[Chinese Church Support Ministries] China is going through a period of economic and social change that is producing some tension and unwelcome consequences. There are reports of frequent demonstrations across China, often caused by serious delays in the payments of wages and pensions. Ostentatious life styles and widespread corruption among officials help to fuel the bitterness among workers, the elderly and those without jobs.

The response from the authorities has been varied. Sometimes they negotiate with the demonstrators and promise payments in the near future. Other times the protests are just ignored. But in some places the response has been more brutal with police sent in to disperse protestors, and ringleaders being fined or imprisoned.

For many Christians living in China life has been far from easy. There appears to have been a centrally ordered crackdown on unofficial Christian groups, with the arrests of many house church believers. In Henan province around seventy people were arrested in August, and there have been reports of imprisonment from other provinces.

This has resulted in suffering for the Church in China, with the loss of church leaders, husbands or fathers to prison cells. Long periods of separation may result from the need to go into hiding. These are real personal experiences for those who seek to live out the Gospel in difficult circumstances.

One explanation seems to be that the Chinese leaders are simply afraid of groups that they don't understand and which don't see their primary role as supporting the state. The increase in social unrest and economic uncertainty has made the authorities nervous about those who refuse state monitoring, seeing them as enemies and a threat.