President's Corner

Dear workers for persecuted brothers and sisters,

    Rapid growth, evil cults, kidnapping, prosecution, and persecution are terms often mentioned when talking about the Chinese church from Chinese government channels. 

    John was a close friend during our years at graduate school. After he became a Christian, he would search and absorb everything about Christianity he could find. He used these “good teachings” to preach at his Beijing house church. 

    One day, however, he sent me some of what he found online. To his surprise, I pointed out some were from cultic organizations. Thankfully he corrected it quickly. Today John is a house church leader studying in a prestigious seminary. He has translated more than 15 theological books into Chinese. All of them were even published inside China!

    Lydia was a new Christian, majoring in Arabic at a Beijing university. She was always eager to learn about her faith. A few years later, after my wife and I escaped China, I heard from her husband that she was recruited and joined the “Eastern Lightning” group, a vicious cult who are involved in kidnapping converts. Poor Lydia deserted her family and joined in full time “forceful indoctrination” (while we advocate for religious freedom, we don't agree with groups that convert through violent coercive means.)

    No one denies the miraculous growth of the Chinese church in the past three decades—from less than one million to now 100 million! But the resurgence of “evil cults” (to borrow the Communist Party’s term) is staggering.  Among the 11 most active “cult” groups labeled by the Chinese government in 2014, eight of them are based on Christianity. 

    At China Aid, our mission is to expose abuses, encourage the abused and equip leaders. I envision training over the next 10 years for 10,000 leaders and 100,000 Christians with biblical teachings on public theology, government, education, media, business, and family. 

    We need your continuing partnership and support so that we can help equip 10,000 more “Johns” and avoid more tragedies of “Lydias” for the future of both Christian churches and a peaceful civil society in China. 

    Will you join together with me to help?

    Your coworker in serving the persecuted faithful,

        Bob Fu