The 1920s and 30s were turbulent times in China, marked by power struggles between competing factions. Rising nationalism, anti-foreign sentiment, cultural barriers, health struggles, and changing ministry expectations challenged Christian missionaries. Despite this, many persevered, laying the groundwork for the growth of the indigenous Chinese Church.

“I remember my grandmother telling us that they were always on flight. They had to go from one location to another, trying to evade conflict and war,” China Partner’s Erik Burklin says, recalling his grandparents’ experiences as missionaries in China.

“My grandfather wrote in his memoirs, ‘During my 25 years of ministry in China, we had 10 converts.’ That’s less than one convert per year!”

Yet the Lord provided grace and humor amid hardship. Take a more detailed look at China Partner’s history here.

Burklin’s grandparents began their missionary journeys in China separately, but “Both of them served with Hudson Taylor’s mission, China Inland Mission, which is today, OMF,” Burklin says.

(Photo courtesy of China Partner)

“One day, my grandfather saw this mission magazine with a young, beautiful lady [on the cover] and some children around. This was my grandmother, Lena. He didn’t know her at the time, but he thought, ‘Well, she looks attractive! I think I’d better pursue her.’ So, he did, and went to several mission stations to look her up,” Burklin says.

“In the meantime, he had somehow got information about her because they were all registered as missionaries [and] contacted her father. [My grandfather] asked for her hand (in marriage) ahead of time, before he had even met her,” he continues.

Eventually, “he found her, and they met and talked. He proposed right away,” Burklin says. “They got married and had three children in China.”

Then came World War II. “Their time was very difficult; my father and his siblings were separated from their parents for five years because of the Japanese front,” Burklin says.

“Can you imagine being separated from your own children and [continuing] to do ministry? That was a huge, huge challenge.”

When communism forced out all foreign missionaries in 1950, believers weren’t sure if the fledgling indigenous Church would survive.

However, Burklin says, “The Church exploded, and today there are millions of believers.”

China Partner supports the indigenous Chinese Church by equipping its leaders. More about that here. “Our challenge right now is that things have become more restrictive, especially related to what American Christians can officially do,” Burklin says.

Pray for open doors. Due to government restrictions, China Partner had to cancel its most recent training session. Burklin says, “We’re hopeful that by next year, we will be able to take teams back over and continue our training ministry.”

Header and story images courtesy of China Partner. 

Did you know “sinicization” means making something Chinese in character or form? A sinicized church traditionally reflects local identity, with its own language and cultural norms. Just as every church is shaped by the society it’s in, the Chinese church is no exception.

Yet in the past decade, “sinicization” has taken on a very different meaning.

Since 2015, the Chinese Communist Party has used the term to promote state ideology — Communism. Erik Burklin of China Partner says the government uses three main strategies:

1. The government stresses the principle of state over religion. “They want to control religion,” he says.
2. Second, they discourage churches from following the traditional Western model. Burklin explains, “Because those who are not of our kind, must have a different mind.”
3. Third, they shift the church’s mindset from being moved to conform to wanting to conform. “The government is demanding both submission and internalization,” he adds.

(Photo courtesy of China Partner)

Church leaders find themselves in a difficult position. To continue meeting and protecting their people, they must avoid provoking local authorities while remaining submitted to Christ alone.

Moreover, Romans chapter 13 creates an inner conflict — believers trust that God places governments in authority, yet some governments may act against the best interests of the church (learn more about the sinicization of worship, the gospel, and cultures).

“They always say, Christ is still the head of our church, even though we have to bow or we have to respect the governing authorities that God has placed over us,” says Burklin.

As government control continues to grow, it alters the cultural and religious identity of the Chinese church. However, there is hope.

“The more the government tries to control religion or even Christianity, the true believers will stick with it. They will not give up. In fact, just the opposite will happen,” says Burklin. As the younger generation realizes how truly meaningful Jesus Christ is, they will begin to share Him with others.

