theological
Seminary
20
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32