What Chinese Churches Have in Common with Churches in the West

We always attend a Sunday Service when we are home in Canada. No matter where we are when we are travelling, we also look for a church to attend a Service on Sunday. On the first Sunday we went back to Guangzhou we attended a service in one of the churches in the city. Though it was a hot day but it was nice and comfortable travelling on the subway trains as they were air-conditioned. We arrived to the church a little early. One of church ladies advised us that instead of waiting at the church, we could go down to a mom and pop restaurant located at the end of the street to have our breakfast. It was a good suggestion and we went there for a simple breakfast. After satisfying our hunger, we went to the Sunday worship.

As the case with so many other church services we have attended in China, this church service was half full with mostly senior women. After attending numerous Sunday Services in cities across China in the past few years during our travels, we have found that church attendance in Mainland China is normally about 50 to 60 % capacity with the congregations mostly female seniors. We travelled many times in the past decade to the U.S. and in Europe. From what we have experienced, Chinese cultures and traditions are quite different from the West. However, China and the western world do have something in common. ---- Church attendance in China is similar to the trends we see in the western countries - it has been declining in the past decade. Another thing BOTH churches have in common is the made up of the congregants - mostly old people in China as well as the western world. We felt so sad after attending a few Sunday Services in the U.S. last year. The entire choir members at the churches were all silvered haired men and women; sadly, the same thing is happening with our own churches as well in Canada. Where have all the young people in the western world gone? Are they not going to churches any more? Do they not believe in God any more? RT Guangzhou, China 72505