Roland Allen (1868–1947) Missionary Strategist
Key Points To Think On:
- Plant self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating Churches.
- National Churches must take root and grow in it’s own cultural soil.
- Don’t see the nationals as being in a lower rank or position.
About Roland Allen (1868–1947) Missionary Strategist:
“ALLEN, ROLAND (1868–1947) Modern missionary strategist Allen’s books published in the early part of the twentieth century continue to have great impact and to be reprinted along with the most current missionary works. As an Anglican clergyman, Allen served as a missionary in China from 1895 to 1903 with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Thereafter he served as a voluntary clergyman in England and from time to time abroad.
Allen’s main thesis was that national churches should be self–supporting, self–governing, and self–propagating. He believed that lengthy dependence on foreign missionaries was counterproductive, stifling the people’s own genius. If the world were ever to be reached with the gospel, he believed, it would be done through a multiplying national church that had taken root and grown in its own cultural soil. Allen perceived that foreign missionaries and subordinate national workers could never complete the evangelistic task.
Allen’s most significant writings included Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? (1912, 1927), The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes which Hinder It (1927), and The Case for Voluntary Clergy (1930).”
W. J. KORNFIELD
Douglas, J. D., Comfort, P. W., & Mitchell, D. (1992). Who’s Who in Christian history (20). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
05.6.11
Chinese Dictionaries
Well, I am not sure how many people reading this blog are learning Chinese, but if there are any, then this blog post might be helpful to you! There are some dictionaries that I have found very helpful over the past several months of learning Chinese. I thought I would share the ones that I use and hopefully this can be a helpful resource.
MDBG Dictionary – This is the one that I use the most. They have a Mac version that is fully downloadable to your computer so you can search offline. You can search in Characters, Pinyin, or english. The search is responsive as your type and you can easily view other possible words with similarities. (Price: USD 19.90) —> mdbg.net
nciku Online Dictionary – This is the first dictionary that I started really using. It is more extensive than the first one, but it is only online. You can search as well in Characters, Pinyin, or English. If I can’t find it in the one above, I come to this one. The only downside to this one is that it is not type responsive, it is only as fast as your internet speed. Also, it has a cool option that saves recent searches to your profile. (Free) —> nciku.com
Pleco for iPhone - I don’t use this one as much as the first two, simply because I don’t carry around my iPhone (now iPod with no service) as much. But the few times that I have used it, I have liked it, compared to the other apps that are available. (Free) —> pleco.com
Spiritual Language Dictionary – Last but not least, I recently stumbled across this, the Spiritual Language Dictionary. I haven’t used this extensively, but it appears someone has taken the time to make a Chinese Bible Terms Dictionary using an Excel layout. You can search through the “find” option (in Excel or Numbers) and see the correct use of Bible terms. It it fully downloadable. I have used this a few times and I am excited about using it more. (Free) —> Link on Scribd.com
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Language Learning, Resources | No Comments »
Chinese Bible Reading
Have you ever thought what it would be like to read the Bible in Chinese? Ok, probably not. But I thought I would give you a taste anyways. My colleague (over at the Gospel in China blog) has been preparing Chinese Bible Reading Lessons to assist those who are learning Chinese (or wanting too). They have been a great help to me. If you are interested in learning Chinese you can find the whole lessons by clicking here.
Here is Mark 1:1-2, enjoy!
1. Shén de érzi, yēsū jīdū fúyīn de qǐtóu,
Shén (God) + de (showing possession)1+ érzi (son) = shén de érzi (God’s son)
Yēsū (Jesus)+ jīdū (Christ)+ fúyīn (Gospel) = yēsū jīdū fúyīn (the Gospel of Jesus Christ) 2
Fúyīn (the Gospel)+ de (showing modification) 3+ qǐtóu (beginning) = (the beginning of the Gospel)1 ‘de’ has several uses, but its most simple is to show possession, as ‘’s’ in English
2 words that are closely related are sometimes connected more directly in Chinese than English
3 ‘de’ here shows modification, or in other words, it answers the question: ‘which one?’; eg. the beginning – which beginning? The beginning of the Gospel2. Zhèngrú xiānzhī yǐsàiyà shū shàng jì zhe shuō:“Kàn na, wǒ yào chāiqiǎn wǒ de shǐzhě zài nǐ qiánmiàn, yùbèi dàolù.
