Editorial reflection and analysis on issues shaping Chinese Christianity.
Chinese house churches must deliberate on how to be genuinely Chinese and truly Christian. Both the concepts that are overemphasized cause distortion. It takes constant navigating to be “in the culture but not of it.” Authentic Chinese Christianity will result from keeping both ideas in healthy tension as Chinese house churches negotiate between indigenizing and acting as pilgrim communities.
ChinaSource was formed in 1997, reflecting the spirit of the Lausanne Movement and in accordance with the Lausanne Covenant. Together with other global ministries, Dr. Brent Fulton and several colleagues founded ChinaSource with the goal that the global church would better understand the church in China and seek ways to serve Christ’s church together.
In the face of uncertainty and anxiety about the future, Christians must return to the essence of the gospel. While the gospel has the power to transform society, societal change has never been the primary focus of Christian faith. The gospel transforms society by bringing hope to individuals and inspiring moral renewal. The gradual transformation of individual lives collectively fosters societal progress.
![A young Chinese woman prays in the church. May we welcome [Chinese international students], love them, teach them about Jesus, and disciple those who believe. May we prepare them well to return and may the churches in China prepare well to receive them.](https://media.chinasource.org/uploads/2024/12/BL241209-header-ChinaSource-Chinese-Christianity-Returnees-International-Students-Sino-US-Relations-300x150.jpg)
May we welcome [Chinese international students], love them, teach them about Jesus, and disciple those who believe. May we prepare them well to return and may the churches in China prepare well to receive them.
On November 14, 2024, nearly 200 Chinese pastors, church leaders, theologians, and educators from around the world gathered at the picturesque Biola University. Together, they celebrated the historic establishment of the Institute for Advanced Studies of Chinese Christianity (IASCC) and the Biola Research Initiative for Chinese Theology.
Will you join us in praying for the unreached peoples? Together, let us commit to being part of God’s mission to make disciples of all nations and to plant healthy churches that will reproduce to surrounding villages and across generations.
Rather than assuming their long experience, carefully honed strategies, and ready resources will carry the day, leaders from traditional sending nations need to learn to listen to others at the table whose ideas may seem foreign, perhaps even misdirected, and whose available resources pale in comparison to the perceived task at hand.
This article is a follow-up to a series of articles written by this author on Chinese medical missionary sending in 2017, published by ChinaSource. Reflections expressed herein grow out of the successes, setbacks, and surprises encountered after the implementation of many of the ideas conveyed in that series of 13 articles.
From the first evening, Lausanne Chairman, Pastor Michael Oh, set the tone for the event in his address by quoting the Lausanne Covenant. He called us to humility, repentance, and a renewed commitment to the unfinished mission. His desire was to set a tone of unity, listening, and collaboration. He warned that the global church’s greatest danger lies in this phrase: “I don’t need you.”
Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep leaving 99 sheep to go after the one lost one. At a recent missions conference held by a church in China, one of the speakers commented that the ratios for China are almost the opposite with leaving five sheep to go after the 95 lost ones.
After a 12-year study experience abroad (4 years at a Christian university and 8 years in seminary), I have some insights and reflections on studying theology abroad. For most Christians and pastors, I believe that it is no longer necessary to spend four years studying theology abroad.
Above all, we hope you will see that Chinese Catholics live with a strong awareness of Our Lord Jesus’ presence with them amidst many challenges, that they live in hope in exceedingly challenging times, and they remain faithful to him in ways that can inspire us all.