For a moment, it was easy to understand the dream of finding something of home among one’s own, even far from home. Yet I wondered about the reverse: might someone still feel like a stranger among people who shared their language and cultural memories, longing for a belonging that familiarity alone could not provide?
Prompted in part by Sam Ren’s recent article, “The Displaced Minority,” these brief vignettes offer glimpses of ordinary Christian life in Mainland China that often remain unseen.
What I sensed God calling me to do was not to leave the church, but to help fill the gap I saw there.
For the first time, we saw that ordinary believers could begin where they were and create connections between churches that had previously known little about one another.
In China, Christians continue to find creative ways to glorify God, serving people on the margins of society and loving their neighbors and coworkers.
To serve effectively in a Chinese American church, pastors must address a more fundamental issue: securing a legal status that allows them to live and minister in the country.
If Chinese Christians can develop robust local sources of information and reflection, they can move away from a “nervous” existence and learn to navigate risks, mitigate pressures, and live out their faith meaningfully within the land they inhabit.
When people who have long been studying, teaching, pastoring, and serving in different contexts finally sit in the same room, what becomes visible?
We must explore what kind of ideology the Chinese church, which developed in tandem with such a turbulent history, would adopt as it enters the church, serves the church, and envisions the future.
The Chinese church is currently experiencing compression and purification. If it can take root amid headwinds, trust amid uncertainty, and discern direction amid complexity, this period may well become the foundation for future revival.
At Easter, we proclaim that suffering is not the end of the story. The cross is real—but so is the resurrection.
If you regularly read ChinaSource’s publications, you will surely note the Chinese Church is currently undergoing one of the most pivotal transformations in its entire history.