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A Place to Grow in Faith:

Often missing in China is a regular opportunity for Chinese Catholics to grow in the knowledge of their faith in a structured setting. In recent years, however, there has been a gradual rise of home-grown initiatives and program models adopted from overseas that are starting to change this situation. Nevertheless, challenges remain and the author looks at a number of reasons (beyond the more obvious political challenges) why the deepening of faith has been difficult.

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Finding Faith and Purpose

China’s young adults are searching for meaning in their lives. The Catholic Church is working to help them realize their God-given potential and allow them to discover their special calling in Christ. One obstacle to this is that many Catholics lack a strong belief in a personal God who loves them and created them for a special purpose. The author examines how the Catholic Church is dealing with these issues.

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Experiencing World Youth Day as a Chinese Catholic

A young, Chinese woman shares her thoughts and experiences from World Youth Day which she attended in Madrid, in 2011. Included in her account are her reflections on several places her group visited as pilgrims as they journeyed to Madrid. She also shares the life-changing impact this event had for her as she dealt with issues of sin and forgiveness.

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Cross-Cultural Ministry in the Chinese Church

In recent years, some churches in China have begun to think about and become more involved in cross-cultural ministry among China’s ethnic minorities. In August the Mainland site Gospel Times published an article about efforts by some churches in eastern and northeastern China to establish churches in minority areas. 

• January 13, 2015 •

The Changing Face of Urban Mission

In recent months I have been delighted by the exposure Chinese Church Voices has provided to indigenous perspectives on faith and mission.  The simple blog provides an important window for non-Chinese speakers into questions Chinese Christians are raising.  In turn, it provides those of us in the West with an opportunity for greater dialogue and understanding.

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Worshiping in Chinese

This series of blog entries refers primarily to the question of expatriate Christians attending Chinese services at registered—or at least publicly "open"—local 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 deals 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 will be given. Part three will list some of the ways I have been blessed by my attendance at Chinese church services.

• January 9, 2015 •

Poverty and Spiritual Backwardness

In addition to church leaders and ordinary Christians using online forums to discuss matters of faith, academics are joining the conversation as well. On his blog, Professor Liu Peng recently wrote about the relationship between poverty and “spiritual backwardness,” which refers to a spiritual void, or lack of spiritual beliefs. Writing from the perspective of sociology, Professor Peng argues that the most serious type of poverty in China is the “poverty of faith,” and unless that is addressed the problem of material poverty cannot be solved.

• January 6, 2015 •

“Joy Up”

Earlier this month, The Economist published an interesting look at the popularity of Christmas in China, a country that is officially atheist, and makes no room for any official celebration of the holiday.

• December 24, 2014 •