Caleb and Angel are Chinese Christians. A few years ago, they committed a crime against the Chinese government.

They had a baby.

The baby, Amy, was their second child. China has a law that limits families to one child. “China is the only country in the world where it is illegal to have a brother or sister,” said a Christian worker.

Controlling Families

China has more than one billion people. The government made the one-child law to stop the growth of the population. (The policy has exceptions; for example, some rural families and ethnic minorities are allowed to have more than one child.)

But still the population increases by 10 million people every year. And the one-child policy has some “side effects” that the government can’t control.

• Only-children in China are sometimes called “little emperors” because parents and grandparents often treat them like royalty. Many people in China are concerned that the children are “spoiled.”
• A news report said that many Chinese only-children who marry each other get divorced. Neither wants to do household tasks.
• Chinese employers sometimes refuse to hire grown up “little emperors” because they think they are not good workers.
• When children in China grow up, they usually take care of their parents and grandparents. But in one-child families, the child has six people to care for. Now many older people have to go to nursing homes.

Controlling the Church

Caleb was already well-known to the police when he became a father for the second time. He had been arrested twice for Christian activities.

In 1949, the Communists took control of China. Communism teaches that God is not important. The Communists wanted to do away with all religious groups. But now there are many more Christians in China than when the Communists first took over!

The government still tries to control public worship. They dictate what Christians can say and do in government-approved “official churches.” So, about 90 percent of China’s Christians meet in house churches that are not approved or controlled by the government.

Sometimes the police persecute the Christians for their boldness. They have punished people for printing Bibles without permission, for teaching secret Sunday school classes, and for breaking other government rules. Caleb was a victim of their persecution.

In spite of the persecution, every day 15,000 people in China decide to follow Jesus. Clearly God is in control.

A Special Baby

Sometimes the government forces women to have abortions if they already have one child. So Angel stayed hidden while she was pregnant with Amy. But after Amy was born, it was harder to hide!

Caleb had a “criminal record,” so the government was eager to punish the family with a huge fine for having a second child. Because of the threat of a fine, Caleb and Angel nicknamed Amy, “The Fifty-Thousand Dollar Baby.” (However, the fine was actually in Chinese money, called “yuan;” 50,000 yuan would have been equal to about 6,000 U.S. dollars.)

The family moved to another place in China, away from officials who knew them. Caleb and Angel are teaching Amy and her older brother that Jesus loves them.

God’s Purpose

China’s communist government tries to control the lives of its citizens, their families, and the church. But sometimes their plans do not work. Proverbs 19:21 (NIV) says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Pray for officials in China to learn and follow God’s purpose for their lives.

Note: To protect their identities, the names of some of the people on this Web site and some identifying details have been changed.