RELGION AND PLACES OF WORSHIP SHENZHEN
Churches
Buddhism isn’t the only religion to be enjoying a great revival in China. Christian churches, both Catholic and Protestant have been rebuilt and extended. New enormous churches seem to appear everywhere. And they’re packed!
We refer to the officially sanctioned churches. The Catholic Patriotic Association isn’t in communion with Rome although, depending on the state of diplomatic negotiations between the Vatican and Beijing, congregations often pray for the welfare of our holy father the Pope. When things are going really well a picture of the Pope often appears outside the church.
We often ask about the relationship between the official churches and the unofficial or house churches. The answer seems to be complex. If you’re a Protestant, you’ll often just flit between the two. This ceases to be true if, as has been the case with several Guangzhou Protestant pastors, your preaching has fallen foul of the security and you’re the subject of harassment. But our sense is that this isn’t a regular occurrence. The situation of the relationship between the official Catholic Church and the underground church is much less clear to us.
Christian evangelism is common. When walking in the park, earnest young people offering us eternal life often approach us. And we were excited to attend a concert given at the Shenzhen Concert Hall, of Christmas sacred music by the Shenzhen Christian choir.
Remember that in Chinese, Christian means Protestant. If you’re a Catholic you even have a different word for God in Chinese.
SHENZHEN CHINA WORLD MAP Photo Gallery
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