As is often the case with an Independent Fundamental Baptist establishment, it is not what they say and write that tells the story about them so much as what they will never say or is just missing.

From BBC's website, http://beijingbaptistchurch.org/objectives.htm

"By God's grace, we together strive to:
Faithfully preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Take time to pray and believe God's promises to provide for every need and to glorify Himself in all the earth
Focus on expository preaching to learn God's ways and to respond with a life of obedience, faith and love
Equip believers to take the Gospel back to their home countries
Reach out with compassion and love to our community
Build each other up by unselfish use of our spiritual gifts"

All sounds good, right? Just a little comparison with the BICF statement from http://www.bicf.org/about-us/our-beliefs/vision-core-values

"VISION STATEMENT

To build a vibrant,reproducing community unified in Christ, that embraces and transforms people of all nations to impact their cities, their nations, and the world for Christ.

OUR CORE VALUES

We are God -Centered - God is our source of passion and strength. We worship Him vibrantly and depend on him with prayer and fasting. We are rooted in the word, full of the Spirit and our lives are characterized by holiness and sanctification.

We are Relationship Oriented - we model loving relationships and encourage intimacy and transparency. We promote strong Christ -centered individuals and families, aim to meet people at their point of need and are growing in community.

We are in Unity - we are focused on Jesus Christ and are forgiving and accepting enjoying strength in diversity. We honor one another, seek common ground and learn from each other.

We are Mission Focused - we boldly proclaim the gospel and are intentionally gathering the world to reach the world. We are systematically transforming people into reproducing disciples and give generously to reach others.

We are Reproducing - we are a growing and learning organism not a static organization which equips and empowers each other to use our gifts for impact. We promote multiplication of disciples, small groups ministries and churches.

We are Catalytic - in building God's kingdom we are exercising stewardship of our established networks, sharing our experience, people and resources. We are developing cooperative efforts and "synergy" expanding our reach and effectiveness and learning from others."

So if a person wants to be involved at BBC, what can they expect to do? Well for starters, as in their statement, there is a lot of emphasis put on the preaching and most people are expected to just show up and not do much else. If your gifts happen to be playing the piano, teaching babies, taking pictures at events, taking money, singing, praying for punctuation, making your home and food available for the group's benefit, or anything along these lines, that's the majority of how you can expect to be involved. The leaders are free to use their teaching gifts, but everyone else can only use a few tightly controlled ones. Preference as to who gets to do even these few tightly controlled things goes to the members first and then to others as the need arises.

There is a lot of emphasis put on what is and is not allowed for you to do as a non member. There is a two level membership system that allows people to experience all the duties(serving and attending) of membership without many of the benefits(voting to make positive changes). This is purposely done to keep BBC firmly controlled by those of IFB persuasion which is their right to do. It's just not a very honest system that in theory includes other people but then just controls them and treats Christians as if they are in separate classes.

Structure of BBC starts with the pastor who can choose and decide quite a bit without even notifying members of his decisions. Next in line are the 1st class members who have been proven to agree with the pastor on everything important. Included are several missionaries who are often allowed to serve with near membership status but are never actually members. Next are the 2nd class members who can't vote any changes but are blessed with accountability. Next class is the unbelieving folks thought worthy of being reached out to in love since they could potentially be converted and go straight to the 1st class. And last place goes to believing non members who are assumed to have doctrinal problems and will be watched closely and indefinitely until everyone is absolutely sure of them. This last category has no set process that will ever include them as members and can take years before they are even noticed to exist.

Regardless of your membership or doctrinal status, you can always be active in the ministry of giving money. Even though the money will be very carefully dispersed to only the most worthy projects that the leadership approves, showing love to and encouraging the person who gives the money and their needs isn't nearly as important as where the money goes. This is comforting to know if you have an obsession with only where your yuan will be spent. It's a pity there isn't more effort put into just getting to know people and loving them where they are. When attending there, the feeling that is transmitted is of fear, pride and control, rather than love, acceptance and a desire to help you really develop and use your gifts. That may not be at all what they are trying to convey, but it is unfortunately what ends up being conveyed anyway.

Lastly, there are small groups you can participate in from time to time. These also are very tightly controlled as to the teaching content and who is allowed to speak in them. Most of BBC activity happens on Sunday morning and there are individuals who give their time to make that happen, but there isn't really much community life. This could be inherent with the IFB flavor, but a diverse group with love and unity and fellowship around Christ is not actively modeled and encouraged. You will be expected to adhere and conform to the American Baptist traditions and ways of thinking if you want to be accepted as part of them.

Enjoy!