The Gospel in China: Trends and Traditions
Encouraging article from the Gospel in China blog:
Trends and Traditions
There’s some clear trends among modern missions efforts in China. Missionaries and their organizations are, in general, moving…
- AWAY from urban centers, TOWARDS rural areas…
- AWAY from church-planting, TOWARDS supporting roles…
- AWAY from language-learning, TOWARDS English-based ministry…
- AWAY from bold witnessing, TOWARDS secretive witnessing…
These trends are… discouraging. But over the past couple weeks, I have happily been exposed to the works of several independent Baptist missionaries across the country who are bucking these trends. They are bright exceptions to the dull landscape that is Chinese missions. While I’m sure that there are good men of other affiliations who are equally opposed to these trends, I have yet to encounter a group in China with higher percentages of people moving in the opposite direction of the trends listed above. Though there’s not many of them, our missionaries, by and large, are ministering in Chinese. They are located primarily in big cities. They’re generally not afraid to witness. And they’re working in unregistered churches – many of them planting.
Since I’m an independent Baptist myself, I’d be more hesitant to glory in this tendency, were it not for a few things…
1. Second Corinthians is my flavor of the month, and as Paul says, ‘all things are of God.’ There is no place for boasting in the ministry of the new covenant, for, at our most faithful, we are but executors of the message of reconciliation entrusted to us. So anything that our men in China have gotten right, they can only glory in the God who both founded and prospered their work. God is the architect of every church planted. He alone gives the language. He grants boldness. He puts us in strategic places. To glory in these things rightly is to glory in Him!
2. We’re still not doing as well as we would wish. Our churches aren’t as strong or as numerous as they should be. Our Chinese is not as good as it should be. We’re not as bold as we should be. So while I’m excited that we’ve got the right bearing, I think we all mourn the limited progress in that direction. It’s a good start, but not much more.
3. This ministry strategy was not hit upon by creative problem-solving or innovative, out-of-the-box thinking. Rather, the opposite is the case: this strategy is the result of a lack of creativity! The biggest reason our missionaries in China are planting churches, learning the language, and living in cities is… well, they’re traditional. It’s just what we’ve always done! Our missionaries’ works in China are almost embarrassingly similar to what we do in the West, and to what we did as missionaries fifty years ago. It’s ironic that what many perceive to be our churches’ most critical weakness in the States would prove to be our most critical strength in China!
These men are so traditional, it’s refreshing! Because all the creative ministries are just about played out! No longer is ‘using English to reach people’ a novelty – it’s a cliché. Speaking in missionary code isn’t much of a secret anymore. Targeting minority peoples is now the majority position.
Of course, these anti-trends are all connected to each other. Most of these men have been motivated in their language learning by a desire to be integrally involved in church leadership (this isn’t the place to discuss it, but this is undoubtedly one of the biggest reasons why people can’t learn Chinese – they have no such motivation). They can plant a church because they have been more bold in inviting and evangelizing. They’re in urban places because that’s where the bulk of people are. See? It’s really like they just couldn’t think of anything trendier to do!
Creativity in missions is overrated. How much is there really about the Gospel ministry that we’re comfortable fiddling with? We have a tendency to talk about ‘all these traditions that we’ve heaped onto the Western church.’ Which traditions exactly? The church-planting tradition? Many missionaries in China are so creative, they don’t even go to church. Or maybe the tradition of boldly declaring the Gospel? Many missionaries in China are so creative, they can be a Gospel witness simply by being a positive example. China has had quite enough of these novelties!
The Gospel ministry isn’t kindergarden. We don’t get points for creativity. Our standard is faithfulness to the biblical model. Anyway, little bit of a rant there at the end, but I wanted to share with you some of the excitement I’ve been feeling this week as I’ve learned about some faithful men serving in this country! Before you get sucked into any of the trends I mentioned at the beginning, either as a missionary or as a sender, know there’s another way. It’s not very creative, but that might be the best thing it’s got going for it.
Source: The Gospel in China
Documentary: The Cross – Jesus in China
Almost four hours covering 50 years of Christianity in China, this four part documentary called “The Cross” brings history to life. Interviews with those who have been through the persecution and decades later are still loyal to the Lord Jesus. If you have read anything about the the history of Christianity in China then this documentary will help bring color to those black letters of the page.
With the documentary being four hours long, it does get repetitive in style. For the student of missions, you could watch the first part, but for those really interested in learning about missions in China, I would recommend watching all four parts.
I watched part of this before reading the book, Jesus in Beijing, but watch the majority of it after I finished reading that book. The two work and re-enforce each other.
Here is part of the editorial review:
This documentary, The Cross: Jesus in China, portrays the little known history of a remarkable people; it is the turbulent 50 year history of Chinese Christians on screen! For the first time, the history of Christianity in China, especially within the House-Church movement, is given in an honest and comprehensive account. The film answers the question raised by many people outside China: how did the number of Chinese Christians increase from 700,000 in 1949 to approximately 70 million today despite communist control? Using live footage and interviews, the film captures the true stories of many people and seeks to answer the most common questions: how does the Chinese government deal with Chinese Christians and vice-versa? How have Chinese Christians developed, survived and grown? What kind of people are they and what influence have they had and will they have on Chinese society? The documentary film consists of three episodes and one short subject. It lasts about four hours. The episodes are: Seeds of Blood, The Bitter Cup, The Spring of Life, and The Canaan Hymns.
