Day 11 - Reflections on Worship in China

Today is Easter and we worshiped twice: Once at the official church and once ourselves in a room in the hotel.

Easter Worship at Three Self Church


Temple of Heaven Tour


Group worship time at the hotel:


Slide show for the day:


Most of the following post was written in a taxi ride across the city of Beijing. Since all the street corners look alike, I decided to type instead.

Those of you who know me know how important worship is to my life. I have had so many wonderful experiences of worship and always seek out new opportunities to gather with the saints for worship. Every time we go on vacation, one of my favorite parts is finding a church that I have never visited before and joining with them to worship. So it's no surprise that I would find a variety of insights on worship by spending 12 days in China. I delayed writing about my early worship experiences, simply because I wanted enough time to experience more and process it all together. That's where I find myself now, ready to dive into the issue of worship in China.

Please keep in mind that this is a result of limited experiences here, but it is reflective of lots of conversation with those who are here regularly and reading through material that I have been able to find on the topic.

I don't think we can consider worship in China without thinking about the difficulties we see in American worship. As a former worship leader for over 5 years and a current participant in the worship in my local church, I'm well aware of the typical American tendency for complaining in worship. Many of us see worship in terms of what we want, like, and prefer. We want a sermon of a certain style or length. We like elements to be included or not included, depending on what we are used to or good at. We prefer certain types of music, certain types of buildings, and even certain types of people in the front leading and visibly participating in our worship experiences. And while we can't ever get away from the fact that we have these human preferences, can I point out that Christians in most of the world do not have the luxury of complaining about their worship experiences. They are grateful for the opportunity to experience worship, and may even feel like the mere act of showing up in worship is enough of a privilege they can't imagine thinking of complaining.

Spending time with the believers at Hunchun in their "meetings" helped me appreciate the joy of the Lord in the cooperative worship that they experienced. Dr. Kim was the leader of the meeting, but people were participating in several ways, singing, translating for others around them, fellowshiping, joining in prayer. Sure, there were things about it that could have been "better." We didn't practice as much as I would have liked, but it was ok. There was dead time, but who cares? All of those things that we Americans would criticize as unprofessional or lack of preparedness were far overshadowed by the fact that people were coming together as one for One. We were so privileged to see it in action, because so much of what we see in American worship is individualized. I truly believe that their worship was more than just corporate, it was cooperative. They were encouraging one another, kneeling before God, and reaching out to others. One example: The speaking done by Central students was in English. We worshiped both on Saturday and on Sunday, and we had a different student preach in English. Since several people there didn't know English, I wondered how they would get the message. What I saw was beautiful: workers who knew English and Chinese, Korean, or Russian sat next to those who didn't know English and personally explained and translated what was happening. They didn't have to do that, but it was the spirit of cooperation that made it happen.

We also found out what it meant in China to be involved with concealed worship. Not everyone worships in places where it can easily be located. The underground church is flourishing in China, and there are house churches everywhere. We visited one (when there was no service going on). Talking to Adam Ensign, we found out how he is working with a house church and seeing believers become disciples. Under fear of their freedom and prosperity, they are still willing to come and risk. When we stood in an underground church and saw the room where they meet, saw the pulpit that they use, it made for such a convicting experience. I gained a newfound appreciation for my brothers and sisters who are in this situation, as well as those who are in prison in North Korea because they have chosen to worship or serve as ministers.

For Easter morning worship, we attended the Beijing ChongWenmen Church (http://www.chwmch.com/). We got 50 seats reserved for the early service (8:00 am), which was important because every seat was filled. When we left after the service, it was amazing to see the number of people standing in line to go to the next service. The auditorium held 1150 in both sections (including overflow), plus another several hundred who could watch on television out in the courtyard. This was an example to me of controlled worship, as the church is registered with the state. And yet, even though the church is approved by the state, we found things to celebrate there. The minister (a lady) preached a sermon clearly emphasizing the deity of Christ and the fact of the resurrection. In addition, 31 people were baptized (sprinkled) at the early service, a fact that means more to you when you realize that joining the church means they have now registered with the Chinese government as Christians. Teaching them more fully in the way of the Lord may be necessary (this was a Wesleyan church, formerly called Asbury Church), but the fact is they took a huge step, going up front in front of over a thousand people and registering with the state.

I saw a few security cameras inside the building, which made me wonder if the service was being monitored by the state. It wouldn't surprise me, which then brings up this question: If a minister knew that a hostile government was watching every sermon, how would he preach differently. This lady didn't pull any punches. I'm not sure what I would do.