Zhèng (just, precisely)+ rú (as, like) = zhèngrú (just like, just as)
Xiānzhī (prophet)+ yǐ sài yà (Isaiah)+ shū (book)+ shàng (on) 1 = xiānzhī yǐsàiyà shū shàng (in the book of the prophet Isaiah)
Jì (write, record)+ zhe (showing continuation) 2+ shuō (say, speak) = jì zhe shuō (it is written, saying)
Kàn (look)+ na (showing exclamation) = kàn na (look!)
Wǒ (I)+ yào (want, will)+ chāiqiǎn (send, dispatch) = wǒ yào chāiqiǎn (I will send)
Wǒ (I )+ de (showing possession) + shǐzhě (messenger) = wǒ de shǐzhě (my messenger)
Zài (at) + nǐ (you)+ qiánmiàn (in front, ahead, before) = zài nǐ qiánmiàn (before you)
Yùbèi (prepare)+ dàolù (way) = yùbèi dàolù (prepare the way)1 ‘on’ is used sometimes to describe a location that English-speakers would call ‘in’
2 ‘zhe’ shows that an action was continued in a certain condition for a length of time
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Chinese Christianity, Devotionals, Language Learning, Resources, Training | 2 Comments »
You Need to Read These Posts!
A couple of friends of mine have written some really great articles recently and they really caught my attention. I think that each of them are filled with great content that we can learn from and be encourage by. Each of these men are working in the frontline of missions and write from experience.
The first set of articles comes from “The Masters Call” blog and deals with the problems in Muslim Missions. Though he is writing from the perspective of witnessing to muslims there is a lot of truth that can be generally applied where ever you are in the world and to whom ever you are reaching. We have a lot of the same problems that he covers in China as well.
How Not to Witness to a Muslim Part 1
How Not to Witness to a Muslim Part 2
The second set of articles comes from “The Gospel in China” blog. These articles are geared toward the importance of a mentor for those of us in the ministry and especially those in missions. Having a mentor helped shape my life. I think you will be encourage to consider a mentor-relationship after you read the following articles.
Mentor Benefit: Accountability
Mentors: An Endangered Species
Leave some comments and let me know what you think about each of them.
A Global Day of Prayer for the Chinese 2/3/2011
“A Global Day of Prayer for the Chinese” is a day in which we are reminded and encouraged to pray for the largest nation and largest people group in the world today! We need to pray for the over 1.3 billion in China and the millions of Chinese that live outside of its borders. It is a day for you and your local church to say a special word of prayer for the souls of China and the Chinese community all around the world. Pray that the Lord will send forth laboueres, that the gospel will be boldly proclaimed, and that God will be glorified among the Chinese people!
This year Chinese New Year is on Thursday, February 3, 2011.
What can you do? Here are a few ideas:
- Have special prayer for China on Thursday.
- Organize a special time of prayer in your Church the service previous to Thursday.
- Click Here to visit a website where you can click on a map of China and prayer for different regions and prayer request associated with it.
- Find a Chinese restaurant near you and make it appoint to tell a Chinese person Happy New Year and give them the Gospel!
- Order Chinese tracts from here, and give them out all that week, to the Chinese people in your area.
- Contact a missionary working with the Chinese and ask for specific prayer request that you can pray for.
What to pray for?
- Pray for the country of China and the Chinese community all around the world.
- Pray for souls to be saved, laborers to be sent, missionaries to boldly proclaim the gospel and God to be glorified!
Check out bcwe.org
12.10.09
Christmas Devotional Guide
This “True Meaning of Christmas” devotional guide will help you celebrate Jesus Christ during Christmas and reach out to your families and friends. It is very basic and covers the Christmas story, and it also includes:
- The Gospel Plan of Salvation
- 5 Christmas songs in MP3
- Christmas Trivia
- Teachable Outline of the Christmas Story
- and more!