I thought this documentary was encouraging, helpful, insightful and taught me many things as well.
Note: There are two parts of the documentary that seem unnecessary but for some reason were included in the documentary therefore some viewer discretion is advised.
11.3.11
Chinese Church Issues
I hope you will check out these two articles from the Gospel in China blog that gives some insight into the Christian culture issues that already exist here in China and how to properly correct some of these errors.
Chinese Church Issues: Rare
Blood is no stranger to Chinese cuisine. In our city there’s a pudding made out of deer blood that enjoys something near delicacy status. But, thanks to a certain interpretation of Acts 15, a large number of Chinese Christians conscientiously abstain from all dishes containing blood. I’ll leave a detailed examination of the council at Jerusalem and the resulting letter to those who have already provided a more clear and thorough explanation than I could anyway. If you want answers about that text yourself, they’re not too hard to find. >>>Read the whole articleChinese Church Issues: Women as Pastors
One of the statistics on my Chinese religious demographics wish-list (have to make that another post someday) is the gender ratio among pastors in China. I would be surprised if the proportion of women pastors isn’t one of the highest of any country in the world. Chinese churches, both underground and government-sponsored alike, by and large have no qualms about putting women in a position of authoritative church leadership, whether preaching or otherwise. >>>Read the whole article
09.20.11
The 3 Rules of China Missions
We learned three practical “rules” in the past year for doing missions in China. We learned these from our co-labourers as well as seen then constantly proving themselves to be true over time. Here are the 3 rules of China missions:
- don’t mock the party (communist party).
- don’t make the neighbors mad.
- don’t misuse the elevators (the locations above the 2/3 floor).
| Posted in Amazing Journey, China, Chinese Christianity, Church Planting | No Comments »
“…approached the cross, knelt down, prayed for strength…”
“During the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1900), extreme nationalist Chinese fomented a campaign of terror against officials of foreign governments, Christian missionaries, and even Chinese Christians. After they surrounded a certain mission station, they sealed all exits except one. They placed a cross in the dirt in front of the opened gate and told the missionaries and students that anyone who walked out and trampled the cross would be spared. According to reports, the first seven students who departed trampled the cross and were sent on their way. The eighth student, a young girl, approached the cross, knelt down, prayed for strength, carefully walked around the cross, and was immediately shot to death. The remaining 92 students, strengthened by that girl’s courageous example, also walked around the cross to their deaths.”
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1995). 2 Timothy. MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press.
| Posted in Chinese Christianity, Chinese History, Persecution, Quotes | 1 Comment »
Urgent Prayer Request
This morning during our Sunday morning service a group of about 20 people from the government and police station entered our building and stopped the preacher from preaching. They questioned several people and took down the information of everyone in attendance. Then they took four of our people to the police station for questioning, three of them are preachers. After questioning them they released them. This is the first time the police have actually stopped our service. Please pray for our church as we move forward preaching the Gospel to the Glory of God! Pray for boldness and wisdom in the days ahead.
| Posted in Amazing Journey, China, Chinese Christianity, Persecution, Prayer Request | 8 Comments »
The Police Meet Our Church
The church recently had a run in with the police during a routine check-up. I wasn’t at the church at the time but talked with the guys about the situation. Also, I haven’t been able to post because of a power outage in our complex but here is an update from my colleague explaining what happened as well as a great perspective on what could happen. Thanks for your prayers!
Yesterday a police officer came by the church building to check people’s residency cards. Just a routine thing that happens every once in a while for the police to keep tabs on what’s going on and who lives under their jurisdiction. I wasn’t there, but the three Chinese guys training for ministry were, as well as two of the most involved Chinese girls. No big deal at the house – checked the cards and took off.
Later on, the officer went to the daycare that we rent space from for Sunday morning services (about 50 yards away). He saw our chairs stacked against the wall, and then he got from the principal that we’re having services there. Asked him a bunch of questions, then told him to come in sometime to explain it more clearly.
This was a tense situation before us, because while we’ve had run-ins with the police before, this was the first time that they’ve understood that we are a Christian church. In the past they always assumed we were able to lead them to believe that we were just teaching English.
As I understand the situation as it currently stands, everything will probably be alright. The cops have pretty much shrugged at us! One of the officers even joked about coming to our services himself. The guys told him not to wear his uniform if he did!
The principal called us because he wants to keep getting our rent, so he doesn’t want us to get in trouble, so he wanted to know what he shouldn’t say around the police. Nice to have him on our side. Helps the police know that we’re not doing anything malicious.
For the record, what might a situation like this result in?
- It’s possible, though very unlikely, that the guys would be arrested and imprisoned
- The guys might be detained and questioned, then let off with a warning
- They might be fined – though there’s no way to be sure how much
- The church might be restricted from holding a meeting again
- Maybe nothing happens – pretty amazing, as it is almost permission to continue!
