Atheism is in danger in china as christianity grows like wild fire
NORTHEAST
CHINA --
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, thousands of Christians are meeting in a corner of northeast
China for an unprecedented prayer movement.
What started as a small gathering six years ago has become a nationwide prayer initiative uniting hundreds of
Chinese churches.
Television cameras have never been allowed to film the prayer services, but
CBN News was granted exclusive access.
For years, the
Chinese government tried to snuff out
Christianity. In the late
1940s, some
500,
000 Chinese Christians were killed because of their faith.
Now decades later in what is officially still an atheist nation, Christianity is the fastest growing religion.
A
Vision for
Prayer
"We had a dream that someday we would build a church focused on prayer for China and the world," prayer leader Ha
Bining said.
Ha Bining and her husband
Feng Kai are witnesses to this profound move of God across China. In
2000, the
Christian couple had a dream to turn this piece of land in a corner of northeast China into a place of prayer.
"My tears fell like the rain and I started praying," Bining told CBN News. "God gave us a vision to help bring churches across China together for
24-hour non-stop prayer for our country and the world."
Nine years later, on June 30, with construction on the property almost complete, the couple sent out email and text messages to friends and pastors inviting them for a prayer meeting.
"We didn't know who would show up or how many. I was praying that at least people from seven churches would show up. To my absolute amazement 70 churches joined us that day," Bining said.
CBN News obtained home video of that first prayer meeting.
"May your children pray here; their souls are healed here," one believer prayed. "The glory of this present house will be greater than the former house. May you win more children back. May this place be your new lamp that lights up China and the world."
"We were overwhelmed at the response," Binning said. "It was totally beyond our expectations."
Peace and Repentence
The prayer center started
June 2009. Since then, 617 churches from across China have signed up to pray
24 hours a day.
Bining said they have three main objectives.
"
First, that this will be a place where people can make
peace with each other.
Second, that God will use this place for churches to repent and compromise with each other. And third, that this will be a place where people can make peace with God," she said.
Christians from more than
100 countries have also visited the prayer center.
"Every day we receive guests from around the world.
It's so exciting to see people pray," Jian
Yanchang, a 24/7 prayer intercessor, said.
These intercessors know God is doing something special in China. And they are praying that way.
"
Lord, the number of
Christians in China is increasing. What should we do Lord? What's our job? How should we expand your
Kingdom to gather more people? Lord, we pray that you will place your mission into each of our hearts," one pastor said.
China's Blessing to the
World
When the Communists took power in the 1940s there were roughly 4 million Christians in China.
Today, well over
100 million are followers of
Jesus Christ.
And if current growth rates remain, experts say in less than two decades, China will become the world's most populous
Christian nation.
In return, Feng Kai said God will use China to be a blessing to the nations.
"
I believe our life as Christians should be a blessing to others. God said to
Abraham, 'I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.' God blessed Abraham; he is blessing the
Chinese church," Kai said.
Kai and others believe prayer initiatives like this have been key to church growth in China.
"Twenty-four hour non-stop praying is not an easy task to accomplish, but it is a happy thing for us to do, to enjoy 24-hours of
God's presence in prayer,"
Dong Lili, another prayer intercessor, said.
"
We are in need of prayers,"
Elder Wang, a regular attendee at the 24/7 prayer center, admitted. "Through prayers our heart is broadened; we learn to care for others and for the world.
As time goes by, prayers inspires us to love each other."
'On Our Knees'