June 26, 2000
Texas students journey to China
for lessons in business and faith
___By Charles Richardson
___Hardin-Simmons University
___ABILENE--A l6-member group of students and faculty from Hardin-Simmons University returned to Texas after a 21-day study tour of China surprised at the freedom to publish and sell Bibles and the friendliness of the people.
___"I've never been in a place that I have felt more loved than China," said Jeff Skains ofAbilene. Although planned with an international business agenda, the class also allowed the Hardin-Simmons group visits with Chinese Christians.
AT TIANEMEN SQUARE in Beijing, Hardin-Simmons University students took time out for a group photo under the gaze of Mao and just outside the Forbidden City.
___About 13 million "official" Protestant Christians are reported in China, but unofficial estimates of believers push toward 50 million.
___The Texas group was headed by Kyle Usrey, director of global education, international business and strategic alliances at Hardin-Simmons. He previously worked and lived in China.
___"Every step of the way, we had Christians meet us and assist as guides," Usrey said. Several of his former Chinese students helped with the tour and became friends with the group.
___ The tour began in Hong Kong and ended in Beijing, with stops in Shanghai, Qinhuangdao, Suzhou and Nanjing, the former capital of the nation before the communist takeover in 1949. While in Nanjing, the students toured the Amity Press printing plant and were guests on the campus at a Christian seminary.
___Nanjing Amity Printing Co. was established as a joint venture with the United Bible Societies. By the end of 1999, more than 20 million Bibles had been printed in Chinese and distributed throughout the country.
___"This may surprise some people in the West, who rarely hear the full story of the Christian movement in China," Usrey explained.
___During the briefing, students learned that the China Christian Council, the official Christian oversight agency in China, supervises more than 65 Bible distribution centers.
THE HSU GROUP examines a printing press that produces Bibles in China.
___The Christian seminary in Nanjing where the Texans visited is authorized by the government, Usrey said. It is one of 15 Christian seminaries and Bible schools in the country that have opened since 1981. Although the seminary dates back to the 1920s and '30s, it was closed and occupied by the infamous Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1981.
___Nanjing Christian Seminary is the only national seminary in China, and it is the only one that offers a master of divinity degree. However, it enrolls only 18 students a year.
___"There is a tremendous gap between supply and demand of pastors and church leaders as a result," Usrey explained. "I personally know of some devoted believers who are called to be pastors but can't get admitted to the seminary ... due to the restrictions on numbers."
___While in Shanghai and Nanjing, the group attended Three-Self Churches, congregations officially registered and approved by the government. "Both of them were full to the rafters and ran three services during the morning," Usrey said. "They were electric and alive with the Holy Spirit."
___Communist authorities do keep a record of who attends the churches, a point of controversy for many Christians inside and outside China.
___An even larger number of Christians attend unseen house churches throughout China. These congregations are not officially registered with the government and have been the target of government persecution, according to numerous Christian sources.
___"Although there is no question there is some religious oppression in China, some of which is directed at certain Christians, the paradox of China is that Chinese government officials want Christians to come to China and to be a part of Chinese culture because of their value systems," he said. "Christianity is alive and well in China, at all levels and in ways that we in the West often don't see because of a skewed picture of life in certain parts of China, such as Beijing, where oppression is at its peak.
___"In some places beyond the tentacles of Beijing, there is a much greater degree of religious freedom that would shock most Americans," Usrey reported. "Trying to characterize all of China based solely on what happens in Beijing is as unfair as trying to characterize all of America or even West Texas based on what happens in Washington, D.C."
___Both students and faculty came away from the three-week visit with new insights and positive views about China.
___"The trip was a life-changing experience that will always be with me," said Adam Smith of San Antonio. "I will always have a heart for China and her precious people."
___
Send this story to a friend
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!
