City Church

From 8 May

Sunday Morning in Beijing - May 2011

The line stretched around the building - five or six people wide in most places. Amplified voices crackling through speakers attached to the building punctuated the din of the murmuring voices. Men and women, young and old, from a cross section of society were dressed in their semi-casual Sunday best. Scattered in hands throughout the crowd were well-worn, dog-eared bibles.

It is a scene that plays out openly in Beijing week after week.

Overhead, a couple stories and three-fifths of the way up, the vertical column in the middle of the stairway was met by a horizontal beam. Together they formed the towering white cross that marks the entrance to Haidian Christian Church, a congregation of the CCC that worships in the Technology/University district of Northwest Beijing.

Fifteen minutes before our service was slated to begin, the left-hand doors at the top of the stairs opened and a stream of worshippers from the previous service came pouring out. Five minutes later the right-hand doors were opened and we surged forward - members of our group holding hands and taking hold of bag straps in order not to be separated in the crowd. The sanctuary, a strikingly modern and cleanly designed space that could easily seat over one thousand people, was efficiently filled in minutes. Hospitality teams ensured everyone was seated and comfortable.

Moments later worship began with a procession of the choir, church leaders, and pastors from the rear of the sanctuary while the massive video screen at the front stirred to life by displaying a live feed from the stylized steeple outside where a pair of bells were loudly ringing and publicly heralding the start of this Christian assembly.

Where the Mandarin of this first service rendered the linguistic details of this celebration largely opaque to non-speakers/readers, its liturgical form was transparent. The ordo of corporate song and prayer, the proclaimed Word, and monthly communion was recognizably Christian. A later service, conducted in English and in a more contemporary praise-and-worship style, would equally be at home in Protestant congregations in North America and beyond.

While most of the morning's proceedings were familiar, there were a handful of surprises that shine a light on significant aspects of contemporary Christianity in China. Of them, the one that continues to linger with me is what happened as communion was served during the English language service; as the elements were distributed the celebrant instructed the congregation that 'those who are not baptized may be seated,' after which nearly a third of the congregation sat down.

While admittedly a small exchange in the context of an hour and a half long worship service, these actions are telling in a variety of ways:

First, the sizable portion of the congregation that sat down because they were not baptized is demonstrative of the success that the Christian Church of China is having in attracting the curiosity and attention of non-believers. In the context of the congregations I'm familiar with in the United States, having up to a third of the congregation on any given Sunday self-identify as non-members and visitors is almost inconceivable. Whatever their reasons for being there, be it at the invitation of a family member or friend, a desire to practice English (as was the case of the two young women behind me), or the stirring of the Spirit, their presence in worship is significant and indicative of the growing presence of the Church in China and elsewhere in the Global South/East.

Secondly, as was pointed out in conversations following the service, the language used by the pastor is noteworthy. By phrasing the request as an invitation to be seated, rather than a command, he opened up a liturgical loophole for Christians not baptized or registered in the official Church to participate in the sacrament. Should a member of an unregistered congregation have been in attendance, the subtle choice of words would have allowed them to remain standing and join in the activity in good conscience. In the midst of proper policy and protocol of the CCC and governmental Three-Self Patriotic Movement [TSPM] that oversees it, this act opens up a pocket of grace. Further expanding this act of inclusion, it wasn't until the bread and wine had been distributed to all who were standing, and those who had been seated stood up again, that the elements were consumed. In this way, the sacrament was shared in and among the entire assembly.

Finally, scanning the room as I stood with my fellow baptized Christian, I was struck by the composition of the gathered assembly. While mostly English-speaking Chinese, the presence of ex-pats and foreign visitors, as well as an American worship-leader, were demonstrative of the diversity and internationalization of the CCC - especially as it is found in large cities like Beijing. While the three-self principles of self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation drive the Church to independence, the gathering of people from different states and nations is a witness to the interdependent nature of the worldwide body of Christ. What I had perceived as isolated and exclusionary in my course readings at a distance was shown, in reality and in person,  to be more open than I had imagined.