The material I've studied about early Christianity leads to the conclusion that what passes for modern Christianity is the result of luck. Ideas required support, so who was lucky enough to get the numbers at a conference? (Often dependent on who could get there). Who got the Emperor's support? etc, etc. The Christianities of western Asia (with the exception of Orthodox versions) once powerful and popular are nearly extinct.
Many are hoping and working to convert China to Christianity, not realising that the religions that affected China, were themselves altered by that experience.
I'm prompted to jot these ideas down, because yesterday at our local shopping centre (strongly Chinese), at a spot usually occupied by the American financed Falun gong, or by the local Presbyterians who hope that they convert enough Chinese to save themselves from extinction, there was something new. Two women Christians from a Chinese Christian sect.
The women were from Fujian province, South China, (Fujian has a strong Catholic church, a result of proximity to the Catholic dominated Philippines, and is also next to the province which spawned the Christian Taiping, who under the genius Emperor Hong Xiuquan, nearly conquered China in the mid 19th C. Only the support of a European Christian supported army, led by the English General, 'Christian' Gordon, defeated the Christian Taiping - Ironical, isn't it? The Europeans decided they'd rather root a weak Qing dynasty, than attempt to rape a strong Taiping regime.)
They were not interested (seemingly) in western people - Most of their signage and well stocked literature table was in Chinese. But one of signs in English read:
The Lord Jesus has come Again. The Christ of the End-time has appeared in China.
If Christianity did become popular in China, I can visualise a Chinese Version (like the Taiping) storming the world.
