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The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
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| 15.06.2004 |
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| 'Who Will Liaise between Chinese Churches?' |
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Malaysian Bishop Urges LWF Mediation
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia/GENEVA, 15 June 2004 (LWI) – Someone is needed to liaise between the official Protestant church in mainland China, the "Three-Selves-Movement" (TSM), and the country's independent churches, Malaysian Bishop Gideon Chang told a gathering of Asian Lutheran church leaders in Kuala Lumpur.
Chang made his remarks while preaching at the opening worship of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Asian Church Leadership Conference (ACLC), held June 4-7 in the Malaysian capital. The bishop heads the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (LCMS), which ministers to Chinese-speaking Lutherans.
The Malaysian Chinese bishop rejected the claim that the independent churches were more evangelical than the TSM. He lamented that the two groupings of churches criticized each other, at times even fighting, instead of respecting each other as fellow Christians. "Who is the person to call [to the two groups]: please, come together, we can talk at the table?" Chang asked.
The bishop asked whether the LWF could provide a bridge between both groups in keeping with its vision of working "for the healing of the world," the theme of the 2003 LWF Tenth Assembly. Such talks were needed to remove the suspicions, even hatred, that exist between the TSM and independent churches, also known as house churches or underground churches, Chang said.
Speaking to Lutheran World Information (LWI), Chang said, "There is much suspicion among independent churches toward anything to do with the [Chinese] government," which made these churches somewhat mysterious to outsiders. "Blaming the government for being communist is not very fair," he remarked.
The number of independent churches in China is huge and growing, although precise figures are impossible to obtain. A Christian revival is underway since several years in at least seven northern provinces, according to various reports, Chang said. The independent churches have very good contact with free churches abroad, whereas the LCMS maintains relations with the TSM.
Rev. Ginda Harahap, Department for Mission and Development Area Secretary for Asia, noted that the LWF remains open to a mediating role between the TSM and independent churches. He drew attention to the work of the Mekong Mission Forum (MMF), bringing together Lutheran churches and mission partners in Asia, Europe and North America, who are engaged in mission work in six countries along the Mekong river in southeast Asia—Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
The purpose of the forum, Harahap explained, was not to establish a Lutheran church but to bring locals into contact with the Christian message. The LCMS, one of MMF's mission partners, is active in Cambodia, China and Myanmar.
There are LWF member churches that serve Chinese-speaking Lutherans in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada and the United States of America. (457 words)
(By Amsterdam-based correspondent Andreas Havinga, reporting on the ACLC on behalf of LWI.)
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