Many years ago I had a conversation with a colleague of a very conservative, Wisconsin Synod Lutheran Church about some missionaries he either knew or at least knew of who had been arrested in China. I knew a little bit about Christian missions in China because of the work of churches related to our denomination and partnerships with our church and churches in China. Christianity arrived in China very early. There is an ancient tablet that reports accounts of Christian congregations established as early as 635 in China. My colleague, however, had believed that Christianity had been eliminated from China by the Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s and 1970’s. While it is true that Christian ministers and lay leaders suffered persecution during the Cultural Revolution, Christian believers and Christian congregations continued to serve throughout that time. I have since met Christians who were born and raised in China and heard of the stories of their churches.

My colleague’s story was of people who had been arrested for smuggling bibles into China. I commented that smuggling bibles into China was a rather senseless activity for several reasons. I knew that proselytizing or attempting to change a person’s faith or religious beliefs was illegal in China at that time, that English language Bibles were of little use to Chinese Christians and that our church had partnerships with the Chinese Christian Council that were in the process of forming a press to print Bibles in China. The press was not underground, but rather being organized legally with full knowledge of the Chinese government. Amity printing has since gone on to print more that 200 million bibles. It has a modern, high production printing operation in Nanjing that is a world leader in thin paper printing.

It has been a long time since I heard the story of people who I thought at the time were associated with the Lutheran church who were arrested for smuggling bibles into China. I don’t remember the details and I think it is quite possible that those people weren’t Lutherans at all. In China there are no significant distinctions between protestant Christian groups. Catholics and protestants remain divided, but protestant churches work together through the Chinese Christian Council.

Over the years, I have made a few jokes about smuggling bibles into China as friends have visited and worked with Christian organizations in China. I led the curriculum development team for International Pilgrimages with Youth and helped produce educational resources for teens and young adults from the United States who made visits to China and were hosted by Chinese Christians and learned of the rapidly growing Christian movement in China. As we watched the growth of Amity Foundation and its bible printing operation, we understood that smuggling English language bibles into China was a futile effort when partnerships with Chinese Christians were making bibles available to Chinese Christians in quantities that no smuggling operation could ever match.

I haven’t though about bibles in China for many years. But this week, boxes of bibles arrived for this Sunday’s bible presentation at our church. We had ordered the bibles to present to families. Our church presents bibles to third-grade students and Bible story books to families of younger children. This year, after reviewing dozens of children’s bibles and bible story books, our Faith Formation Board chose Spark bibles. Spark bibles are produced by Augsburg Fortress, a publishing company organized to serve Lutheran churches with resources. The colorful books are printed with the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible accompanied by prompts for discussion and conversation. We have used Spark bibles in our educational programs for several years.

I was surprised to find labels on the cases of Spark Story Bibles that we will preset to families that said “Made in China.” It made me laugh. I announced to Susan, “Those crafty Lutherans! They’re smuggling Bibles out of China!”

Of course there is no smuggling involved. Our society, including suppliers of Christian faith formation resources, participates in a global economy. Church organizations, seeking to stretch limited budgets as far as possible, often find that it is less expensive to use resources that are produced in places with lower costs of production than those in the United States. While we hope and pray that these lower priced items are not produced at the expense of workers’ rights, we acknowledge that sometimes the best sources for resources lie outside of our national borders. The Christian church is truly an international movement and we have contacts and do business with people around the globe. It doesn’t surprise me that Augsburg Fortress has resources that are printed in China.

The juxtaposition of a remembered story about smuggling bibles into China and receiving bibles printed in China for use in our church here in the United States reminded me of the value of working with local partners in the church. So often well-meaning Christians have participated in exploitation and cultural exportation while meaning to share faith. Instead of working with local persons of faith, they have tried to impose cultural norms in inappropriate and damaging ways. Christians have participated in a lot of ventures including boarding schools that sought to suppress indigenous language and disrupt indigenous families. A great deal of damage has been done in the name of spreading religion. Our church has learned through a long history of Christian mission work to forge partnerships with local people of faith. Part of the International Pilgrimages with Youth program was to help young people become exposed to Christian leaders and other people of faith in other countries and other cultures. Our country and our language are not the only ways of expressing Christian faith. There is a long history of the church in places far from our home with very different traditions and cultures.

Still, those Lutherans can be very crafty, and I feel fortunate to have connections with them and to have access to faith formation resources that have been produced by Lutherans. We are partners in teaching faith and Spark Story Bibles are very helpful tools for families. We are happy to have Story Bibles to present to families in our church this Sunday even if they are “smuggled” from China.