"Many numbers have been reported. From the official number of around 10 million, to an indirectly acknowledged number of 24 million by Dr. George Carey, archbishop of Canterbury, when he visited China and commented that there are now enough Bibles for one in three believers (as reported in local newspapers, September 28, 1994), to furiously revised number of over 33 million by Tony Lambert ( OMF), to some estimates of 63 million and 83 million by Jonathan Chao (CCRC), to some numbers estimated by charismatic groups numbering from 80 to 90 million. My personal conviction is that there are probably, at most, only around 40- odd million evangelical believers."
"There exist tremendous pressures to "under-report" the numbers in the "official, or open, or registered, or Three-Self churches." There is a general fear that if actual growth was reported, the government will look at the local counties with disfavor. In fact, in one private discussion with one official, August 1994, he told this writer with embarrassment that he reported on only 15,000 believers, but in fact there were over 42,000 believers. Why? He indicated that the growth was just too fast from 9,000 (1990) to 42,000 (1994), so they had to inch up the numbers gradually."
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