“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)
Every Sunday morning, the movie theater Athena Grand in Athens, Ohio, has a special public – young couples with their babies and toddlers, grandmas and grandpas holding each other’s hands, college students, musicians donning guitars and other portable instruments, and busy technical personnel. People greet each other joyfully, either hugging or shaking hands. Children run and play in a cozy corner, much like in a kindergarten. At 10:15,these people gather in showroom 11, while the big screen shows “New Life Assembly of God”.
A week before Christmas, our church formally moved out of the old building next to the university campus and started meeting at this movie theatre. Church at a movie theatre is a novel experience not only for me, a Chinese national, but also for many Americans.
This is a temporary place of worship while the new church building is being completed. Our pastor said that, in 2015, our New Year’s resolution is to see this showroom full of worshippers. This is a vision shared by all church leaders, for the Bible says, “…praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47)
This Christmas, Chinese Christians were also blessed by God, but in a way that was a far cry from that of their American counterparts. “A group of Christians gathered in an apartment above a Beijing dental office on Christmas Eve, the atmosphere jubilant as a choir belted out carols, but the curtains had to remain tightly closed.” You Zhanglao, one of those pastors and church members under house arrest, celebrated Christmas at home with his family by saying prayers(1).
On Christmas Eve, university students held anti-Christmas rallies with banners that read: “Chinese should not celebrate foreign festivals.” Students of public schools were forced to watch brainwashing propaganda program against celebrating Christmas. A week before Christmas, men dressed in plainclothes removed the cross that was atop a Christian nursing home in the eastern city of Hangzhou.
Totalitarian governments can tear down the cross symbolizing Jesus Christ and bulldoze church buildings. Yet, the Holy Spirit will never be crushed or annihilated.
Wherever the church is, there are people who have strong faith in Jesus and strong desire to be His disciples. In the book of Revelation, God told the church of Philadelphia, “What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open,” (Revelation 3:7) and in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)
The Church is not a physical building; the Church are the community of people who call themselves Christians, and confess Jesus in front of all men.
“I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”(Revelation 3:8)
Notes:
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1670434/christians-who-celebrate-christmas-secret
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2014/dec/26/like-romans-chinese-threatened-real-christmas
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/china.cross.torn.down.from.christian.nursing.home/45115.htm