The files are in PDF for easy viewing and the songs in MP3 for easy listening. Everything is in a ZIP file for easy downloading. So download this free resource and enjoy. (I also bundled in a Christmas e-tract)
PrayforChina.net
I wanted to let you know of another great website out there. PrayforChina.net puts together daily prayer request and sends them out every week. Each day they share a short nugget of what is happening in the news and then turn that into a prayer request. It is a good way to see what is happening in China and also to have relevant prayer request for that day. Here is a description from their website that tells a little more about them and gives their aim:
“PrayForChina weekly prayer requests started in 2002, as a joint project of several ministries. A team of 5 spends nearly 40 hours, gather, edit, translate and send out the prayer requests weekly. It is our goal to keep you informed of current events and how they affect churches in China. We aim to provide our readers accurate and confirmed news account, specifically as the events impact and relate to believers and churches in China, both Registered and House churches. We are humbled and amazed by what God has done in this awesome ministry of supplying the fuel for nearly 25,000 prayer warriors worldwide. It is our prayer that every letter would a blessing to you and for China and her churches. Many have told us that they were enriched by being able to pray more focused and urgently because of this prayer letter.”
I hope this resource will help you better pray for China! Below I included the subscription information and this weeks prayer request.
Subscribe: Weekly Email | RSS Feed | www.prayforchina.net
This Weeks Prayer Request 7/7-13/2009
Tuesday
The new American Ambassador to China was a Mormon missionary in Taiwan; he speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese. The Mormons have stepped up their effort targeting the collegians; they are taking over a lot of the English teaching positions in China. Many people first come into contact with Christianity through friendship with their English teachers. We need to pray fervently for the need for more Christian English teachers and campus ministry helping young people know what is true relationship with Jesus.Wednesday
Being in the spotlight as the “youngest mayor in China” can be a nightmare for someone who is as young as one 29-year-old mayor in Hubei. He has drawn much scrutiny and been accused of plagiarism, not holding his own umbrella, and even smoking expensive cigarettes. Since he is a mayor of a county-level city, his term is limited to 3-5 years. In China it is not easy to be a young leader because of the tradition of giving respect to the elderly. We need to pray for young pastors to walk closely with God and have a vision of what God can do through them. Young believers need opportunities to use their gifts in serving others and we must accept the fact that they will make mistakes and not always come up to our expectations.Thursday
In order to be promote in China, more than good performance is needed. A person needs good “guanxi” (good relationship) or giving gifts to gain favor (open bribery). Many find these frustrating but accept them as the dark reality in China. For Christians in China, often it is a challenge to live out the Biblical principle. Let us pray for wisdom, favor from their superiors and all who try to model Jesus in their work place.Friday
It is a well-known fact that churches in China do not have enough shepherds and many are desperately looking for workers. However, many Christians instead of respecting God’s servants hold a cynical view of them and some have even been hurt by bad shepherds. China needs more workers in the churches, not only in numbers but also in quality, a clear calling, and adequate training. May the Lord supply His church with faithful workers that will be respected for their dedication and sincerity.Saturday
Following the Three Gorges Dam project, China has embarked on the ambitious undertaking of diverting the water from the Yellow River to a drought-prone province up north. In Henan province alone, 210,000 people will be relocated. Historically, Chinese rural churches are impoverished and are supported externally. We put all the churches in Henan into the Lord’s hands. Many have been weakened by attacks of cults, divisions within the church, or the exodus of young people to cities to find jobs.Sunday
Suicide is now the fifth leading cause of death in China. Every year 250,000 die of suicide and just as many more attempt kill themselves. The most common reason for committing suicide is family and marriage problems with loss of jobs and money running a close second.Since Chinese Christians tend to feel that those who turn to suicide are basically weak, they tend not to feel pity for them. Let us pray for people in the churches to have compassion and a willingness to help those who are desperately seeking solutions and answers for problems in their lives.Monday
In China believers face great opposition from non-believing family members. Many young people are afraid their parents will find out they are believers and adults face pressure from their elderly parents or even their own children. Traditionally strong family ties work against those who convert to Christianity, especially those from Buddhist families. ( Buddhism is going very strong in China now.) We pray for strong faith for all believers who must choose between Jesus and their families. May the Lord comfort them, help their faith to grow in adversity, and even give them the courage to boldly share their relationship with God.
(Remember: We may not agree on everything they put out, but just eat the meat and spit out the bones!)
07.3.09
Facts About Faith Promise
When I was in Wisconsin last week for the Faith Promise Missions confernce, I taught on Faith Promise right before I preached with this article by Pastor Austin Gardner (taken from his blog). I hope this is helpful to you!
Faith Promise – What it IS, and what it is NOT!
