The Bible Ministry Exhibition of the Church of China opened in Los Angeles on Thursday with an aim to demonstrate how Christianity developed in China and how the Church contributed to the society.

The exhibition, sponsored by China Christian Council (CCC) and National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China (TSPM), bore witness to how Chinese Christians enjoy religious freedom, how Chinese Christians love God's Word and how the body of Christ has been built up under the consistent guidance of the Bible, the organizers said in a press release.

Hundreds of American Christians and Christian leaders attended the opening ceremony at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, LosAngeles. The exhibition, under the theme of "A Lamp to My Feet, a Light to My Path," will continue until May 4 and then move to Atlanta and later to New York.

"Since China is increasingly in the news because of its rapid economic growth and its many cultural exchanges with the United States, few Americans, however, are aware of the history and growth of the church in China, and its significant efforts to share God's Word by publishing and distributing Bibles in China," said the press release.

The exhibition was also "intended to bring new understanding between the Americans and Chinese, and to create greater dialogue between Christians in China and the United States, " said the release.

The exhibits would help bring the two peoples closer, said David F Thorne, who came from Australia to attend the ceremony.

The exhibition "will help dispel a lot of misunderstanding thatexists in the minds of people outside China and help people understand what has taken place within the church in China over the last 20 years," said Thorne, who represented the United Bible Societies in Australia.

"There is good evidence in the exhibition itself to demonstratethat the church is growing and that the church is given a lot of freedom in China," he said.

"People should recognize that there is considerable freedom forworship and for growing up the church in China," Thorne added.

Statistics show that there are about 16 million Protestant Christians in China, with 55,000 churches and meeting points, and more than 36,000 pastoral personnel. There are also more than 100,000 church workers helping to fulfill the ministries.

Besides the sponsor of CCC/TSPM, local host committees in Los Angeles were helping to organize and coordinate the exhibition.

Chinese Protestant Christians founded the TSPM in 1954 in orderto break away from the old image of "foreign religion" to realize the principles of self-governance, self-support and self-propagation of the gospel.

The CCC was established in 1980 to unite and provide services for churches in China by encouraging theological education throughseminaries and Bible schools and publications.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2006)