Editorial reflection and analysis on issues shaping Chinese Christianity.
In our conflict resolution conversations, conflict coaching, and mediation help, face is sometimes the elephant in the room—if never acknowledged and addressed, reconciliation is hindered. Let’s address the elephant in the room and develop a new God-centered orientation to face.
The maintenance and advancement of Christianity is highly correlated to three main factors: government control, social receptivity, and culture. Comparatively, China is not the most difficult place for Christianity to develop.
When we celebrate with our Hui friends, let us not treat remembrances of either our God or theirs as quaint cultural relics, but as points of connection to God and his gospel. These are powerful gospel prompts.
Rather than skirting uncomfortable China conversations, leaning into the narratives by which evangelicals seek to make sense of China and its church can uncover the biases and cultural assumptions standing in the way of a more authentic understanding of what it means to be citizens of God’s kingdom.
There is no question that we are in a new era. To understand the recent National People’s Congress and National People’s Consultative Conference, read Joann Pittman’s roundup of news and analysis.
Pursuing heart-level reconciliation can be hard, humbling work. A labor of love. Yet when our love is infused with God’s love—our source of strength to reconcile—we can persevere in the process.
The 2023 spring issue of the ChinaSource Quarterly comes out next week. Here’s a sneak peek from the guest editor.
Legislation may technically render a host of Christian activities illegal, but these activities do not suddenly cease. While we may hear that “China” is clamping down on unregistered meetings or websites or online gatherings, the reality on the ground may tell a different story.
When pressure comes, Christians generally respond in one of three ways: fight, flight, or somewhere in the middle…. When praying for the Chinese church, we must not fail to pray...for the unity of Christians under pressure.
As Christians in China study biblical peacemaking, many have had personal aha moments…they now see that conflict starts in the heart and that avoiding addressing the root heart issues in order to “avoid conflict,” only results in the heart conflict remaining.
Doubtless the vigorous development of theological education since the 1990s is one of the important evidences of the growth of Christianity in China. Besides reflecting the growth of the church, it was itself a factor in the further expansion of the church.
The winter 2022 issue of ChinaSource Quarterly offers perspectives like a plane dropping from thirty thousand feet to ground level, as they shift from high-level and mildly optimistic…to close up, personal, and much more pessimistic. Together, they offer helpful insight on what’s happening in China after ten years of…political leadership by Xi Jinping.