“That’s where the Good News will sprout, and seeds will be thrown all over, and the seeds will sprout, and the church will continue to grow.”

Join Eric Burklin in this prayer as China Partner supports and empowers local believers. Pray for the Church’s growth to meet the needs of China’s people, because many are beginning to realize that Communism is not the ultimate answer.

Header photo courtesy of 龔 月強 via Pexels

Reports indicate members of the Religious Affairs Bureau are nervous. 

“Because they don’t know, ‘Well, what if I don’t enforce [new regulations] properly? What happens to me then?’”

Meanwhile, the church of China stands on a different foundation, one with a Cornerstone not fashioned by human hands. 

“Jesus did say, ‘I will build my church,’ and this is how we can pray for the Chinese church: we need to remember that He will build it no matter what comes against it,” Burklin says. 

He anticipates CCP leadership and the Chinese population at large eventually pushing back against an ideology doomed to fail. 

“There’s only so far you can go with Communist ideology. We know this from history,” Burklin says.

Please pray for President Xi Jinping. As he seeks further control of his people, ask the Lord to reveal Himself as the one who holds hearts of kings in His hands. 

“He controls what Xi does and what other leaders around the world do, and so we as Christians have that hope; and that’s what we need to look to,” Burklin reminds us. 

On another hopeful note, there are over 50,000 registered churches and an equal or greater number of unregistered churches operating in China every week. Amidst restrictions on children in worship services, parents are taking shepherding to heart. 

“On top of that, they’re printing Bibles now, rather than getting rid of them under the Mao regime,” Burklin says. “So that’s what the Christians are thankful for.” 

By God’s hand, Burklin points out, Xi Jinping will continue his plans as the Lord carries out His. 

Pray that Chinese believers will stay strong in the Scriptures and their faith. Pray for the Chinese church leaders navigating new waters. Pray also for members of the Religious Affairs Bureau, who will need to work closely with church leaders to enforce new regulations.

“As a result of enforcement of that, they will get to know more pastors,” Burklin says, “and God can use this to reach those individuals as well.” 

Please pray also for China Partner as they prayerfully consider new ministry directions both within and outside of China. 

(Photos courtesy of China Partner)

Erik Burklin with China Partner says some of the 38 articles aren’t as alarming as they appear at first glance, and others are not new.

“The statement [by some news sources in response to the new regulations] that foreigners are no longer allowed to preach as of May 1 is not completely the whole story. It depends on what you’re there for,” he says.

“If you’re there officially invited by the official church, registered church, then you may preach if you get permission. If you’re working more with the house church movement or the unregistered churches, then it gets more tricky.”

Burklin adds, “I think this new foreign regulation that Xi Jinping is pushing on everyone is really a way to control more what’s happening with the unregistered churches, unfortunately. I think that’s always been his concern.”

Indeed, clerics within the Chinese Catholic Church consider the regulations to be a “pretext” for arrests if foreigners do not follow.

(Photo courtesy of China Partner via Facebook)

“What it says, ‘the invitees shall meet the following conditions: comply with Chinese laws, regulations and rules, respect Chinese principles of religious independence and self-governance, have no hostile speech or actions towards China…’ that’s not surprising,” Burklin says. 

“Obviously you can interpret it one way or the other. Most of us who are evangelical believers, we say, ‘well, that’s very restrictive.’”

But for many Chinese believers, that system is the context they follow Christ in. They have been following Christ for decades with resilience. On that note, Burklin explains that the term self-governance, “that’s actually not a negative term… and that’s why the Chinese church has become so strong — [it] is because they’re depending on the Word of God in their own culture, in their context.”

(Photo courtesy of China Partner)

Find your place in the story

More regulations and control by the Chinese Communist Party over the religious sphere are not in themselves good. But Burklin cautions against fear.

“[It] doesn’t matter what political leader you want to throw in there, God is above them. In fact, not only is He above them, but He holds their heart in His hand, and He even controls their decision-making process. So we as Christians have to have that perspective, I feel, to trust God completely,” he says.

