China will be the largest Christian nation in the world
Atheism is the official religion of China. Christianity is illegal in China. Yet, Christianity is growing in China and China may soon be home to the largest Christian population on the planet.
The growth of Christianity in the midst of persecution is remarkable. This is true for the 21st century church as well as the 1st century church in the Roman Empire.
It has been estimated that by A.D. 250 Christians made up 1.9% of the empire. By the middle of the next century about 56% of the population claimed to be Christians. This lead to the famous saying,
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. We are of yesterday, but where you kill one there are soon ten, where you kill ten there are soon a hundred, and where you kill a hundred there are soon a thousand; and there is no city or town of any size in the Roman Empire that does not have the graves of the honored martyred dead” (Tertullian [d.230]).
Christianity has a remarkable 2,000 year history of growing amidst persecution.
Related articles:
