The journey from mythmaking to mission entails putting aside our chosen metanarratives, seeing with fresh eyes and listening with fresh ears, not only to the facts as we perceive them but also to the narratives of those in the stories as they interpret their own reality.
No culture or political ideology can be equated with Christian truth. Jesus’s words—“My kingdom is not of this world”—remain a vital reminder for the church today.
As the experience of China’s church demonstrates, the gifts of Advent seem to come strangely wrapped. The gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love are received through suffering and sacrifice.
I just want to fall where I grew up—but will I ever be allowed to go home?
Advancing the Gospel in this generation requires that God’s people around the globe join hands and work together. ChinaSource helps enable the church in China to be part of this process, ensuring that the voice of our Chinese brothers and sisters is included in the global conversation.
The call of cultural apologetics, I realized, begins with repentance: before we can witness to truth in the world, our own loves must be reordered by grace.
How can theology once again become the heartbeat of the church?
In an era of accelerating change, ChinaSource continues its twenty-eight-year legacy as the vital connection point between China's believers and the worldwide Christian community.
Among these Christian scholars are those who have newly embraced denominational identities, begun to promote interdisciplinary dialogue beyond traditional theological–philosophical impasses, and reopened a robust debate about the role of faith in scholarship, Chinese church history, and contemporary life.
This conference is a good reminder to Christians that the ultimate purpose of even something seemingly cold and private like theology is ultimately to equip ourselves and our fellow believers to better love God and one another.
Somewhere between Kunming and Beijing, between my father’s clickety-clack and this near-silent glide, I realized how much the world can change in a lifetime—and how faith, like memory, must find its voice again amid the noise and speed of progress.
Traditional China’s worldview—Confucianism, Daoism/folk religion, Buddhism, and the management of “heterodoxy”—shaped how Christianity was first seen: foreign, sometimes tolerated, and often misunderstood.