“Of course, we [can] react and say, ‘Oh no, what’s that going to mean for mission activity in China? Or what’s that going to mean for the church in China?’ On and on it goes, and then we start speculating. But I think Jesus wants us to stay faithful. Number one, stay faithful in praying for China.” 

Header photo courtesy of China Partner. 

Erik Burklin, President of China Partner, says, “We were invited to come and do some more trainings in two different provinces and three different schools – like seminaries and Bible schools. We’ve just been informed by our friends over there who are with the Registered Church that they did not receive permission by their government to receive us.

(Photo courtesy of China Partner)

“We’ve never had that where, last minute, somebody would indicate it to us, ‘Oh, please don’t come right now because we couldn’t get permission to host you.'”

The setback comes during a landmark year for China Partner, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025.

“My grandparents went to China 100 years ago this year,” Burklin shares. “In 1925, they got the call of God in their hearts to become missionaries.”

Burklin sees today’s restrictions in light of his grandparents’ experience. “They went through struggles and they had political strife during the middle of their tenure in China. That’s right at the end of World War II, Mao Zedong came into power, and all the foreigners were asked to leave. So this is not necessarily unprecedented, in a way.”

China’s tightened travel permissions appear to align with a broader pattern of retaliation toward the US in recent months, especially as trade tensions increase. However, Burklin says ministry doesn’t stop just because travel does.

“Just because China Partner ministries or other foreign organizations cannot right now travel to China to do direct ministry, there’s a lot of things that still can be done.”

(Photo courtesy of China Partner)

Online relationships, prayer support, and ongoing communication with local believers remain key strategies. Burklin says he’s still in touch with pastors from the two provinces affected by the recent cancellation to better understand the situation.

“We want to be very wise, and we also want to respect the authorities that have now basically limited international travel to come to China.”

In the midst of shifting policies, the Holy Spirit is moving and God is sovereign. Burklin says, “The Church is still operating in China and people are going to church – whether that is in the house Church movement or the Registered Church. God is still working.”

Find ways you can support China Partner at their website!

Header photo courtesy of China Partner.

“The Chinese Christians, however, use this as a way to reach out to their communities, and to their friends and their families,” says Erik Burklin of China Partner. 

Burklin likens the Chinese New Year to America’s Thanksgiving. It’s a busy time of travel when many people head for their childhood homes to reunite with extended family. 

“You have to imagine 1.4 billion people taking trains and planes,” Burklin says. 

The commotion is palpable, and it’s intensified by lengthy travel distances. 

Since many urban dwellers grew up in the country, homebound routes can last many hours or even days. Burklin spoke with one believer who has a 30 hour train ride home. She said the confined travel quarters are an open witnessing opportunity, a perspective Burklin says is shared by many Chinese Christians who want to glorify Christ and make him known. 

“Their love for Jesus is more important to them than what the government tells them they can and cannot do,” he says.

Courtesy of Maud Beauregard via Unsplash

Many people are coming to faith through these efforts, and Burklin thinks the growth becomes especially apparent at the Chinese church’s two main baptism events. These take place on Christmas and Easter. 

“The Easter baptisms are huge, and I think it has direct connections to the Chinese new year,” Burklin points out, “because during that time, many people share their faith with their family members.” 

When asked what to make of widespread persecution in China, Burklin says there is no way to escape that reality. Yes, persecution abounds, he says, but then again: the situation is markedly better than it was under the violent hand of Mao Zedong.

“If they survived Mao Zedong’s 30 years of oppressive control, what’s happening now with Xi Jinping is a drop in the bucket,” he says. “They’re thankful for the relative freedom that they have, including the house churches.” 

The current administration is pushing to infiltrate every aspect of life with communism. 

“Well guess what: they’re not going to be successful because communism will never win over Christ and his church,” Burklin says. 

