Stories

Firsthand accounts of faith lived out in the context of Chinese Christianity.

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Qinghai, China

Among Yaks, Monasteries, and Memories

A journey into the Tibetan grasslands of Gannan brings Hugh Battye into the rhythms of nomadic family life, local religious practice, and an unexpected memory of an earlier Christian presence in the region.

A historical photo of the author's family showing a father and two children.

Behind Every Name

Behind every name is a real person—a person with blood and tears, love and loss, shame and confusion, and a longing to be loved, forgiven, and given a new beginning.

A tourist bus in Gansu province, China.

Stamps and Negotiations

Fieldwork among the Bonan in Gansu begins with stamps, permissions, and a search for somewhere to stay, revealing along the way how differently a researcher and his hosts can understand hospitality, access, and an “authentic” experience.

A room with benched and a tree outside of the window.

From Wuzhou to Makassar

For ChinaSource readers, the story invites us to remember Chinese Christianity not as a simple one-directional story of Western missionaries going to China, but as a deeply interconnected history of receiving, translating, indigenizing, and sending.

A beautiful Mongolian scene with a statue of a horse.

How God Called Me to Mongolia

All of a sudden, what started as a random set of strangers in a country I knew nearly nothing about outside of my middle school world history class, became God’s children whom he loved and the most important people in my life.

Light streaming through the curved stained-glass windows of a church.

Providence and Vision

My experience of the election and grace of the Triune God—the providential care of the Heavenly Father, the guarding of the Holy Spirit, and the guidance of the Holy Son—is truly a testament to what John Newton described as Amazing Grace in his hymn: “grace appeared the hour I first believed.”