As a result, they form clubs instead, which provides them the opportunity to still officially meet as a group. Official registration alters the relationship of a religious group with the government. These groups frequently will create associations in order to gain some type of organization, short of that required to receive official registration. With official registration, though, a group can officially meet as a church. By this I mean the perception of reality as it exists in the East.
Western missionaries come to the East with a distinctly Western idea of reality.
If one wants to place a phone call in the West, one simply picks up the phone and places the call. If one's plumbing is leaky, one simply calls a repairman. But these simple tasks, taken for granted in the West, are different here in the East. Frequently, all phone lines are busy or one simply cannot get through for one reason or another. Leaky plumbing is an ever-present reality in the East, with which one simply learns to live.