China is on course to overtake other nations for the number of Christians living in the communist country.
It already has more Christian churchgoers than most European countries.
The People’s Republic of China remains officially atheist, but churches began to reopen after Chairman Mao died in 1976. Since then Christian congregations have skyrocketed.
China's Protestant community, which numbered just one million members in 1949, has already overtaken those of countries more often associated with an evangelical boom. In 2010 there were more than 58 million Protestants in China compared to 40 million in Brazil and 36 million in South Africa, according to the Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion and Public Life.
One leading expert believes the number could reach some 160 million by 2025. Purdue University’s Prof Yang said: "By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon".
By 2030, China's total Christian population, including Catholics, would exceed 247 million, placing it above Mexico, Brazil and the United States as the largest Christian congregation in the world, he predicted.
The number of Protestants in the US is some 159 million, but congregations there are declining.
In addition to churches which operate openly, there is an illegal underground “house-church” movement where millions attend services.
China’s 1982 constitution guarantees the right to engage in “normal religious activities” for all citizens. But the leadership has had difficulty in assessing what future direction a largely Christian citizenship will demand.
A close watch is still kept on churchgoers, and preachers are routinely monitored to ensure their sermons do not diverge from what the Party considers acceptable. Some churches have a closed circuit television camera near the lectern.
Those who worship in the house-churches often do so to avoid such scrutiny. They also fear that some passages in the Bible could be construed as subversive.
Last month thousands reacted to government threats to demolish a church in Wenzhou. In the face of such resistance, the officials appear to have instead negotiated a compromise with the church’s leaders.
"They do not trust the church, but they have to tolerate or accept it because the growth is there," said the church leader. "The number of Christians is growing – they cannot fight it. They do not want the 70 million Christians to be their enemy."
