/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

I think this is worth mentioning: I won't be staying in Hong Kong of Macau. I can go to a regular church if I do that. It's a college trip I have no direct control over, and it's going to be in either Shanghai or Beijing.

It is not an easy question to answer. The Vatican and the Communist Party of China have a long history in fighting each other and trying to figure out their power.

The differences are mostly about who is in charge when choosing new bishops etc. The pope obviously wants to choose and decide who will become a bishop while the chinese government wants to have the final yes or no.

So for a long time there has been an inoffical and a (communist party) official church - something similar happened to the Dalai Lama, the Chinese government appointed people to this position before, even though the believers didnt really care.

Nowadays it feels like the ruling party and the Vatican could come to an agreement. But its not a finished thing yet.

There are indeed illegal church meetings as well but as a foreigner you would probably not be able to get to these and even if you would, it is pretty dangerous and I would never recommend it.

The CPCA is not a bad church (even though I dont have own experiences) and they are generally catholic, even considering all the problems with Rome. I would still prefer you to visit the CPCA places over others because it is important to stay safe as a tourist in China and I am very sure it will be an interesting experience either way.

>>593023

Orthodox Churches:

>At present, there are only three communities in Mainland China with regular weekly services and resident clergy. The Beijing community meets at the restored Church of the Dormition in the grounds of the Russian Embassy in Dongzhimen; the Shanghai community at the Russian Consulate; and the Church of the Intercession, Harbin, the only one open to Chinese nationals for regular worship.

Not to mention the CPCA promotes abortion and other horrible shit.

Do you really want to be a part of a church full of brainwashed heretics?

Coincidentally this just happened

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/01/23/vatican-asks-underground-chinese-bishops-to-stand-aside-for-government-backed-ones/

>>593154

>Going to one of the three Orthodox churches in the country is out of the question

>>593023

Don't join the official churches. They subordinate God to the will of the Party and are little more than puppet organizations to keep Christianity from threatening the absolute power of the state.

>>593332

literally jewry

>>593026

No idea.

I would love to talk to the people of the southern provinces to see the remains of nestorianism and zoroaster.

when I was in China last summer, I visited CPCA church in Beijing

and I'm quite sure that they even had mass for foreigners (in non chinese language) held by foreign priests (italian, spanish not sure)

if this is the case you should not have problems because those priests are validly ordained and everything

>>593420

How was it?

Sadly they destroyed all of our churches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chung_Hua_Sheng_Kung_Hui

I'm going to have to dance around some subjects in case this is being monitored, but here goes.

1) Do not try to evangelize in China. It is a rough calling and illegal, not something you do on the side like you can in Europe or Latin America. Repeat: DO NOT TRY TO EVANGELIZE IN CHINA! Keep your head down and stick to the rules. As an openly Christian foreigner, you will be watched, possibly including bugs in your apt.

2) In a large city like Beijing, there will be an 'international fellowship.' You have to show a non-Chinese passport to enter, so they have the freedom to say just about anything as long as it isn't related to the first point and doesn't speak directly against the government, the party, or communism generally. Go there, just don't take pictures. Some of these people are secretly doing things the government would frown upon.

3) The Three Self Church is the blanket term for all official Chinese Christianity, and is usually more doctrinally sound than the house churches, government oversight or no, and you're not going to be there long enough to build up the 关系(not a good English translation) necessary to meet a house church. Stick to the IF. It's interdenominational, but in the PRC, nobody gives half a crap about denomination.

4) Pray for China. Xi Jinping has become convinced Christianity is a threat to the nation and has been dynamiting 3 self churches, arresting pastors, and visiting towns ahead of charity outreaches to tell the locals all foreigners are to be distrusted. The only thing stopping him from booting all foreigners at this point is a need for investment and teachers (they know most Americans and Koreans wouldn't work in China for what they're paid).

5) Pray for your brothers and sisters in China. New VPN crackdowns may make getting information from anyone other than the government tricky in the next few weeks.

6) If you don't want to follow rule 1, talk to one of your spiritual leaders to see if he can talk you out of it. He may even know people who have been there.

>>605169

>bugs in your apt

OP, you will need to take the possibility of a /fucko/ situation seriously. Not just /tech/ level but something so people on the TOR equivalent of /baphomet/ can't find you. I don't know any books but ask around.

>>614149

>t. freemason