Expatriate LDS members in China
January 11, 2009 by DH
Filed under Mormon Asia
We’ve commented on the LDS Chinese branches, such as the Mormon Beijing Branch, expatriate members and the LDS Church in mainland China previously. In addition, the LDS Church News just published another story further detailing the presence of expatriate LDS members and the groundwork they seem to be laying for a future LDS church presence in mainland China. How exciting to see and read about this growth through these stories. (All credit and gratitude goes to those writing and researching these stories as we simply like to highlight a few interesting points. Please go and read the whole article at the link listed below!)
Some highlights:
- 11 international branches exist in 9 cities (including Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Xi’an, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou and Nanjing)
- Expatriate members first started arriving in mainland China in the 1970s
- Branches are allowed to operate under certain restrictions.
- Some branches have members of nearly two dozen nationalities in them.
- There are two districts which cover the eleven branches-The Beijing China International District as well as the Shanghai China International District. (Shanghai, Suzhou and Nanjing are the cities this district covers.)
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“China recognizes freedom of religious belief, but it requires any religious activities comply with Chinese laws and regulations. Only certain religions are legally recognized in China.”
The article also includes pictures of members, meeting places and a map of all the cities with branches!
The whole article at LDS Church News is here:
China: Expatriate members, branches building bridge of trust.
If (we) foreigners can’t the Chinese the gospel then how is this a groundwork for the the future?
Silly me. I mean teach. I forgot to add teach into my sentence-We can not teach them the gospel due to the government restrictions.
Dan-
Off the top of my head I can think of at least a few reasons why this would be groundwork:
Expat members gain experience/knowledge of the culture, language, customs, land etc of China. One day if it does open up to missionary work then there will already be people who are familiar with these aspects of China to help take the Gospel there.
Expat members make friends in their respective fields that may open up doors in the future. This has happened many times in the past in other countries.
Expat members may not be able to teach by their voice but they are certainly watched and observed by Chinese citizens as to how they act. So maybe missionary work isn’t explicitly happening, but there is without a doubt people being influenced by the actions of expat members in China.
DH