The Rev Deng Fu Cun [WR410/3 PRC06DJ-517]

Reverend Deng: born to ‘spread the Gospel in the village’

When the Rev Deng Fu Cun was born, his parents gave him a name that spelled out their hopes and dreams for him: Fu Cun means ‘Spread the Gospel in the village’. They were a Christian family and both his father and his grandfather were church leaders in their village.

Mr Deng continued the family tradition, and was ordained as a clergyman in 1957. But he was to far exceed his family’s expectations. Today, at the age of 75, he is a prominent leader in the Church in China and is responsible for the distribution of millions of Bibles throughout the country. But his path has been a difficult one. Just three years after his ordination, China experienced one of the most traumatic and disruptive periods in its turbulent history – the Cultural Revolution. Churches were closed and their leaders, along with other professionals, were targeted. They were sent into camps to be ‘rehabilitated’ or ‘retrained’ as workers. It was a time of great suffering. “I was sent to live in a cow shed in the beginning,” recalls Mr Deng. “But Jesus was born in a manger, so I guess I was in good company! I ended up doing heavy manual labour in a factory. After two years I was appointed the leader of the workers, and then I was transferred to the sales and marketing department, which I also ended up leading until I was transferred back to the church.” In 1979 churches were permitted to open again, and Mr Deng went back to his work as a pastor. He has worked in the same parish ever since. He still works as a senior pastor, and has many other responsibilities as a prominent leader in the Chinese Church. His passion for his work shines through as he reflects on the changes he has seen taking place in China, and in the Chinese Church in particular, in recent years. He recalls how the very first Bibles were printed in China between 1980 and 1985 after the Cultural Revolution. Despite having no normal Bible paper, three million Bibles were printed in various printing houses. “We received help and support in many different places during those years,” he says. “For example, we printed Bibles on the People’s Liberation Army printing presses! Who would have thought that this could be possible when a few years earlier, soldiers were instructed to confiscate and burn Bibles?”

A Bible costs about the equivalent of 20 eggs in China [WR410/3 PRC06DJ-1598]

46 million Bibles

Since those early years, there has been a revolution in Bible production in China with the setting up of the Amity Printing Press in 1987, which, in less than 20 years, has printed more than 46 million Bibles. 13 per cent of Amity’s Bibles are produced for export. The remaining 87 per cent are sold throughout China at very low prices. “The prices we charge in China for Bibles are among the lowest in the world – around US$1.90,” comments Mr Deng. “We set them so low so that most people here can afford to buy a Bible. The price of a Bible is about equivalent to a live chicken or 20 eggs.” United Bible Societies, along with Bible Societies around the world, has been raising funds for Bible paper subsidies over the years to make Bibles affordable for people in China. In the past 20 years, the Amity Printing Press has dramatically increased Scripture accessibility in China, fuelling the rapid growth of the Chinese Church and helping many tens of millions of Christians to deepen their faith. The picture is not entirely positive, however.

How Bibles are distributed in China

There are a variety of ways that Christians in China can obtain Bibles: either from one of the 70 different Bible distribution centres across the country or from a church. There are about 55,000 churches or meeting places for Christians in China, and about 10,000 of them have their own store where people can come to buy Bibles. The Bibles are transported to the churches from their nearest Bible distribution centre by a fleet of 44 distribution vans.

The travelling Chinese Bible exhibition

In 2004, a travelling exhibition showcasing Chinese Christianity, including the work of the Amity Printing Press, began touring in Hong Kong. In 2006, it toured three cities in the USA – Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York – attracting tens of thousands of visitors and much media attention. The next stop for the exhibition is Germany in June 2007.

Growing fast

“The church is growing so fast but we have a severe lack of qualified pastors,” says Mr Deng. “We need people who can teach the Bible to their congregations. There are 55,000 churches, congregations and Christian meeting places, but there are only 3,000 ordained pastors. One pastor is responsible for 5,000 believers. This is a very real problem that we need to solve.” But, in the meantime, the Amity Printing Press continues to provide Scriptures for China’s Christians. In 2008, it will move to a new site, where it will be able to increase its output significantly and produce new products that will help to meet the growing and changing needs of Chinese Christians. “We are also focusing not only on increasing the number of Bibles we are producing, but also on the quality and variety of Bibles available,” says Mr Deng. “We need both large and small Bibles, Braille Bibles, luxury Bibles that can be given as gifts for special occasions, illustrated Bibles and so on.

Digital formats

Farming in the Miao area of Yunnan Province [WR410/3 PRC06DJ-1813]

“Young people need more than just the traditional printed Bible, so we are planning to produce the Bible in various digital formats that will allow them to access it through the media they are used to. For example, we are working on producing the Bible as downloadable audio books in MP3 format so young people can listen to it on their MP3 players.” As most of China’s population live in poor, rural areas, the demand for standard Bibles that are sold at low prices continues to increase each year. In order to help fund the printing of more of these standard Bibles there are plans to sell luxury Bibles in the more affluent cities for unsubsidised prices. This, together with ongoing help from the Bible Society fellowship, will go a long way towards making the Bible accessible to everyone in China. As well as being in charge of Bible distribution in China, Mr Deng is also responsible for the church’s humanitarian work. “People do not only have spiritual needs – as a church we need to look after their physical needs, too,” he states. “In rural areas especially there is a real need to provide people with medical assistance. So quite often we arrange for our Bible distribution vans to take both Scriptures and medical help to people in remote areas. We have recruited a number of retired doctors and nurses who go on these distribution trips. This combined service really seems to work well. This is how Jesus himself worked, helping both the spirit and the body.” While Bibles are readily available to Christians who wish to buy one, either in one of the 70 distribution centres across the country, or in a church store (see sidebar on page 8), Mr Deng is working on making the Scriptures more widely available through normal bookshops. “We are planning to produce study Bibles in Chinese and English and we hope these can be made available through the traditional bookshops. This is because many people have an interest in the Bible in order to learn about culture, or to help them learn a language. So we would sell these Bibles for a profit in order to fund the sale of Bibles to congregations.” An encouraging trend in Chinese Christianity, according to Mr Deng, is the growing unity among Christians. “People from all walks of life stand shoulder-toshoulder in my parish,” he smiles. “We are very inclusive. We have one Lord, one baptism, one faith and one Jesus, but we can have different opinions about the less important things. We say that the Chinese Church is in a post-denominational period now – it is unimportant which church tradition you belong to.”

(WR410/3-04.07)[13 photos]