Finding Themselves in China
It has been said that for the person who has a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
For foreigners who go to China, it is often the case that what they find depends on what they’ve come looking for.
Our China Stories
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God, Caesar, and the Chinese Legal System
Western narratives about China and its church are built on a fundamental, but often unspoken, assumption about the relationship between law and society.
Formed by Our Narratives
These narratives can also have a distorting effect upon those who employ them, for our China stories speak to more than simply what we think about China; they also reveal what we desire.
End of an Era?
Welcoming a new reality even when it is at odds with the stories we have come to believe about China and about ourselves.
When Our China Stories Ring Hollow
Thoughts about the violent demonstrations on the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.
Variations on a Theme
Our China stories are not merely descriptions of an objective reality manifesting itself in the Chinese church; they speak to where we believe China’s church is (or should be) going.
Seeing Things Differently
In proposing that we need to get beyond the “persecuted church” narrative, I am not advocating . . . that we leave it behind completely, but rather that we recognize its limits.
Seeing the Same China, but for Different Reasons
It is possible to agree on many things about China, yet still talk past one another.
The TSPM—Seeing Beyond History
This enduring narrative of the TSPM is an integral part of the larger Persecuted Church narrative that continues to dominate conversations about the church in China both in Christian and secular circles.
Is China Rewriting the Bible?
Not exactly.
One Virus, Two Cities
If the global pandemic has laid bare our shared vulnerability, then it has also highlighted our interdependence as global citizens.
Stopping the Spread
Those partnering with China’s emerging missions movement would do well to consider what they may be passing on without even realizing it. Careful filtering of concepts and methods—but more importantly, values and unspoken assumptions—could help guard China’s future mission leaders from replicating painful mistakes.