Christianity is becoming popular with China’s urban elite, report says

China (MNN/OMF) — Christianity appears to be spreading among the usually skeptical urban elite, an OMF report says.

It’s almost impossible to quantify the total number of Christians in China. Authorities try to prevent surveys by foreign or Chinese researchers that might challenge the official view that Christianity is still a marginal phenomenon. However, authorities may actually be backing away from that claim.

A Chinese academic and Party member says that in the past five years especially, Christianity has flourished on university campuses. Most universities, he says, have several clandestine Christian “fellowships” comprising of students, graduates and teachers who meet regularly to read the Bible and discuss their faith. At one University in Beijing, lectures on western religious culture are not only fully attended by the 100 students registered, but also by dozens of others who simply want to listen in.

Christianity seems to appeal to intellectuals because it’s the faith most deeply rooted in the countries that well-educated Chinese most envy, principally America.

None of this has gone unnoticed by China’s leaders. Last year they launched a campaign to promote atheism in schools. An internal Party document recently railed against “illegal missionary activity.”

Pray that this movement will continue in China.