Editorial reflection and analysis on issues shaping Chinese Christianity.
As ChinaSource celebrates 20 years of ministry, it is a time of reflection and giving thanks. We are privileged to have served the China-ministry community for as long as we have. With today’s post, we are beginning a series, called Looking Back that will take a closer look at those twenty years.
A second look at Chinese Theology, an apology, and a way forward.
Most books on Chinese Christianity try to trace its history, focusing on key people, events, and movements. While Chloë Starr does not neglect these, she highlights something that most historians neglect: the theology that arose from different contexts expressed the thought and struggles of influential leaders, and shaped the ways that Christians responded to their situation.
The Chinese church passionately desires participation in missionary sending. The international church seeks to partner with Chinese missionary senders. In addition to prayer, the international church can support Chinese missionary-senders through resource sharing, mission-sending organization support, and through business cooperation. Chinese medical missionary tentmaking as a business opportunity is examined as a prototype for other potential Chinese tentmaking missionaries. Leadership of Chinese missionary sending efforts must remain in Chinese hands.
Brother Tom is a grassroots church planter in an Asian city. For the past twenty years he has worked with a global organization on creating access and sustainability for church planting.
In the “Teaching across Cultures” class I took last month with Dr. Craig Ott, he had us read The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently . . . and Why by Richard Nisbett. The crux of the book’s argument is that Westerners and Asians think differently because of their different ancient roots.
A fundamental question for Christians in China—who will lead the Chinese church of the future.
Following a rather chaotic start, the process of registering foreign entities under the Overseas NGO (ONGO) Law is getting underway, albeit slowly.
The same difficulties that local churches in the west have had in sending out workers cross-culturally are being seen in Chinese churches as they send missionaries beyond their borders. Are mission-sending organiszations needed to minimize those difficulties?
The Chinese church passionately desires participation in missionary sending. In China, there are problems with current church-based mission-sending models. Mission-sending organizations can deal with many of the unmet needs of the Chinese missionary and facilitate missionary sending.
A genuine "must-read" for those seeking to understand the complexities of religious life in China today.
In China, the study of religion as an academic discipline has been gaining momentum in recent years. Centers and institutes for the study of religion have been established at numerous top-tier Chinese universities. As research on religion in China grows, indigenous theories regarding the role of religion in Chinese society and culture are also being constructed and debated. One theoretical framework of note is the “religious ecology” model.