Falun Gong?

Years and decades ago, those advocating house churches would sometimes point to China to demonstrate that they were many in number and rapid in their multiplication. However another fast-growing group has taken the spotlight. Falun Gong. They claim to have 100 million practitioners and even have a marching band.

What is their threat to the Chinese government? I do not understand their massive appeal. How do they grow their movement even under intense persecution? They appear to be more of a fitness craze than a faith community. No doubt I am displaying my ignorance.

Regardless, we certainly hope they find more freedom and less persecution in that repressive regime.

Do they have missionaries? Do they have written standards of right and wrong? Do they believe in the eternal soul and it's final destiny? I did find some interesting remarks in an online version of the magazine Christianity Today: But more questions were raised than answers found. So far.

"In practice, the government is putting much more weight against the Falun Gong than against Christian house churches," Fulton told Christianity Today. "The government will go after house churches when they can get to them, but not with the intensity of their hunt for Falun Gong. The government's propaganda attack of Falun Gong has not been equaled by their treatment of anyone else." 

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"The church in China is not up to that level," Fulton told CT. "Falun Gong's success is in fact a wake up call to Christians. It shows how an indigenous movement with sophistication has attracted a lot of followers. The church needs to ask, 'What do we need to do to make an impact?'"