Why the Mother Tongue Matters
Language is culture. Our mother tongue keeps our cultural heritage alive. The mother tongue helps us stay connected to our traditional, cultural values and our roots.
Language is culture. Our mother tongue keeps our cultural heritage alive. The mother tongue helps us stay connected to our traditional, cultural values and our roots.
Please join us in praying for this burgeoning missions movement from Asia and for the many conference participants who made commitments to give their lives for the kingdom.
This paper is a brief discussion of calling, vocation, and spiritual formation as it relates to Chinese Christians in mission service and the churches that send them.
Originally written as an assignment in the author’s doctoral program, the paper is based on interviews with Chinese Christians about their journey of spiritual formation, their life callings, and vocational stewardship. Other relevant research is also included.
International mission agencies can offer guidance. We need guides. I don’t mean a simplistic, short-term orientation course. But neither do we need a boss who only gives commands and does not truly walk with us. I mean each missionary needs a genuine guide.
Questions of money—supporting Chinese Christian workers, paying local assistants, giving gifts to “needy” Chinese—return like revolving doors as often as new expat Christians arrive in China.
How will we react to attempts to divide us along socio-economic, racial, ideological, or nationalistic lines? Will we quietly acquiesce and accept a church that is not really whole?
The statement declares, “Christian churches in China are eager and determined to walk the path of the cross of Christ and are more than willing to imitate the older generation of saints who suffered and were martyred for their faith.”
While creating awareness for the need of member care for Chinese missionaries, I have struggled to find solid, culturally correct resources. This Quarterly is truly a gift with so much to discover, so much more than a wrapping and big ribbon.
From the desks of the guest editors.
Generational, cultural, and personal issues create challenges and advantages for Chinese cross-cultural missionaries and point to the need for member care. How can this need be met?
Due to mistaken theological understandings regarding ministry and family, the importance of fatherhood is often neglected. The author discusses the role of the father and what it means to be an effective father.
Ahern addresses the Chinese understanding of suffering for Christ, its place in the lives of three well-known Chinese pastors, and the place it should have in the lives of Chinese Christians today.