The fact is, we may get there sometime in America. When the government some day tells us we can't discuss political issues, mention a candidate's name, or criticize other religions, how will we respond to that kind of control? The Chinese church we went to is pushing back against the control, distributing evangelistic booklets that can be given to friends and family. The minister said everyone in the room needed to be a missionary. And everyone was participating: singing, standing, saying Amen after every sentence of the prayers. The service lasted over 90 minutes, and it was a blessing to participate in. Singing along in English the same songs that my brothers and sisters in America would be singing for Easter (Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Christ Arose) gave me such a strong sense of unity. Although they didn't have communion during the service (we had our own as a group during the afternoon), the shared message of Easter, music, and seeing people make a public commitment to Christ was a unifying experience.

I may not prefer controlled worship, and I know that it grates against our American model of no state established religion. But the fact is that Christianity is thriving, even though it is controlled by the government. Other missionaries come in and work with these who have made professions of faith and try to teach them the way of the Lord more fully. And the government sees the growth. Read the Wikipedia article on Christianity in China. It's amazing to see.

Now, I can't stop talking about worship without discussing the issue of our visit to the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. Both of them date back to the 15th century, and they actually give us some insights into worship. The forbidden city shows me how worship can become corrupted. This is a place that was created to be a palace of the different emperors and their courts (Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_city) And yet, the names of the building display that they were searching for the things that we only find in the true worship of the One God. Catch some of these names: Gate of Divine Might, Gate of Supreme Harmony, Palace of Heavenly Purity, Hall of Mental Cultivation, and Palace of Tranquil Longevity. This massive area displaying the var4ious buildings, steps, and gates illustrates how government can become an alternative to true worship. All the way from emperor worship that took place in the Roman Empire to the prophecies in the book of Revelation about beasts and harlots (which are symbols of the oppressive governments who demand people worship them instead of the Lord), history reveals that government can become the god of a people. In fact, this is the key tenet of communism, which is officially atheistic. In the name of serving the people, they instead restrict the people from giving allegiance to any god other than government.

As I walked around the forbidden city, two constrasting thoughts filled my mind . . .
1. This is the closest illustration I have found to the heavenly city in Revelation, also a place of beauty, symmetry, and impressive size. This forbidden city is approximately 3 square miles and was so large, it would have taken days to walk through all the buildings and pathways. The heavenly city, at 1500 miles square, is 2.25 million square miles (although 1500 miles may be a symbolic, not a literal number). And since it's three dimensional (1500 miles tall!), the city is actually up to 3.375 billion cubic miles (it may not be a perfect cube, but this isn't the place to figure that out). I think I can now better visualize what it might be like to live in an eternal city, coming to the throne in the middle, spending time in different halls in fellowship, learning, and worship. And while this city has lasted 500 years now, the heavenly city is eternal. So they are obviously different, but at least I have an idea of it.

2. Mankind can build glorious structures in their attempt to find meaning and transcendence in this world, but the only true meaning is found in the worship of Christ as Lord of all. Our best attempts without Him are simply a corruption of the real thing. And the more we get into them, the more attractive they become and the less we feel the need to find fulfillment with God.

So in the forbidden city, I see a corrupted worship, taking people's attention away from the true and living God, and focusing their attention on a poor substitute.

Today's visit to the Temple of Heaven illustrates the issue of conceptual worship. (You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Heaven) This Temple is the place that the emperor came once a year to worship the God of Heaven and Earth and ask him to bless the crops for the next year. There were no idols in this temple, only places to sacrifice to this God and ask His blessing on the nation. In fact, the name they called this God (Shangdi) is the same name Christians use in China for our Lord God. There were so many parallels between this temple and the tabernacle that it was amazing to hear them described. This was also the place that a new emperor came at the ascension to the throne to be called the "Son of Heaven." Their opinion was that only the Emperor was capable of being the Son of Heaven, not realizing that all of us can be sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

But the basic concepts are there . . . one God, maker of heaven and earth, not portrayed in a graven image. And the Chinese are interested in coming to this place to see what is there. They are asking the questions about what it means, pointing out that in the heart of man, God has placed eternity and the seeds of what is necessary to seek Him.

And so worship in China helps us understand so much about how corporate worship can work when it is cooperative, concealed, or controlled. And going to the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven shows us how worship can be corrupted, but still have some of the basic concepts still exist. If anything, hopefully this trip will help me quit complaining about worship when I see things I don't like. I so enjoyed the companionship worship we experienced together in the hotel. These people we have spent time together with became not just our fellow workers, but our fellow worshipers of Christ. We confessed sins to one another, sang, prayed, took the Lord's supper, and basically examined ourselves in light of those people in the room. I think this is the kind of worship today's generation is most hungry for, a feeling that they are one with their fellow worshipers and that they can work together for the gospel. We got a taste of that today with Rory and Ashlea leading songs, Mike having a devotion, and partaking of the Lord's supper together. It helped me better understand what it might feel like to gather in a house church.

With all of the insights into worship, hopefully I can improve mine and share my thoughts with others.

Tomorrow: Day 12 - Packing up to go home