“Christians in China have to dance carefully on the red line,” said a speaker at Gordon-Conwell’s recent East Asian Christianity Conference. “To be faithful to Christ, Chinese Christians have to stay close to the red line—the ever-evolving and changing government regulations—but not cross the line and end up in prison.”

Navigating the boundary of the red line is a delicate dance in which millions of Christians in China take part. And they are doing it well. Christianity in China continues to grow at such a rapid pace that it is a challenge to train new Christians quickly enough!

From April 3-5 over 120 people were transported to East Asia as we gathered at the conference and listened in to what is happening among believers in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. Two faculty members wisely commented to me, “All of the faculty need to hear these pastors and their testimonies of courage in the midst of suffering. This is amazing.” One pastor from China said, “In the past, theology has been done in the midst of security and peace, mostly in the West. Now we need to do theology in the midst of persecution in Asia.”

We listened to pastors of house churches in China, of churches and a training center in Ho Chi Minh City. And we heard about the suffering and amazing beauty of Japanese kintsugi bowls (meaning “golden repair”): ancient bowls that were objects of beauty but were broken and then rebuilt with gold lacquer and filling. After these elegant bowls were broken, only then did they become more valuable and useful.

For the last century Japan has been resistant to the Good News of Jesus, thus only about one percent of the population is Christian—and this, without any real persecution! In China, on the other hand, facing ever-changing restrictions and persecution, Christianity continues to increase even as the majority of Chinese are returning to ancestral religions or Buddhism.

What do we make of all of these changes in this anxious and constantly shifting social landscape?

One message came through loud and clear from our presenters and especially from the local pastors who were case study presenters: Take courage. Courage through suffering. Courage with a clear focus on the gospel. Courage that is centered on Scripture. And courage in the midst of threats, restrictions, and persecution.

Amid the presentations another lesson became clear. Missionaries of the past, those who first brought the gospel to Vietnam and China, were thanked and honored. One speaker said that “these missionaries from the West have encouraged us to show our thanks by now carrying the gospel to our neighbors, and even to Scotland!” And it is true. They are grateful and they are sending missionaries from East Asia to the increasingly post-Christian West.

“I am a debtor, both to the Greek and to the non-Greeks, both to the wise and he foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel. . . I am not ashamed of the gospel.” (Romans 1:14,16a, NIV).

We are all debtors to someone who shared the gospel with us, and to Jesus Christ, the missionary of God.

Dr. Scott W. Sunquist, President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is author of the “Attentiveness” blog. He welcomes comments, responses, and good ideas.