On November 26, the mainland site Christian Times published a long interview with a house church pastor in Shenzhen who has been leading short-term mission trips to Burma and other neighboring countries for several years. The title of the piece is “Shenzhen Pastor Talks About the Joy and Pain of Cross-Cultural Missions, Calling on the Church to Have the Courage to Pay the Price."
The forced removal of crosses from literally hundreds of churches in the Wenzhou area during the past year has called attention not only to the local government’s heavy-handed approach toward the church, but also to the phenomenon of the church buildings themselves.
The development of leadership training within China’s unregistered church has followed a trajectory that roughly parallels that of the larger society as it has experienced major advances in education, a rising standard of living, and massive urbanization.
Social media is impacting societies across the globe, but China's social technology landscape is unique and largely unknown to those outside China. Honestly, how many people outside of China have ever heard of any of the popular social technology brands listed in the image below?
Last week we posted part one of a translated article “Top Ten Christian News Stories in China in 2014”, highlighting stories #1-5. This week, we are posting the translation of the second half of the original article (from The Christian Times), with items #6-10: The Almighty God cult murders, the rise of ISIS and persecution of Christians worldwide, the government’s moves towards establishing rule of law for religion, a European Chinese church revival meeting, and a popular Christian singer.
On January 16, 2015, the magazine China Briefing reported that a new Charity Law, which has been in the drafting stage for months has finally been introduced as a bill in the National People’s Congress (NPC). The establishment of laws governing social organizations (NGOs) has long been rumored and hoped for in China, by domestic and foreign enterprises alike. Many Christian organizations are hopeful that a new law will make it easier for them to operate in China. Here’s what the article has to say about the draft law:
This series of blog entries refers primarily to the question of expatriate Christians attending services at registered—or at least publicly “open”—Chinese churches. It is assumed that in most cases, the risks to local believers (and to the expat workers as well) are such that it would be irresponsible to participate regularly in unregistered church services. Part one dealt with some of the common objections to attending Chinese church services. In part two some of the main reasons why I have chosen to attend Chinese church services were given. Part three lists some of the ways I have been blessed by my attendance at Chinese church services.
A look at the impact and continuing influence of Pentecostal theology in the Chinese church.
On December 31, 2014, the mainland site Christian Times published a long article titled “Taking Stock at the End of the Year: Christian Times Top Ten Chinese Christian News Stories of 2014.” Topping their list, of course, was the ongoing church and cross demolition campaign in Zhejiang Province. But there were other events that caught the attention of believers in China, including a church scandal in Korea, a Mandarin-language evangelistic conference in Hong Kong, a celebration of the restoration of the church in Shenzhen, and the banning of two house churches in Foshan, Guangdong Province. We have translated the article and, since it is quite long, will publish it in two separate posts.
Crossing a cultural boundary inevitably leads to cultural clashes. Sometimes the clashes occur at the point of behaviors and customs, such as eating, drinking, or even how to cross a street. More often, however, the clashes occur at the deeper level of cultural values — beliefs about what is right and wrong or how how the world ought to be ordered.
This series of blog entries refers primarily to the question of expatriate Christians attending services at registered—or at least publicly “open”—Chinese churches. It is assumed that in most cases, the risks to local believers (and to the expat workers as well) are such that it would be irresponsible to participate regularly in unregistered church services. Part one dealt with some of the common objections to attending Chinese church services. In part two some of the main reasons why I have chosen to attend Chinese church services are given. Part three lists some of the ways I have been blessed by my attendance at Chinese church services.
Ms. Yang spent two weeks in China on a retreat with religious sisters from the Catholic Church. Many of these Chinese sisters were facing struggles with a variety of issues including the lack of proper formation, community, opportunity for growth, and resources to provide for their educational, personal, and spiritual needs. While not representative of the Catholic Church in its entirety, her experience still provides helpful insights and fuels suggestions for nurturing these sisters.