China (MNN) — Across America this Christmas, children are singing carols, lighting Advent candles, and sporting angel wings or shepherd staffs for church pageants.
In China, they are not.
There, evangelizing to children before the age of 18 is against the law. Even attendance at Sunday School and church is illegal. Restrictions on children’s ministry have been in place since 2016, but Kurt Rovenstine of Bibles for China says their enforcement has experienced an uptick over the past few years. Rovenstine recently visited with Chinese pastors and asked them what the protocol is when children arrive with their parents at church services.
“They have to put them in a different room because the eyes of the government are upon them. They don’t do evangelism in that room. They just basically babysit,” Rovenstine learned. Surveys show that a majority of Christians accept Christ between the ages of four and fourteen. Thus, what has become known as the 4-14 window delineates a critical age group for ministry.
Photo courtesy of Sun Lingyan via Unsplash
Ministry leaders at Bibles for China take this to heart. Rovenstine says early on in their work, Chinese children attended church with their parents and expressed an interest in Scripture.
“They were there, they were present, they were ministered to, and that has gone away,” he says.
Now, any ministry to children must take place outside the parameters of communist policies. There is some ministry happening covertly in house church communities, which already function absent the government’s allowance.
In the registered church, pastors are more restricted. Children’s ministry must occur informally: through relationships with families, conversations with friends, and other avenues.
“They have to pick and choose the battles they fight and what they lose if they choose to minister in a way that’s contrary to what the government has given,” Rovenstine says of pastors.
In response to the difficult circumstances, Bibles for China is undertaking a project to print and distribute Chinese children’s Bibles among Chinese diaspora.
“Now it doesn’t help us in China,” Rovenstine says, “but it does give opportunity outside of China to provide a resource that helps to reach these kids.”
Anyone who knows of a church reaching out to the Chinese community is invited to participate in the Bible distribution.
“We’d love to talk to them about how we can provide these children’s Bibles to them for the purpose of reaching kids,” Rovenstine says.
The Bibles for China team can be reached through their website, where donations can also be made to support the distribution effort.
Most importantly, please pray: for the registered church and for the house church in China.
“. . . that God would give them opportunity to find a way to reach out to elementary, junior high, high school kids, so that they can hear the gospel; because it’s such an important time for that to take place,” Rovenstine says.
Pray also that restrictive laws would be dissolved so that Christ may be freely proclaimed to China’s next generation.
Featured photo courtesy of Rui Wang via Pexels.