China Partner is focused on prayer ministry, training, and provision of books and ministry tools to church leaders. Burklin says the team has plans for this year involving at least eight Chinese cities, with several trainings scheduled at seminaries and Bible schools across the country. 

“All this is to equip the next generation of pastors and church leaders so that they can reach out to their own people,” he says. 

Please continue to pray for the faithfulness of Chinese church leaders, especially those who are suffering. Burklin says one pastor friend who was imprisoned for seven months spent the time writing letters and encouraging his congregation. 

“And I think that would be the prayer for those of us from the outside,” Burklin says. “That we don’t forget about these dear brothers and sisters who are living inside that system and have no choice in the matter, yet they trust the Lord, they love the Bible, they share about their faith in Jesus. They are witnesses. That’s who we need to continue to pray for.”

Featured photo courtesy of RDNE Stock project via Pexels

After the formal event, he introduced himself to SARA’s director, Mr. Huang. The Chinese Communist Party’s oversight of Christians is strict, and authenticity from officials can be hard to gauge, he says, but Burklin was encouraged by Huang’s initial reception. 

“I never really sensed from him that he was anti-foreign or anti-missionary, which was interesting,” Burklin says. 

SARA is run by China’s United Front Work Department, an arm of the Communist Party responsible for addressing opposition groups. As leader of the group, Huang is tasked with oversight of China’s five officially recognized religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism. 

These groups must be registered with the government in order to hold legal worship services. But the CCP goes further than simply requiring permitting. According to the 2023 report on international freedom, “Regulations require clergy to pledge allegiance to the CCP and socialism and to ‘resist illegal religious activities and religious extremist ideology, and resist infiltration by foreign forces using religion.’” 

Given this reality, Burklin says the meeting and fellowship with Huang was strategic. He hopes to continue meeting together, especially to hear how the department is interpreting and implementing a nationwide sinicization push. After the October event, Burklin sent a personal letter to Huang asking to continue conversing. 

“We care about how we operate in China,” Burklin says he told Huang. “We respect you. We respect the governing authorities. We don’t want to do anything illegally, but we care about your people and your country.”  

Huang touts the country’s religious freedoms, a routine recognized as political propaganda by Christians and other minority groups facing religious persecution in the country. Despite the difficulty of navigating discrepancies in the administration’s speech and action, Burklin says ministry leaders at October’s event interacted with Huang as an image-bearer of God.

“In that meeting you could sense the love that there was for this individual by many who came – of course all of us are Christian, born again,” he says. 

Photo courtesy of Javier Quiroga via Unsplash

Burklin asks believers to pray for Huang’s salvation and to remember that the Lord holds the heart of kings in his hand. 

“God is in control. He knows these people. He cares for these people. He loves these people. And we as Christians need to do the same,” he says.

Christians can also pray that SARA leadership would begin to look with favor on Christians across China and that God would give Huang wisdom and discernment in his work. 

“These are not just government officials that we sometimes put in a category of evil – although their ideology is evil and it’s anti-God, we understand this,” Burklin points out. “But God can use these men and women for his glory.”

Featured photo courtesy of Zhang Kaiyv via unsplash.

Toward those ends, the CCP’s prime target today are children. Children and families of Muslim and Christian faith are feeling the pressure. 

Erik Burklin with China Partner recently gathered with around 40 pastors from mainland China and 40 leaders mostly from the U.S.

China Partner equips local Chinese church leaders.

“One of the big concerns that they shared with us is the government is now enforcing this law of not being allowed to share the gospel with minors. Anybody under the age of 18, for instance, is not allowed to go to church. They’re enforcing that now, more,” Burklin says. 

The ban has been in place for years. In some areas of China, Burklin says children are not allowed to even enter a church building. In other areas, the rules are less strict. 

“[In less restricted areas] they don’t have necessarily ‘Sunday school’ [as] we (in the West) would think of it, but they just host these children and have a safe place for them to be while their parents are worshiping in the church service,” Burklin says. 

