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For years many have been
trying to estimate the number of Christians living in China. Some thought there
were up to 120 million. Others thought it was closer to 20 million. However, no
one could back up their claim with research. Well, now they can. China Partner
asked a select group of people to travel into China’s 31 municipalities,
provinces and autonomous regions.
“We did research in all
provinces, except Tibet,” explained Werner Burklin, founder of China Partners.
“We polled 5,340 people, and we came up with a number – 39 million.”
In a country where
Christians have been treated badly, one would expect believer to keep their
faith quiet. “But we found out that it’s very, very easy to talk about
religion,” Burklin said. “The minute we found someone who was a Christian, a
smile came across their face, and they rejoiced in the fact that they could tell
us they were Christians.”
While 39 million isn’t 120
million, it’s still a lot of people. “There are so many that have come to know
Christ, mostly in the last 20 or 25 years,” he said.
“In 1950
there were just 750,000. . . There are now thousands of churches that have
reopened in China. There are now close to 50,000 churches that we know of that
actually have been opened in China. |
