Magazine Writer Says China's Growing Christian Church Will Change Nation From Within
by Chad Groening
November 11, 2003
(AgapePress) - An author and journalist who spent a number of years in China says at the rate Christianity is growing there, it will eventually bring about a change in the government -- although in the short term, the Communist country could lurch into extreme nationalism. David Aikman is the former Beijing bureau chief for Time magazine. During his time in China, he witnessed the incredible growth of the Chinese underground church and, based on his observations, he says in time the Christian lamb may very well tame the Chinese dragon.
"If the Christians, in effect, infiltrate their way up to the top of the Chinese political system, we will not be facing China as a rival, and certainly not as an adversary," Aikman says.
But meanwhile, the writer warns, China remains dangerous. In the short or medium term, China's government could suddenly tilt in the direction of ultra-nationalism, he says. "If that should happen, China would indeed -- again, in the short or medium term -- take an aggressive foreign policy posture, which would be very harmful to American interests," Aikman says.
But the former Time journalist notes that this nationalist lurch may not necessarily happen. "I don't think we're going to see any change in the government until there's been a sort of critical mass established in the culture at large," he says.
Aikman has recently published Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power (Regnery, 2003). In the book he speculates that, if the present rate of growth continues, within 20 to 30 years, it is probable that between 20 and 30 percent of China will be Christian.
"If that is the case, you are definitely going to see a reflection of a Christian worldview within the Chinese government," the author says.
In Jesus in Beijing, Aikman discusses the global significance of China's Christian shift and why China may very well become America's next great ally against radical Islam.