The increasing challenge has led to a practical approach among the church leaders. One leader put it this way: “We’re rethinking how we do ministry to parents.”

“They’re actually having a very concentrated effort to equip parents to reach their own children for Jesus Christ, very similar to what the Jewish people were doing in the Old Testament,” Burklin explains.

Family discipleship is something every Christian family should be doing. In China, they are looking for increased resources. One leader told Burklin earlier this year, “Could you please help us get better materials so that we can teach our children?”  

Pray for China’s church

Pray for wisdom, strength, faithfulness and endurance for the Chinese church under pressure. Pray for parents and children to be equipped to share and receive the gospel of Christ. 

“They were asking for us to pray for them for wisdom on how they should operate in the future, how they should continue to stay within the law and yet stay true to Scripture, which is always kind of a tension that Chinese Christians have in China,” Burklin says.

Learn more about the mission and strategy of China Partner here. But don’t miss this word of encouragement. 

“In spite of all the government restrictions that are being imposed on religious activities, we sense from the leadership there not a sense of fear or depression — just the opposite. A lot of optimism, excitement,” Burklin says. 

“Within their system that is very restrictive, God is still moving. God is in control and using these men and women for His glory [to be] a witness and salt and light in their society.”

Header photo courtesy of China Partner. 

By working alongside the registered church, China Partner can legally visit and collaborate with Christians in China.

“One of the greatest opportunities is to see that the Church has reinvited us back,” says Erik Burklin from China Partner. And they’re not just asking for a visit – they want tools to continue to grow the Church. “They want us to come back with trainers, with pastors to help them, to serve them.”

One of the first things China Partner has planned is a symposium. Leadership of the China Christian Council will meet in Shanghai for the first symposium since 2015.

“I’ve invited some pastors and Christian leaders and ministry leaders from outside of China to come join us for the symposium,” Burklin says. “The goal of this symposium is literally just to come together to listen to their story, to find out where they are, and to learn from them, because their situation has changed since the pandemic.

“We want to be careful not to overdo things too quickly, but to also share with them and let them know we’re still wanting to partner with them. We want to serve them.”

The symposium will take place from October 15-17. Burklin asks that the global Church pray for the symposium’s success.

Pray that “God would really use this time to allow us to learn from them and to see how we as a foreign organization and other foreign organizations can continue to partner with our brothers and sisters in China.”

If you want to find out more about China Partner’s plans, both now and in the future, you can do so with the link right here. You can also support their work financially.

China Partner is only just getting started – they’ll be resuming even more projects in the future. If you want to keep up to date with their work, follow along with Mission Network News.

Header photo courtesy of Freeman Zhou via Unsplash.

China Partner’s Erik Burklin says, “Economically, [China is] struggling. We heard that from many leaders. The government is inviting foreigners to come back and reinvest again in their country.”

This reinvestment invitation is a positive development for Great Commission endeavors.

“For four years, we were not allowed to have in-person sessions. Now we can again, so we’re going to take advantage of the fact that they’re allowing us to come,” Burklin says.

“Many pastors said, ‘Please come back. We would love to have you at our Bible school again or train our students in a seminary setting.’ We’re working towards that for 2024 and 2025.”

China Partner empowers churches in China through training and resources. More about that here.

(Photo courtesy of China Partner)

Training shifted online during severe lockdowns in China, but now, “Everybody is back on campus, and it’s starting up again very normally,” Burklin says.

“About 1,200 seminary and Bible school students graduated in 2023.”

Praise God for these positive developments. Pray that the Body of Christ in China will remain faithful and centered on Scripture.

“When we hear any negative news out of China, just trust the Lord despite that (bad news) because that’s what the Christians are doing over there,” Burklin says.

“They have to live within this system. Yet, they want to serve Christ, and they want to share Christ with their people, and they are doing it.”

Header and story images courtesy of China Partner.