A recent report showed the Chinese mainland saw more than 2.4 million Protestant Christian followers baptized during the five years to the end of 2012, with experts saying more people are turning to the religion for help and spiritual consolation.
The report, released during the ninth National Chinese Christian Congress, said during the past five years 5,195 churches had been newly built or renovated, as well as 1,057 pastors, 482 curates and 1,443 elders ordained, according to People’s Daily, a Chinese state-run publication.
More than 4,300 seminary students graduated and 3,702 were studying at seminaries. Ninety-four new branches of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China (TSPM) and the China Christian Council (CCC) were set up in cities and counties, according to The Global Times. The TSPM, the CCC and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association are the only officially registered Christian groups in the country.
Xiong Kunxin, a professor with the Beijing-based Minzu University of China, told the Global Times that the rising number of Christian followers reflects the pursuit of spiritual belief among the public, especially when people feel troubled by social problems.
“Less privileged groups tend to seek help from the religion and the number of followers of these groups will further increase as some social conflicts might not be fixed soon. Meanwhile, some elites also resort to religion for comfort and spiritual consolation,” Xiong said.
Shi Hengtan, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the growth is the hard-won result of local pastors’ work and it also reflects that the government has eased the limits on religious activities, according to The Global Times.
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