Jillian Kay Melchior
The Wall Street Journal
September 20, 2012
Christians are stepping into breach after the earthquake in Yunnan and Guizhou, just like in Sichuan in 2008.
The aftershocks of the massive 5.7-level earthquake on Sept. 7 are subsiding in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, and the effects are being tallied. At least 81 people were killed, 800 injured and more than 200,000 displaced. But the lives of the survivors may be brightened by an unexpected legacy of the disaster.
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake and recovery suggests that natural disasters in China have a strong spiritual impact. Four years afterward, the cities at the epicenter are undergoing a religious revival. Pastors in the worst-hit areas have reported a prolonged spike in Christian conversions—in a country where proselytizing is still illegal.
Beichuan Pastoral Protestant Church, near the Sichuan quake’s epicenter, saw at least four of its 1,000 members killed in 2008—an entire family. Others were injured during rescue and reconstruction efforts. Surviving members suffered from post-traumatic stress. And the quake damaged the church building, too. The chancel caved in, leaving chunks of roof scattered around the pulpit.
Regardless, Beichuan Pastoral became a refuge. Members welcomed fellow Christians, their families, and even non-religious survivors to camp out the churchyard. From this base they turned outward.
“After the earthquake, I wanted to try to help more people,” Pastor Luo Jian Ming says. “I was limited, but I wanted to try. If we could not do it, we would pray to God to help. [Eventually,] the whole community of Sichuan Protestants tried to gather money and help each other. And they tried to help not only other Christians but also non-Christians.”
This turning outward helps explain why the interest in faith has been sustained. Sometimes after a disaster there is a short-term renewal of interest in religion, as survivors turn to God for comfort, like after the Sept. 11 attacks. Yet in Sichuan, the increase in conversions has remained steady over the years. That’s because Christians have spent the last four years working to improve the earthquake-ravaged communities, both physically and spiritually.
This charity, which is now being replicated in Yunnan and Guizhou, is the game-changer. Though the government doesn’t allow charitable groups to proselytize, Chinese and foreign Christian groups provided support to believers and nonbelievers alike, teaching by example. And Christian survivors, themselves, became instrumental in rebuilding their communities. In Sichuan, that example proved compelling, generating enduring interest in Christianity.
In the four years since, the Beichuan church has rebuilt its chancel—and its annual conversions have surged. Before, Mr. Luo estimated, 20 or 30 people joined each year. But since the disaster, his church alone has drawn around 40 to 50 baptisms annually.
Beichuan Pastoral Protestant Church is not unique in this regard. In Anxian, more than 1,500 died and more than 13,000 were injured. There, Feng An Protestant Church estimates that 20% of its 1,000 members are Chinese who converted after the disaster. Fu Chen Chi Protestant Church in nearby Mianyang City saw between 120 and 130 baptisms a year before the quake; now it has 230 to 240 annually, says Pastor Cao Yuehan.
“[People] became Christian, not only during the earthquake but after, because they could see the charity after the earthquake, and they could see the kindness of the Chinese Christians,” Mr. Cao says.
In Yunnan and Guizhou, the Christian response has been big, quick and professional—and “not just [because of] the Sichuan earthquake,” says Tong Su, a Hong Kong project coordinator for the Protestant Amity Foundation. “We learn from all these disaster-relief operations.” Within the first week, Amity, which operates with the approval of the Chinese government, had already sent two shipments of food and supplies to the victims, and they’re now planning more intensive recovery help.
Likewise, Jinde, China’s largest state-approved Catholic charity, is leading an aid effort. Last week, its volunteers went to a remote village to meet earthquake victims and assess their needs.
“We were in the mountain areas, and the temperature dropped below zero,” says Nimi Haishuang, a Jinde aid worker. “The [survivors] are lacking tents and [supplies]. Four to five families in one tent—13 people in one tent. We are trying to get tents to them.”
On a smaller scale, local churches across Yunnan have sent volunteers to the disaster areas, and the province’s Christians are recruiting medical teams, too. Chinese churches have also pairing up with foreign Christian aid groups.
Baptist Global Response, an American international relief and development organization, has already sent $25,000 in supplies to the earthquake region. And working with Chinese Christians and other partners, it will help with short-term relief and long-term recovery.
“In both disaster response and community development, people in need experience the love of God through the efforts of our teams,” says Baptist Global Response’s executive director, Jeff Palmer. “They come to understand that God wants them to have lives of meaning and purpose, and it gives them opportunities to help others by sharing what they have learned themselves.”
In Sichuan, such Christian outreach left a lasting impression on earthquake survivors. The quake-ravaged areas of Yunnan and Guizhou may soon be looking toward heaven, too.
Ms. Melchior is an Asia-based Robert Novak fellow with the Phillips Foundation.
