Sundays in Beijing are so laced with excitement right now that you can hardly hear the silence.
But it’s there nonetheless. If you’re a local like Dan Sandifer-Stech, then you can tell.
“Overall, Beijing feels less crowded and intense than usual,” said Sandifer-Stech, pastor of Congregation of the Good Shepherd in Beijing and former chair of the department of family studies at Samford University in Birmingham. “Half the cars are off the road, giving the regulars a feeling of ‘Where is everyone?’ Many say the hotels and restaurants are less full than expected due to all the focus on security.”
Personally his English-speaking congregation of between 250 and 300 members has not felt much change from tightened security in the city, which is teeming with hundreds of thousands of people there for the 2008 Olympic Games. The church ministers solely to foreign passport holders by agreement with the Chinese government, he said.
“The congregation is about half American and the other half from the world over — England, Germany, South Africa, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Canada,” Sandifer-Stech said, adding a few members had visas expire at the end of June and have not been given new ones in the increased visa-control Olympic environment.
But the church itself has been all business as usual — something Sandifer-Stech doesn’t take lightly.
“Before the Olympics, two foreign congregations in the suburbs were asked by local officials to shut down till October. The assumption is that police in some areas are concerned that foreign gatherings might be a source of disturbance during the games,” he said.
According to China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S.-based organization that monitors religious persecution in the world’s most-populous country, churches not registered with the government fared similarly.
The Chinese government has forced pastors of unregistered churches to pledge there will be no worship services at their congregations’ meeting sites during a three-month period (July 15–Oct. 15) surrounding the Summer Olympics, CAA reported.
CAA estimates from 60 million to 80 million Christians are part of the unregistered church.
Because of such tightened security, Sandifer-Stech said his congregation is trying its best to minister to the city and Olympics-goers while staying out of the limelight.
It’s one of just a few English-language churches for foreigners in the whole city.
“At one time, we considered making a PR effort to invite foreign visitors to worship with us during the Olympics, but given the perceived government concern about safety, we carry on as we always do with a moderate to low profile,” he said.
The church ran ads in the back of Beijing tourist and event-type magazines and has seen a handful of Olympic visitors as a result, Sandifer-Stech said. (BP contributed)
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