a walk with Mr. Zhangjian

Mr. Zhangjian, vice-director of the fourth Division of State Administration for Religious Affairs of P.R.C., came to have a meeting in Hunan. Forturnately, I got a chance to have a walk with him on the afternoon of December 1st, discussing with him about nowadays Christianity situation in China.
Together we visited the First Normal University in Changsha City, in which Chairman Mao spent his youth. We had a walk in the campus, and our talk touched upon several sensitive areas in Christianity situation in China.
We talked about underground church. Mr. Zhangjian said he had some friends who were in underground churches. They had invited him to join their worship, but he felt it was not convenient for him to be there, so he never went. But he understood many things of underground church from his friends. "Christian church should openly give their testimonies to the whole society. They should have their vioce heard in the public." Zhangjian said. He expressed that it's a pity underground church couldn't have their voice in China's public society, and support from overseas churches to underground church sometimes had just a short-term effectiveness. In the long run, it would not do good to strengthen Chinese church. "Underground church emphesis on salvation, neglecting the ethic hand of Christianity." I shared with him how I transfered from underground church into public church; the strength that underground church had and the strength that the public church had. My experience told me, only Chinese can sherpherd Chinese church and make it stronger.
We also talked about mission. Chinese church had many Christians, while the influence they made couldn't match their number. One day, Chinese church should grow into a missionaries sending church, I said. Mr. Zhangjian knew very well about Gospel-back-to-Jerusalem Movement, and he also knew some underground church had already prepared for that. In his opinion, this is a religious thing and he had nothing to say about it.
We shared our impressions on nowadays world and compared other countries with China. Mr. Zhangjian visited many countries. He shared with me some of his impression, "British people are interesting, when we were there, during Saturdays and Sundays, they would just put us aside. They told us, these two days were their legal holidays. They would really go away to spend their holidays and let we, the guests do whatever we want!" "Russia, the atmosphere is dignified, the pace of people's life is slow." Both Mr. Zhang and I visited the United States. We all felt that China's atmosphere was more exciting. "We are a developing country, not advanced yet" said Mr. Zhangjian, "But you can feel that it is going forward everyday."
We also shared our hobbies. Mr. Zhangjian likes playing football and swimming. As a middle-aged person, he plays football everyweek. And he likes swimming in the sea, especiall in big wind day when the sea is proud.
We spent a great time together. Our conversation continued in the dinner table that day, and my husband also joined...