November 24, 1999

Worldwide church
growing at a 'horrible cost'
___FORT WORTH (BP)--The church is expanding faster than ever in history, but it is not without a "horrible" cost, an expert on the persecuted church said at a seminar at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Nov. 2.
___"We are living in the greatest age of the expansion of the church ever," said Paul Marshall, senior fellow at the Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House and author of the 1997 book "Their Blood Cries Out."
___He cited the growth of the church in China from 1 million in 1980 to an estimated 50 million in 1999.
___"There is nothing in the book of Acts that shows church growth on this scale," he said. "There's nothing I know of in the history of the church in any country at any time which has church growth at this scale."
___The greatest church growth today, he said, is not coming in Western Europe or the United States, but in places outside the West.
___"Africa will soon be the continent, if not already, with the greatest number of Christians," Marshall said. "Christians in the world are more likely to be Chinese or Nigerian or Sudanese than to be Westerners.
___"If the church diminishes in the West, in terms of the kingdom of God, that would be a sad, but a small thing," Marshall said.
___However, much of the growth outside the West has come through persecution of the church, Marshall said.
___"These are evil, unjust things that should be fought," he said. "But what is the other side? What is the good news of which this is the dark side? The good news is the spread of the gospel, the growth of the church, the power of the gospel in people's lives."
___Marshall reported to the seminary audience several incidents that have occurred since the middle of September:
___ A prominent national leader in the unregistered Protestant house church movement in China was executed Oct. 14 by firing squad, the second leader of this movement to be executed in the past two months.
___ Chechnyan militants have kidnapped a young Baptist deacon and are demanding that his church sell its building and use the money to pay the ransom. The deacon's predecessors have been kidnapped and beheaded.
___ The Myanmar military government attacked 22 villages of a tribe who are mostly Christians. Witnesses said the military beat and stabbed to death many people.
___ In Vietnam, security police raided a house church Sept. 17, arresting and interrogating an evangelist and two others.
___ In a largely Christian Sudanese province, 700 people die from starvation each day while 50,000 mostly Christian children have been sold into slavery for "the going rate" of $50.
___"We are talking about things that are recent--not 2,000 years ago, not 200 years ago, not even 20 years ago or last year," Marshall said. "In these particular cases, not even two months ago. This is the situation that we live in now."
___An estimated 200 million Christians are exposed to persecution in about 60 or 70 countries, he reported. And the persecution is worsening in countries like China, Vietnam and North Korea, which Marshall says is "perhaps the worst situation for Christians in the world."
___Marshall also listed Islamic countries where Muslims who become Christians face the death penalty, including Sudan, Mauritania, Iran and Iraq. In other countries, he added, the threat comes from family members who are shamed by the conversions.
___It is illegal to be a Christian in Saudi Arabia, he continued, and in Pakistan, people use blasphemy laws against Christians.
___In countries like India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Butan, "increasingly aggressive Hinduism and Buddhism" persecute Christians, he said. And in countries like Ethiopia and Mexico, "Christians" persecute other Christians.
___The reasons for persecution are political and theological, Marshall said.
___"In the modern age, when the church grows, democracy grows. When the church grows, human rights grow. This is simply an empirical fact," he said.
___"The Christian faith affects the way we live and it affects the way societies go, and that worries them," Marshall said.
___"Tyrants cannot have another king of any kind whatsoever," Marshall said. "Another king means another loyalty. You have a loyalty to something more than them. That's why they kill you. That's why the church is repressed. The fear is real, because (Christianity) will open up a society."
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