China’s Reforming Churches by Bruce P. Baugus, ed.
Reviewed by Jennifer Guo
This volume is written from the conviction that China’s need for church development is largely the need for the development of a healthy and robust presbyterianism that comes from an understanding of biblical theology of the church as articulated within the Reformed tradition. It frequently corrects common erroneous presuppositions and reveals that within China there is a surprising amount of freedom for Christians—and even for the officially illegal, unregistered churches.
Jennifer Guo
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June 26, 2015
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Scholarship
Making Pentecost Your Story: 50 Days of Reflection and Prayer by Robert Menzies
Reviewed by Peter S. Anderson
Following a brief overview of the church in China, this book provides 50 daily devotional readings covering seven weeks. Each reading begins with a well-chosen Scripture passage followed by a short story based on Dr Menzies’ own experiences with Christians in China.
Peter Anderson
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Scholarship
The persistent lack of open government in many areas of China makes it difficult for Christians to be very different from the general population. Yet, Christians in China are citizens of God’s eternal kingdom as well as citizens of China. However, as citizens of this world, they seem to have failed to live very profoundly as citizens of the eternal world. Can the tension between these two citizenships be resolved?
Promise Hsu
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Scholarship
The editor's point of view.
Brent Fulton
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Ideas
The question of a church’s eschatology not only concerns its future but also determines how its people live in today’s world. While house churches included a brief summary of their eschatology in a 1998 document, within the theology of the official Three-Self Church eschatology lacks a working category; it finds itself situated under communist ideology as any form of it appears to be a threat to the ideology of the government. The church in China must ask itself what biblical, orthodox eschatology is and how it can be preached.
LI Jin
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Scholarship
An author has noted that societies being shaped by the forces of modernization and urbanization represent fertile ground for the seeds of Pentecostal revival. Menzies supports this claim in a case study that gives us the history and growth of the Li Xin Church, a large, Pentecostal house-church network.
Robert Menzies
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Ideas
After defining the term “liberalism,” the author introduces the liberal intellectuals, many of them city dwellers, who began joining churches and consequently have created tension between liberalism and Christian perspectives. He explores churches’ reactions to this tension and also discusses the attitude of anti-liberals toward Christianity.
Wei Zhou
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Scholarship
Over the past forty years, reformed theology has become influential among Chinese Christians and, more recently, especially among mainland Chinese Christian intellectuals. This has resulted in reformed thought transitioning into a reformed church movement that is bringing about positive changes. At the same time, there are cautions to be observed within this movement.
Paul Peng
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Scholarship
Two films by China-based, independent filmmaker, Gan Xiao’er.
ChinaSource Team
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Scholarship
Awhile back I was going through some old files on my computer and ran across something that a Chinese friend gave me years and years ago. It is a list of 12 so-called "golden rules" of doing any kind of business in China.
Joann Pittman
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June 24, 2015
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Stories
On June 1, a cruise ship on the Yangtze River sank during a violent storm, killing more than 400 passengers. Because the ship sank so fast, there were only eight survivors, including the captain. The government launched a massive rescue and salvage operation, eventually righting the ship and recovering the bodies of those who had died. As is the case in any country now, Chinese citizens went online to express their grief. Christians joined the conversation as well, using the incident to reflect on the meaning of life and death and the urgency of spreading the gospel. In this article, translated from Christian Times, the author offers three things for Christians to consider.
ChinaSource Team
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June 23, 2015
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Stories
Years ago, I was having a conversation with my Malaysian friend, and we started talking about how Malaysia has a lot of British influence. “We drive on the right like they do,” my friend explained.
“Wait, what?” I thought I had heard her wrong, or that she had misspoken. “You mean you drive on the left like they do.”
Emily Steele Jackson
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June 22, 2015
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Stories