WEA Explains Why China Visit Excluded House Churches

Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010 Posted: 5:50:18PM HKT

WASHINGTON – The head of the World Evangelical Alliance sought Tuesday to address concerns raised by Chinese house churches upset over his organization's decision to not visit or even mention them during a recent trip to China.

In an exclusive interview with The Christian Post, Geoff Tunnicliffe, the international director of the World Evangelical Alliance, said the over 150-year-old ministry has a long history of promoting religious freedom and its promotion remains a “core principle” for the organization.

“We believe that religious freedom and human rights are tied together and we are not going to step away from that kind of commitment,” Tunnicliffe stated. “In fact, we believe we will continue to be strong advocates for that.”

But the WEA leader highlighted the need to take into account the context of the situation when determining the best mechanism to promote religious freedom. He pointed to two prophets in the Bible that serve as models on how to engage with governments – Elijah and Obadiah.

“Elijah is fiery, in your face, outspoken, a prophet speaking out for social justice in the public,” Tunnicliffe said. “Obadiah worked inside the palace and he worked quietly behind the scenes, but again, very committed to justice. And sometimes you can think the job of Obadiah, because he was connected to the structure of power, was an easier job. But in reality it is a more difficult job I think.”

In November 2009, a delegation of 24 WEA leaders met with church leaders of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and China Christian Council (CCC) – the umbrella organization for all registered Protestant churches. The WEA leaders visited several Chinese cities, including Nanjing, where they were hosted by the Jiangsu Christian Council, Nanjing Seminary, the Amity Foundation and the Amity Printing Co., Ltd.

The Amity Press is the only government-approved Bible printing press in China.

The WEA delegation also visited Beijing and met with local church leaders and government officials.

Upon returning from the trip, WEA released a report praising the enthusiasm of Chinese Christians for the Lord and expressing eagerness to build a “constructive” relationship with the state-approved church body.

In response to WEA’s report, ChinaAid Association, a religious freedom group specializing in Chinese house church issues, issued a statement saying it was concerned that the WEA report had “contributed to a misleading assessment about the true situation of the church in China.”

“In this overtly positive assessment, there was no acknowledgment of the existence and current deteriorating condition of the more than 80 million believers in China who have chosen, often with dangerous and uncertain consequences, to worship outside the state-sanctioned religious system,” CAA said, reportedly on behalf of Chinese house churches.

“WEA’s issued statement on this visit to China would lead the international community to believe that the Christian church is alive and well – free to worship under the atheist communist system,” the Texas-based organization added, while acknowledging that there are true Christian believers who attend TSPM/CCC-approved churches.

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Michelle A Vu
Christian Post Reporter