Following more than a year of cross and church demolitions in Zhejiang Province, in May the provincial government published a draft set of regulations governing the construction and location of religious venues, as well as the placement of Christian crosses. The draft regulations were posted on the websites of two government agencies, with a request for comments from the public. One pastor in the province shared his comments with the Gospel Times, who in turn posted it on their site. It’s an interesting look at how these regulations are viewed by a Christian leader, as well a fascinating window into how the religious sphere “talks to” the state in China, employing language the state understands.
ChinaSource Team
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June 9, 2015
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Ideas
For this post, we have translated a sermon given by Pastor Wang Yi, of Early Rain Reformed Church, one of the prominent house churches in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. In it, Pastor Wang reflects on what it means to build a church.
ChinaSource Team
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May 26, 2015
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Stories
In this week’s Chinese Church Voices, we republish a post from the excellent China Partnership Blog. Last autumn China Partnership held a conference in Atlanta, centered on the topic “The Church in a Global-Local World.” Many of the speakers at the conference were church leaders from China. One of them gave a talk titled “The State of Chinese Urban Churches.” The speaker looks at the situation from three different perspectives: the Chinese value system, the political system, and the expansion of Christianity. China Partnership originally published it on their blog in February. It is reposted here in full, with permission.
ChinaSource Team
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May 19, 2015
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Ideas
Here at Chinese Church Voices, we often highlight articles written by Christians and posted on various websites, blogs, and/or micro-blogs. This week, however, we have translated a sermon by Pastor Chen, of the Fangshan Church in Beijing. It was delivered on February 8, 2015, and posted to the church website shortly after that. In it, Pastor Chen uses 1 Samuel 15 to remind the congregation of the importance of obedience.
ChinaSource Team
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May 12, 2015
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Stories
Most Three-Self churches in China conduct baptism services on Easter Sunday each year. In this translated article from the Gospel Times, the writer shares questions that the pastors at two large churches in China ask of each person being baptized.
ChinaSource Team
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May 5, 2015
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Ideas
In this “special report” in the Christian Times, a reporter talks with a Christian woman who runs a homeschooling academy in Guangzhou about her thoughts on the Chinese education system.
ChinaSource Team
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April 28, 2015
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Ideas
In March of 2014, over a thousand Christians from all over China attended the Grace to the City Convention held at Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong. For two and a half days they listened to teaching by Tim Keller, as well as from urban house church leaders from various cities around China.
ChinaSource Team
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April 21, 2015
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Stories
This year April 5 was an interesting day for Christians in China as Easter coincided with Qingming Festival (grave sweeping). On the day they celebrated the empty tomb they were also expected to tend to the tombs of their ancestors. In some cases, the ancestors were themselves Christians, so ceremonies and services are conducted at Christian cemeteries.
ChinaSource Team
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April 14, 2015
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Stories
Facing a medical crisis is difficult at any time. When it happens far from home, family, and familiar medical facilities it can be devastating. Having good, accessible insurance can relieve some of the concern and the financial burden of medical care overseas. One insurance provider that has been serving cross-cultural workers in Asia for years is Talent Trust Consultants (TTc).
ChinaSource Team
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April 10, 2015
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Resources
February 15, 2015 marked the first day of a new year in the Chinese calendar. According to the Chinese zodiac, which assigns an animal to each year in a 12-year cycle, currently we are in the Year of the Sheep.
One of the superstitious beliefs about the Year of the Sheep is that it is an unlucky year, which means among other things, that it is best not to give birth to a child during this year. In this article from the online journal Territory, the writer delves into the history of this belief and how it is harmful to society. He also contrasts it with what the Bible says about the source of blessings in life, notions of child-rearing, and the nature of sheep.
ChinaSource Team
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April 7, 2015
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Ideas
Last fall the popular news magazine Phoenix Weekly carried this article on the relationship between Christianity and cults in China.
ChinaSource Team
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March 31, 2015
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Ideas
Last month, we ran a series of blog posts by Joab Meyer about social media in China. He gave a helpful overview of the various platforms and tried to show how they (particularly WeChat) are useful for engaging with Chinese friends and building online communities.
Later in the month, the mainland site Christian Times published an article about how to use WeChat for the purposes of evangelism. The article is a report of a talk given by a pastor in Beijing. It is translated in full below. Please note that the terms Weixin and WeChat are interchangeable. Weixin is the official Chinese name of the app. WeChat is the English name.
ChinaSource Team
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March 24, 2015
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Stories
