Picture of modern-day Mars’ Hill by AJ Alfieri-Crispin

Then Paul stood up on Mars’ Hill and said, “Men of Athens, I see how very religious you are in every way. As I was walking around and looking at the things you worship, I found an altar where you worship with the words written on it, To The God Who Is Not Known. You are worshiping Him without knowing Him. He is the One I will tell you about.
Acts 17:22-23 NLV.

To be a police officer in China you must be a member of the Communist Party and to be a member of the Communist Party you must renounce all religions. Period. One day I had the privilege of speaking with a relatively high-ranking police officer. During our conversation about faith I learned that his views of Christianity were the same as many of the other Chinese people I had met. That Christianity is a “western religion”, that “God didn’t make Chinese people” nor does he “care about China”. I asked him what he lived for and he replied, “The future.” Then he went on to explain in broken English that he decided to be a police officer because he wants to help people. To be honest. (He was offended at the idea of taking a bribe and upset that it is a problem in his country.) He wants to help make China better for the next generation. To protect people. To serve them. To do good.

I told him he wasn’t just serving people but that he was also serving God.

That blew him away.

He didn’t believe me. I told him that Jesus said that when you serve people you’re serving him.^# That serving people is at the very heart of Christianity and that Jesus performed the ultimate act of service when he laid down his life. I could have put it another way: You are serving Him without knowing Him. He is the One I’ve been telling you about.

At this point in the conversation his whole demeanor changed. He was listening. He was questioning. He wasn’t rejecting a foreign religion anymore… He was considering Christ.

In addition to that police officer, the other members of my team and I met a lot of English-speaking students, teachers, soldiers and even a man who works for the Chinese military’s ministry of propaganda. Almost always religion, faith and Christianity came up in conversation and talking about our faith in a country where where the vast majority of people have never heard the good news was always a challenge. Words like “Salvation” “Sin” “Saved” “Son of God” and even “Jesus” all had to be explained. I think there are very few (if any) people in our western culture who don’t have a basic understanding of the Gospel. Think about it, you could say all those words and maybe even “Trinity” and “The Incarnation” to anyone on the street and chances are they’ll have a good idea of what you mean.

Not so in China.

People like to call themselves “men of science” who “don’t believe in spiritual things” yet burn incense to idols, consult the stars and and wear Buddhist jewelry for “good luck”. Spirits are things to be appeased and pleased in order to receive financial blessing or an attractive spouse. Christianity is something they were taught in school alongside Greek and Roman mythology. For me to say “I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ” is akin to someone you meet in McDonalds telling you that they worship Zeus.

Though many of the Chinese don’t know it and it’s easy for us to forget: God is in China. He has always been there! I’m thankful that I had an opportunity to go and, like Paul in Athens 2000 years ago, point him out in a place where the “Good News” is actually news.