The annual Spring Festival migration has begun in China, with the transport ministry predicting that nearly 3 billion trips will be taken during the 40-day holiday period. Some have called it the world’s largest human migration, as millions of people head home to spend Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) with their families.
Over the past couple of months, we have published on Chinese Church Voices a number of posts about the growing awareness of the importance and practice of cross-cultural missions by Chinese churches.
When Father Ye Yaomin, a Catholic priest, returned to his parish in Foshan, Guangdong province in 1980 following years of persecution, his friends urged him to emigrate.
“China needs priests,” he replied.
The first two parts of this series outlined the importance social media tools in China and drilled down into what makes the WeChat messaging platform so innovative. This post will focus on practical tips for using any social tool to drive deeper connections and more effective interactions with your Chinese colleagues.
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."
With a plethora of Christian leader development programs on offer in China, it is difficult to know which are appropriate, not to mention which will ultimately prove effective.
If a Christian from the West were asked what the biggest Christian news story out of China was in 2014, no doubt the answer would be the campaign to demolish church crosses in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. In fact, for many in the West, that might be the only Christian-related news story out of China they are aware of.
What makes WeChat innovative is not only that it offers first rate messaging features, but more importantly provides easy access to other valuable services.
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?