However, in an address to Communist Party members earlier this year a senior official for religious affairs complained that Christianity's growth had been "too excessive and too haphazard." Monday's demolition sent a chill through China's Christian community, now thought to number anywhere between 23 million and 100 million people. Some church leaders and academics fear Beijing may be paving the way for a nationwide campaign targetting the officially illegal "house church" movement that refuses to accept Communist Party oversight.