ChinaSource Senior Vice President Joann Pittman invites two friends, colleagues, and voracious readers—Andrew Kaiser, author of Voices from the Past: Historical Reflections on Christian Missions in China, and Amy Young, author of Looming Transitions: Starting and Finishing Well in Cross-Cultural Service—to join her in a discussion of why it is important to read books about China and which books they find to be most helpful.
On May 21 ChinaSource President Brent Fulton spoke at Emmanuel English Church in Hong Kong. Drawing from his book China’s Urban Christians: A Light that Cannot Be Hidden, Fulton talked about how the kingdom of God has spread in China, despite difficult circumstances.
In 2015, we had 52 posts to Chinese Church Voices
The church in China—more Chinese or more global?
Chinese Christians have a unique place in global Christianity and are entering into deeper conversations with Christians worldwide. What do they offer each other? One of the greatest challenges to global Christianity is navigating fragmentation and diversity. Another significant challenge is interaction with people of other religions. How can Chinese Christians help in these and other challenges? What role do they play on the global scene? The author addresses these questions in his discussion of this topic.
In July, People’s University released the results of a multi-year survey of the religious environment in China. Many news outlets, both inside China and outside, covered the story, choosing to emphasize the growing popularity of religion among young people in China as well as the growth of Islam. But the survey was much broader and revealed other interesting data points about religion in China. The mainland site Christian Times took a close look at the survey and highlighted some of the other findings that did not get much play, particularly in the western press.
Rodney Stark and Xiuhua Wang’s new book, A Star in the East, combines data from a major study on religion in China conducted during the past decade together with keen sociological insights in order to explain the factors behind China’s phenomenal church growth.
When I was teaching on a university campus, one of the things that surprised me was the admission by many of my students that they were afraid of ghosts. One of them put it to me very succinctly: “We are atheists during the day, but when the lights go out it’s a different story.”
China’s Reforming Churches by Bruce P. Baugus, ed.
Reviewed by Jennifer Guo
This volume is written from the conviction that China’s need for church development is largely the need for the development of a healthy and robust presbyterianism that comes from an understanding of biblical theology of the church as articulated within the Reformed tradition. It frequently corrects common erroneous presuppositions and reveals that within China there is a surprising amount of freedom for Christians—and even for the officially illegal, unregistered churches.
The destruction of churches and widespread pulling down of crosses in Zhejiang province during the past year have served to highlight the dilemma facing China’s Christians, whose numerical growth has, for the past several decades, outstripped the availability of suitable venues for worship.
Last fall the popular news magazine Phoenix Weekly carried this article on the relationship between Christianity and cults in China.
While many would applaud the church’s “post-denominational” character as evidence of the unity of the church in China, others today are asking whether a return to denominations is not only inevitable but should, in fact, be welcomed.