So the church needs your prayers right now. Sometimes skepticism about the need for a high level of security in China makes people think that you don’t believe anything bad can happen to an underground church. Obviously that’s not true. What we want to insist on, though, is:
- the truly severe consequences of preaching the Gospel are relatively rare
- often the ministry of the church continues completely unimpeded by the authorities
- believers can land themselves in trouble by entangling themselves in political actions
- most of the ‘security measures’ do nothing to evade the kind of threat we’re facing now
- when we’ve been as wise as possible, and still encounter persecution in proclaiming the Gospel, Christ is worthy!
Source: The Gospel in China
| Posted in China, Chinese Christianity, Church Planting, Persecution | 5 Comments »
A Dangerous Undercurrent – Mobilize NOW!
Christianity is growing in China. Not all of it is healthy, but never-the-less it is growing. The Chinese government recognizes this and are being informed about this situation. The following quotes are translate from an article entitled: “An Analysis of the Reasons for the Rapid Growth of Christianity in Today’s China” by the China Social Sciences Press (Beijing in June 2010).
The article shows that the government recognizes that growth of Christianity in China:
“Researcher Duan Qi points out that the non- institutionalised church has thrown off the restrictions placed on evangelism by the TSPM and Christian Council, believing they have received the ‘Great Commission’ from Jesus to spread Christianity. They have ignored government prohibitions; so the government has found it hard to control them, and they have gained a great number of converts. We can see that one of the reasons for the growth of the house- churches is they avoid government control.”
With the amount of Christians and Christian activity in China, persecution is considerably low. I haven’t met one Chinese Christian since living here that had to endure persecution by the government because of their faith in Jesus. Most missionaries that I know are operating without much interference from the government. There are cases of persecution but it is not the majority compared to the amount of Christians in this country. Therefore, I think it is safe to say that the Chinese government has been relaxed on the oppression of Christians. I currently am led to believe there is a unofficial open door to spread the gospel and plant churches in China. We must mobilize and use this opportunity NOW!
While the waters seem to be calm and peaceful, there is a deadly undercurrent developing. The problem is Christianity is being painted as a Western political force that wants to change and overtake the Chinese government. This doesn’t seem to be something that is new, but if people in the government really starts to embrace and believe this type of propaganda that is being fed to them, then persecution could become a majority problem.
The articles continues to warn the government of the potential dangers of Christianity:
“It is not that the government’s religious policy has led to the so- called loss of balance between religions, but rather that illegal Christian evangelism has challenged the government religious policy and finally brought about the break-up of the religious situation in China.
Their basic aim is to use Christianity to change the character of the regime in power in China and to overturn it.”
“Faced with this abnormal growth, we must undertake State interference, and to take legal and administrative means so that religion does not have a free market and expand out of control. This interference has two sides: firstly, undertaking every kind of work to strengthen our foundations, and heighten our joint national strength, strengthening the racial pride and self- confidence of the Chinese people. Also, strengthening the system of core socialist values and propagating the superior cultural traditions of the Chinese people and eliminating the present fertile bed causing the disorderly expansion of Christianity, as well as resisting infiltration from abroad which uses religion.
Secondly, as regards Christianity’s growth inside the country, we must use the method of combining government policy leadership to control it according to the law and undertake ideological education, so gradually the Christianity fever calms down and we can establish normal religious order.”
“…we must formulate a strategic plan and take comprehensive action to resolve the problem.”
Download the PDF and read the entire article from OMF.
We must mobilize and use the open door that we have NOW! The lamb of God, Jesus, will overcome the dragon of China!
| Posted in Articles, China, Chinese Christianity, Missions, Mobilization, Persecution | No Comments »
Is it protecting or excuse making?
I was thinking the other day when talking to a friend, “why are we more scared than those we are “protecting”?
The reason many people don’t do things in China is to protect the national believers. But that is really just an excuse because we are scared.
I remember that after I preached at the church many people recorded it and one guy said he was uploading to the Chinese version of Facebook (renren).
Not only that, but they openly talk about Christian things, share scripture, and make groups that all point to them being Christians.
So why do we withhold information and soften our proclamation? They aren’t.
Is it protecting or excuse making?
Let’s go forward no longer making excuses, no longer being afraid.
Question:
What are some things you or other people have done because of fear that now seem a little outlandish?
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Boldness, Chinese Christianity, Missions, Persecution | No Comments »
“First and Foremost”
” Ominously, the Chinese government has spoken its mind through official state-owned newspapers. One of these papers, the Global Times, ran an editorial last week that stated: “All Christians, as well as those of other faiths, are Chinese citizens first and foremost. It is their obligation to observe discipline and abide by the law.”
“But our citizenship is in heaven,” Paul reminds us, “and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” [Phil. 3:20]
While the New Testament commands Christians to obey the righteous laws of a nation, believers cannot bend the knee to the regime as their primary allegiance. No Christian is “first and foremost” a citizen of any earthy kingdom or nation. This is a despotic demand for the idolatrous worship of the state. ”
Source: AlbertMohler.com
| Posted in Boldness, China, Chinese Christianity, Persecution, Politics, Quotes | No Comments »