This is an important story in many ways, but in particular I wonder what it might indicate for the future of the Church in China. At the moment, according to the statistics in the World Christian Database, as of 2005 China had the fourth largest population of Christians in the world at 100,630,265 or approximately 8% of the population. If current trends continue, some predict that China will have the largest population of Christians in the world by 2050, at around 12% of the population. My understanding that estimates of the Christian population of the Roman Empire range between about 5% early in the fourth century (around the time of the Edict of Milan in 313 Ad) to about 12% by the time Christianity was established in 327 AD. All that is to say, population can have a dramatic impact on policy, and what sort of impact could such a populous Chinese Church have on China and on global Christianity if it is free of persecution?

Life in the Sichuan province in China changed on May 12, 2008.

The Longmenshan fault buckled and ripped in two, reducing towns and villages to rubble and collapsing school buildings like accordions.

The Sichuan Wenchuan earthquake, named for its epicenter, was the strongest in China for nearly 50 years. In just two minutes, the disaster would leave 70,000 dead, 400,000 injured, 18,000 missing and millions of people without homes and livelihoods.

Within five hours, the Amity Foundation -- one of the main partners in China of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries -- had staff in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, to begin assessing damage in some of the worst affected counties. A day later, the United Methodist Committee on Relief issued an emergency appeal and dispatched $50,000 to Amity for relief work and rehabilitation efforts.

Another $10,000 was released to Amity for work with the children left parentless after the quake. An additional gift of $5,000 went to the Sichuan Christian Council for work with church communities, including the Sichuan Theological Seminary in Chengdu, which suffered structural damage.

A year later, the relief and rehabilitation efforts of the Amity Foundation have touched the lives of nearly 400,000 persons. Its projects have provided community grain-storage facilities, clean water and sanitation supply lines, materials to build homes and school equipment and rebuilt classrooms.

In another sign of recovery, Christians in Mianzhu, one of the hardest-hit counties, rejoiced at the construction of a new Protestant church to replace one damaged by the quake. Church attendance is up six-fold, with a worshipping congregation of 1,000 each Sunday.