- It is not a pledge. – It is a holy commitment to God (2 Cor 9:7). No one will check to see if you have paid, or send you a bill. It is between you and God in response to His leading. Simply because of your faith, someone will go and give the gospel freely (2 Cor 11:7,8).
- It is not a gimmick. – It is a Biblical lifestyle which allows you to see God’s hand in your personal life (2 Cor 9:6; Gal 2:20; Acts 20:35) as He provides the funds for the preaching of the Gospel around the world through you (1 Tim 5:17,18).
- It is not easy. – It is an act of faith (Heb 11:1,6) in response to God’s call to send out hard-working labourers into His harvest (Luke 10:2).
- It is not a cash offering given from PRESENT resources. – It is a commitment of what you can trust God to provide through you on a regular basis (2 Cor 8:1-4) – giving “beyond your power.”
- It is not a part of your regular tithes and offerings (Prov 3:9,10). – It is an offering given above your regular tithes to meet the needs of somebody outside of your church (Philp 4:16,17). It is only to supply the needs of missionaries and mission-projects (2 Cor 11:8,9)!
- It is not for greedy people. – It allows God to bring in unexpected income to be used for Missions, and not for personal use (1 Sam 1:9-11; Luke 6:38).
- It is not depressing. - It is part of our worship, which always involves giving, and giving always involves sacrifice, and true sacrifice always results in joy (Ps 107:22).
- It is not haphazard. – It is a planned and regular function of Christians to faithfully support those who go to the uttermost parts of the earth for souls (Act 15:3; 1 Cor 4:2; 16:1,2).
- It is not because of the need of the world. - It is because of our love for Christ (John 20:21)! We give, soul-win, pray, and go, not because we love people, but because we love Him (John 14:15).
06.10.09
Add Project China News! to your Google Homepage
If you like Project China News, you can now add it as a gadget to your Google home page or subscribe in google reader, just click the button below:
06.9.09
Great Blog and Post!
Here is a great blog from the missionary we will be working with in China, If you are subscribed to Project China News, then you should also subscribe to Gospel in China!
Gospel in China - The Gospel in China is a blog maintained by a missionary working in China’s underground church movement. All proper nouns are omitted for their protection, but all information is presented honestly in an effort to paint an accurate portrait of the spiritual condition of China. Stay tuned to learn about this young family’s work, to be updated with prayer requests from the front lines, and to develop your own heart and plan for the largest nation on earth.
Click Here and Subscribe by Email
Latest Blog post:
Are foreigners needed in church-planting roles in mainland China?
Big implications for that question. Most foreign full-time Christian workers here are banking on a negative answer. Start a coffee-shop for evangelism, have a training conference for pastors, or build an English school for discipleship – these are the basic building blocks of most plans to ‘impact’ China. The assumption is, the Chinese can build better churches than we can, so why get involved in that part of the process? That’s the really illegal thing anyway (foreigners building churches), so why not avoid that altogether?
Let’s slow down a second before you get really angry. I am all for all of those ministries I just mentioned (with some asterisks). And I definitely believe that the Chinese can build better churches than we can – with one BIG asterisk: fully-trained Chinese men can build better. If you have a shortage of people in this category, you will find churches aplenty, but few that you’d want to go to if they were in America.
Chinese basketball provides a suitable analogy. China is now producing some excellent players. They’ve been interested for a generation now, and there’s some real talent here. But much to their chagrin, they have yet to make much of an international showing (see their recent Olympic performance). The problem is simple – no strong point guards. One article I read after the Olympics said – ‘a billion Chinese people, and not a point guard among ‘em.’ Of course, every time they play, they’ve got a point guard. Someone who’s filling the spot. But he’s not excelling there.
Does China have pastors? Sure. Are there enough? Not by a long shot. Are they well-trained, or are they filling the spot? No sense in my answering; most of you probably won’t believe me anyway. But I can tell you about pastors I’ve met that are frustrated and struggling. This is the fulcrum – the training of the leaders is going to determine what brand of Christianity will be seen in the next generation in China.
This to me is the problem defined. As a foreign missionary, I believe that my working in a church-planting capacity is the best way to address this problem. Modeling church-planting, modeling a church-planter, modeling a church and a pastor. If you want to work in China, you need to consider how you are addressing this need. You may have a different means of addressing, but you must not ignore the need altogether!
| Posted in China Profiles, Church Planting, Cultural Adaptation, Quotes, Resources, Training | 2 Comments »