A Church Without Walls
The exhortation of a pastor in China to "Build a church without walls."
Stories
Firsthand accounts of faith lived out in the context of Chinese Christianity.
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China Expert? Far from it!
Anyone who comes to you claiming to be a "China expert" is either deluded (and thus to be pitied), lying (and thus suspect), or out to separate you from your money (and thus to be avoided).
Our First 13 Days
If you ever move to a major city in Southwest China to study an obscure language at a Chinese university, perhaps the following insights from our first thirteen days will aid your transition.
Reflections on the Tianjin Explosion
On August 12, 2015, a series of massive explosions ripped through a container storage station in the Binhai New Area district of the port city of Tianjin. The station is known to have been a storage site for hazardous materials. The two largest blasts were the equivalent of three tons and 21 tons of TNT respectively, with the second being picked up by weather satellites orbiting earth. Over 150 people were killed and over 700 were injured. The cause of the explosions is still unknown.
Eyewitness videos of the blast quickly spread online, followed by earnest questions regarding safety and responsibility. The Christian publication Territory joined in the discussion by asking readers to share how they were affected by the blasts.
Mr. Xi Goes to Washington
A look at the news and analysis about President Xi Jinping's US visit.
Millennial Migrants
While living in Beijing, I came to know well a migrant family. They had arrived in Beijing in the mid-1990s and had managed to find good jobs and earn enough money to buy an apartment and start a family. Even though they did not have a Beijing hukou, they managed to get their children into a decent school. It was interesting to watch the children grow up, because clearly they saw themselves more as urbanites, even though they technically weren’t.
Marriage, a Child, or Both?
When a child is born in China, the parents must register him/her and obtain a hukou (household registration certificate). When a couple recently went to register their child, they were told that, since they were not married, they would have to pay a 40,000 yuan “social maintenance fee.” Not having that amount of money, they launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise money to pay the fee. Their story garnered a lot of attention and prompted discussion on social media. It was even covered by The New York Times.
One Tip for Effective Communication in China
Effective communication requires engagement from both ends of the communication cycle—both the ability to send a message and receive feedback from your audience. Using this cycle to reach a common understanding is more of an art than a science—even when we communicate with others from our home culture. However, it is even more challenging when communicating cross-culturally in China.
Chinese Supply Chains and the Gospel
Tainted milk, diseased pigs sold on the market, 40-year-old meat discovered in a warehouse in Hunan, and lead-contaminated water in a newly built Hong Kong housing estate—these are just a few examples of the food scare nightmares that have come to light in China in recent years. More such stories continue to surface, seemingly on a weekly basis.
The Last China Inland Mission Pastor
It is easy to think of the China Inland Mission era as being in the distant past. This article, translated from the mainland site Christian Times reminds us that it is not as far away as we thought.
I Love a Parade
It’s not entirely true that I love parades in general, but I must admit to having a strange fascination with Chinese military parades. I’m not sure why, but perhaps it’s because they are multi-layered and there are interesting things going on at every level.
A Church for Lepers
Sometimes in the wave of negative reports coming out of China the stories of local believers living out the gospel in daily life get buried. This Gospel Times article shares the work of three churches who are actively seeking to serve a portion of society that continues to deal with intense rejection in this day and age—victims of leprosy.