The COVID-19 epidemic has not only driven home the stark realities of living in a flat world where what happens in one country is able to radically alter life around the globe; it has also made possible a type of cross-cultural sharing among Christians that may not have happened otherwise were it not for the shared experience of a global pandemic.
Those who stay in China for any length of time often discover that their most meaningful work is quite different from what they had originally envisioned doing when they first arrived.
Challenged with the question, “What if your church suddenly had to go virtual?” the group prayed fervently for the believers in Wuhan and other Chinese cities. Little did they know that, within a matter of days, this question would no longer be hypothetical.
Except they were. And they still are.
Looking at the development of the church over the past four decades we can identify two significant dynamics. One is the level of political persecution upon the church. The other is the church’s own internal capacity.
What we fundamentally believe about China’s church goes a long way toward determining how we will choose to engage, how we view what is desirable, and what is possible.