When interacting with church leaders in China, questions about the church inevitably emerge. At some point, issues concerning church structure will be brought up. How they respond will deeply affect the long term growth of the church. It is both exciting and agonizing to observe.
The shaping of Christian leaders in modern China.
Christians need to be good stewards of their identity and their time. They also need to value "being" over "doing."
The themes that emerged from the Leader Development Consultaton held in November 2008 included principles of indigenized leader developement, mutual learning to achieve indigenization, and the pursuit of indigenization in light of globalization.
In the decades since China's opening to the outside world, literally hundreds of organizations, educational institutions and churches have responded to the perceived need for training leaders to shepherd China's rapidly growing church. A discussion of what role Christians from outside China should play in responding to the need as the church grows and develops.
In the last decade or so, there has been an increasing realization in the church around the world—especially in areas of fast church growth—of the need to build leaders. In response, there has been a steady growth of "leader development ministries." But, what exactly does a "leader development ministry" do?
The background, education and experience of house church leaders of China varies greatly. These profiles provide a glimpse of that variety and the challenges these leaders face.
From the editor's point of view ...
A Chinese pastor shares his experience of participating in a leadership training program.
What does it mean to serve and to mentor? What are the crucial elements of each?
The impact of Chinese leaders on the world has implications that reach not only the areas in which they are leaders but also into areas of spiritual influence as well.
Editor's Note: This editorial originally appeared in "Training Leaders for the Church in China" (CS Quarterly, 2007 Spring).