What the Chinese Mission Movement Means for the Global Church

Throughout this blog series, we have examined the growth of the mission movement that has emerged from the Chinese house churches, particularly through Chinese university graduates who have begun to serve as cross-cultural missionaries in greater numbers. The spiritual heritage of this movement includes both foreign missionaries and Chinese Christian leaders. Hudson Taylor, James Outram Fraser, Wang Mingdao, John Song, and Watchman Nee are just a few of the well-known Christians whose influence has contributed to what the Chinese mission movement has become today. Countless other foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians have followed in the footsteps of these pioneers. 

How will the influx of Chinese university graduates reshape the Chinese mission movement? As the Chinese mission movement collaborates with the rest of the global church in mission, how will it reshape global Christianity? In this concluding post, we will consider these questions.

University Graduates Reshaping the Chinese Mission Movement

While the priority of evangelism in mission has continued to be present in the Chinese mission movement, we have seen that today’s younger Chinese missionaries often have different approaches to mission. First, many of them have seen the need for more holistic approaches to mission. These missionaries place a high value on building long-term trust and relationships, understanding language and culture at a deeper level, and living out the gospel in daily life activities and relationships. Whether their more holistic mission practices derive from their university education or from other factors such as their age or internet-savvy, university graduates may contribute to the Chinese mission movement becoming more holistic in its approach to mission. 

Second, university graduates also have professional skills that could allow them to pursue different avenues into cross-cultural locations that are hostile to Christianity, such as the Middle East and Central Asia. Chan Kim-Kwong notes the need for modified approaches to mission work in cross-cultural contexts: “Church leaders in the Middle East have stressed that future missionaries to that part of the world should acquire some sort of professional status and have in-depth understanding of Islamic culture.”¹ With the younger generation of Christian missionaries from China being increasingly urban and university educated, perhaps the mission movement from China is becoming better equipped to meet the requirements of today’s cross-cultural contexts.

Beyond simply using their professional skills as a way to gain access to opportunities, university graduates seem to have a deepening understanding that their work in and of itself contributes to God’s mission in the world. It seems that many of them have a growing sense that doing mission in cross-cultural contexts entails more than evangelism and church planting. Pang’s experience as a teacher, and Xu’s experience in relief and development work are just two examples where university graduates are working within their fields of study to serve God in mission.  

This emphasis on God’s holistic mission may also signal a generational change within the Chinese mission movement. Today’s leaders of Mission China, including Ezra Jin, Jin Tianming, and Daniel Jin, are pastors who have been inspired by the previous generation of persecuted Christian leaders, like Wang Mingdao. Their perspectives on mission reflect the perspectives of those who have come before them, particularly in their urgency to preach the gospel in the face of suffering. 

In contrast to these founders and leaders of Mission China, the young university graduates I spoke with have all been mission practitioners. Their understanding of mission has been shaped by their own experiences in other cultures. As they respond to the needs that they encounter, these younger missionaries often employ approaches to mission that are more holistic and sensitive to the cultural context. As these younger missionaries become leaders of the Chinese mission movement in the coming decades, their inclination toward more holistic approaches in mission will likely have a growing and significant influence on the wider Chinese mission movement.

Chinese Mission Movement Reshaping World Christianity

As Chinese university graduates continue to reshape the Chinese mission movement, their deepening cooperation with the global mission movement is also reshaping how mission work is done around the world.

Earlier in this series, we first saw that piety has propelled Chinese Christians to do mission in cross-cultural contexts. This strong emphasis on piety reflects the influence of foreign missionaries like Hudson Taylor, as well as the pietistic practices found in many Chinese house churches today. Pastor and Mission China founder, Jin Tianming, feels that the mission movement of the Chinese church draws much of its strength from piety and love for God: “Pietism, loving the Lord, is connected to Chinese traditional culture as it is close to meditation. However, how is it related to missions? They care and regard the Lord as precious. … So, they wanted others to have it.”² This deep piety demonstrated by Chinese missionaries can be an example and an inspiration to churches and missionaries around the world.

Second, the priority of evangelism has been a distinct marker of the Chinese church since the early 20^th century and the time of Chinese revivalist preachers. One major implication of this priority of evangelism, Ro asserts, is that the leaders of Mission China are seeking to “recover the Great Commission,” (that is, to recover an emphasis on evangelism and church planting as the primary goal of mission work).³ Ro argues that the leaders of Mission China “believe that the former Western missionary movement, with all of its problems, is still the best example of the Great Commission. Mission China’s role is to recover the martyrdom spirit and eschatological urgency from the apostolic age and remind the West and global Christianity of its missionary heritage.”⁴

However, as mentioned above, the younger missionaries I spoke with seem to have a more holistic perspective on mission alongside their value of evangelism. For example, Qi (pseudonym) sees mission work as a lifestyle, not just preaching the message of the gospel. Reflecting on God’s calling people into mission, Qi says, “I think God called us to go to the nations, to make disciples. People do really need to hear the gospel, to see the examples and to see there is something more than what we can just hear. So, I think if they can see you, if they can hear and they can interact with you, that has more impact on people’s lives.” In Qi’s thinking, it seems that both hearing the message and seeing the life of the messenger are necessary for people to know the gospel. 

