In addition to normal religious services， churches andgathering places hold different kinds of activities to satisfy the demands of the Christians， for example， Bible reading gatherings，prayer gatherings， youth gatherings， choir， summer and wintergatherings; when Christmas Day， Good Friday or Easter Sundaycome round， all kinds of ceremonies are held; besides， marriageservices， funeral services， commemoration and retrospectionservices， respecting the elderly services and different kinds ofthanksgiving services all proceed as normal. Chinese Christiansstill maintain the good tradition of going to church togetherwithout discrimination between different factions， which has beenfollowed since 1958. Under the principle of caring for all differentreligious factions and showing mutual respect among differentreligious beliefs， the Chinese government also gives special consideration to those who have specific demands in terms ofbelief or rituals. For instance， Sabbath gatherings are held in someplaces; and both infusion and immersion， the two forms ofbaptism， are practiced freely. Some churches provided dialectpreaching and blind Christians‘ gatherings to serve those whoneed special care; for those Christians who were old， weak orlive far from the church， services like visiting preaching，communion etc are offered so as to let them feel the care of thechurches like everyone else.
In the more and more relaxed social environment， freedomof religious belief is respected and protected. The number of Christians has risen greatly. Inthe nearly 150 years between1807 and 1949 when foreignmissionaries tried hard tospread Christianity， there wereonly 700，000 believers. After1949， for various reasons， thenumber of Christians fell alittle. However， since 1979，Chinese Christianity has maderapid development. According to statistics， there were three million Christians in China in 1979，while the number jumped to 16 million in 2002. And among thefive biggest religions in China， Christianity was one thatdeveloped the fastest. In geographical terms， provinces likeHenan， Anhui， Jiangsu and Zhejiang developed relatively fasterthan elsewhere.
In another development， the admission of large number ofnew members has brought some changes to the composition ofChristianity in China. In the past， the majority of ChineseChristians had always been working people and intellectuals，with 70% of Christians living in rural areas. They were characterized by four "many"s， namely， many elderly people， manywomen， many illiterates and many sick people. In the 1990s， theratio of middle-aged people， youths and intellectuals rose slightly.
To enhance the newly admitted Christians‘ quality in their faith，Christian churches at various levels spared no efforts in helpingthem shake off the influence of superstition， resist unlawfulactivities and set up the right faith. The churches also encouragedChristians to serve other people"s needs on different occasions，for example， among families， neighborhoods and in thecommunity and workplace， and to be a witness to God"s virtues.
Many Christians had no knowledge about Christianity at the verybeginning， but have developed a relatively purified faith andimproved a lot in their consciousness of God. After they embracedChristianity， many Christians felt that their lives became moremeaningful with set goals and their hearts and minds becamepeaceful and cheerful. They observe the Ten commandmentsand are compassionate. Some of them have improved their familylives as well as their relations with their neighbors; some haveregretted past wrongdoings and sworn to mend their ways; inmany places， there have appeared some Christians who pursuetruth， devote themselves to God and are always ready to give.
They have greatly improved the image of Christianity. At present，a lot of excellent Christians have played an active role in thematerial and spiritual construction of the socialist country. Forinstance， Wang Juzhen， a female Christian in Shanghai Mu EnChurch， invented "tungsten cerium electrode‘ after years ofresearches and trials and won many national and internationalprizes. She was elected a deputy of the People"s Congress ofShanghai Municipality and a member of the CPPCC. Manyexcellent Christians like Wang Juzhen emerge every year， andthey are granted various prizes. They include college professors，scientists， medical workers， teachers， businessmen， and moreoften ordinary workers and farmers. All of them have broughtglory to their faith and have won the people"s trust through theirloyalty to the country and Christianity.
