China’s quiet Christians

 Beijing

A strong coffee always perks me up on a smoggy day, especially when I can drink it somewhere clandestine — like an ‘illegal’ church. Seek, and you shall find — but when it comes to Christianity in China, you’re likely to get a bit lost. Without being told where it was, I could have spent a lifetime walking past the anonymous, seemingly empty office block, never knowing that inside it was abuzz with religious activity. A discreet sign in the lobby is the only indication that a Sunday service is in progress. In other parts of the world, a church announces itself to the faithful with a cross on a steeple. The absence of this is one reason you can’t find Chinese churches — though the Zion Protestant Church is one of the most prominent, albeit unregistered, churches in Beijing. Zion may not resemble a traditional church on the outside, but it’s not exactly ‘underground’ either — along with coffee, you can buy little bears wearing ‘Jesus loves me’ T-shirts in its bustling café.