This move toward more holistic mission reflects what some in the Chinese church have advocated in recent years. Ji Yajie and Thomas Hale cite a Chinese missiologist, Suk Ki-Tan (pseudonym), who has written Blessings Restored for All Nations. Ji and Hale offer a translation of Suk’s words: “The main term in this book is ‘restoring blessing,’ which replaces the two terms ‘evangelism’ and ‘mission,’ commonly used in the past. From a biblical perspective, ‘restoring blessing’ is the most basic intention and will of God for all human beings. … Restoring blessing is not only concerned with the number of people who believe in the gospel, but also with the renewal of all cultures through the truth of the Bible.”⁵ Suk’s words align well with how Christopher Wright sees the blessing of Abraham: “There could be worse ways of summing up what mission is supposed to be all about than ‘Go … and be a blessing.’”⁶ The Chinese mission movement’s emphasis of both evangelism and holistic mission practices will likely influence the global mission movement.

Third, a theology of suffering and sacrifice permeates the Chinese church and its mission movement. Instead of shunning suffering, many of the missionaries I interviewed trust that God is with them in the suffering that they experience. Missionaries coming from the Chinese church seem to be unfazed by the difficulties inherent to living and serving in cross-cultural contexts.

Following in the footsteps of Simon Zhao and the Northwest Spiritual Band, today’s missionaries from China expect sacrifice and suffering to be part of their experience of doing mission. David Ro quotes Daniel Jin, one of the founders of Mission China: “The ‘theology of the cross’ needs to become the ‘core strength’ of the missionary movement of Chinese Churches overseas in the future. Missions require us to take up the cross to follow the Lord, pay the price, sacrifice ourselves more, and be willing to be a martyr. Especially going into the Muslim districts, a mindset of willingness to be a martyr is necessary.”⁷ The leaders of the Chinese mission movement can remind western churches of their own heritage of missionary work through suffering and sacrifice. 

Moving Toward the Future

As Chinese university graduates increasingly join in God’s global mission, they will continue to influence the direction of the Chinese mission movement and the broader global mission movement. In his observation of campus ministry in China, Zhu Zi Xian (pseudonym) asserts, “The revival of the contemporary Chinese evangelical student movement has had an important impact on the Chinese church. There has been increasing attention on societal issues, such as caring for marginalized groups, social justice, publishing ministries, and Christian education.”⁸ Seeing that the Chinese church has begun sending more university graduates to do mission in cross-cultural contexts, Zhu goes on to say, “These missionaries have high educational and professional skills so they can quickly learn the local language, integrate into the local cultural situation, and work with international organizations. For the foreseeable future, university graduates and young professionals will continue to be the main force of the Chinese church in world missions.”⁹

But as we look toward the future, the Chinese church and its mission movement continues to face many obstacles. As I write this post, Ezra Jin and more than 20 others from the Zion house-church network in mainland China have been arrested and detained for more than 10 days. While these arrests have received a lot of media attention, other churches in mainland China have also faced increasing pressure from the authorities during the last six months. Mainland Chinese missionaries continue to serve in many cross-cultural contexts as their sending churches face mounting pressure and restrictions.  

Whatever direction the broader Chinese mission movement takes in the face of these challenges, the Chinese university graduates joining in God’s global mission will use their unique skills and perspectives to bring God’s restoration and blessing to the world. Through their words and actions, Chinese university graduates will continue to bring the good news of the gospel to the ends of the earth. They (and we) all have a part to play in God’s global mission.Perhaps Xu’s words say it best: “God is the one who’s pushing this agenda. He cares. He will make it happen. You are just a small part of this big picture, and there’s comfort in that. And, it’s enough just to do your part well.” May it be so.

1. Kim-Kwong Chan, “The Back to Jerusalem Movement: Mission Movement of the Christian Community in Mainland China,” in Mission Spirituality and Authentic Discipleship, ed. Wonsuk Ma and Kenneth R. Ross, Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series 14 (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2013), 185–86.
2. David L. Ro, “A Study of an Emerging Missions Movement in Urban China: From the Perspective of Four Beijing Pastors” (PhD diss., Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, 2023), 119.
3. Ibid., 240.
4.  Ibid., 242.
5. Yajie Ji and Thomas Hale, “Restoring Blessing: A Preferable Paradigm for Today’s Mission,” International Journal of Frontier Missiology 37, no. 3–4 (Fall/Winter 2020): 173, accessed December 26, 2023, https://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/37_3_4_PDFs/IJFM_37_3_4-Ji_and_Hale.pdf.
6. Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006), 214.
7. Ro, 191.
8. Zi Xian Zhu (pseudonym), “History of Student Ministry in China,” ChinaSource, July 12, 2021, accessed August 31, 2023, https://chinasource.org/resource-library/articles/history-of-student-ministry-in-china/.
9. Ibid.