Church in China

Thanks to Chris and Sarah, I just went to church for the second time this week in China. The church situation is interesting here. There are 4 branches in Beijing, with one of them being only for Chinese nationals. The other 3 are only for foreign nationals, and we are not allowed to intermix, so the other branches have to be out of our building before any of the Chinese arrive. One branch meets in several different homes each week rather than coming to the church building, but meets all together on fast Sunday. In order to fit in each of the 4 branches, we only have Sacrament meeting and Relief Society/Priesthood on those weeks and skip Sunday School.

Our branch has about 80 adult members or so, with numbers decreasing each week that I’m there since many people are going home for the summer. There are relatively few children and youth, and we overlap with the branch after us so the primary and youth can meet together for greater numbers.

We meet on the 4th floor of a large office building, and have half that belongs to us and gets locked up, and half is shared meeting space that others use during the week. While we have a few things locked in cabinets in the shared half, the rooms are much sparser than the other half of the building.

We have a lot of diversity in the branch- it seems like about half of the members are from the US, and many others are from Australia and South Africa, but I’ve also met people from other Asian countries, France, and a few other scattered places. The meetings are held in English, and most people do pretty well with that, but a few struggle with their English skills. The hymn numbers are always posted for both the English and the Chinese hymn book for those that would rather sing in Chinese.

Every week in the program and read in our meetings they remind us that while we are allowed to meet freely in China, we have to follow strict rules from the government, which includes not meeting with Chinese nationals, not providing religious materials to Chinese nationals, not proselyting actively or passively, and respecting the laws of the land so we can continue to meet (our building is only allowed through specific permission from the Chinese government, and they can take that away at any time) and to develop a relationship of trust that will eventually allow for growth because they realize that we are willing to follow the laws of the land. It is an interesting reminder, and the members are really excited that some day there may be a possibility for sharing the gospel here. That day is not come, but they are trying to build a foundation so that it may eventually be possible.