Chinese Christians are not only receivers of traditional culture but also reformers of contemporary culture and creators of emerging culture. When reflecting on the complex relationship between the gospel and culture, we need a grand and holistic Christian worldview, capable of carrying the gospel’s tolerance of, challenge for, and renewal of culture.
The Bible presents us with good reasons both for celebrating dragons and for slaying them. Insofar as they represent those unfallen throne guardians of heaven, they should be duly revered; and insofar as they represent that fallen seraph Satan, they should be crushed underfoot.
I was blessed to have lived and worked in China for much of my adulthood and be able to hold up my part of the sky. Does this contradict the point I made above about being limited by my gender? Life is more nuanced than blanket statements. Both are true for me, at times I felt limited by my gender and at times I felt not limited by it.
Expectations for new missionaries as well as for their sending bodies should include a long-term developmental perspective that recognizes on-field difficulties as expected and as the normative shaping events God intentionally uses to develop cross-cultural ministry capacity.
The dispersion of Chinese populations will continue to grow in the near future and the missional implications of this are enormous. The recent growth of Christianity in China and the country’s political upheavals are pushing a record number to migrate overseas. Many have…embraced the Christian faith in foreign lands and cultures.
![Right then and there, in our apartment, [two Chinese friends] made the decision to follow Jesus. Something he said that evening has stayed with me for the past 25 years. He stated, “I always knew he was there. I just didn’t know his name.”](https://media.chinasource.org/uploads/2024/03/China_Source_Cross_Cultural_Hong_Kong_240311-300x150.jpg)
Right then and there, in our apartment, [two Chinese friends] made the decision to follow Jesus. Something he said that evening has stayed with me for the past 25 years. He stated, “I always knew he was there. I just didn’t know his name.”
“If the… global body of Christ can be there and say, ‘We are together here with you. I have my struggles, and you have your struggles, but we are together, praying to God together and seeking his guidance and help together,’…that can be very comforting and can be an encouragement.”
China is open for business, and a lot more. What is God calling you to do with that information? What might you try?
The Apostle Peter’s ethnocentric conversion exploded into fullness through an unanticipated personal interaction with Cornelius, a gentile military officer who lived out his fear of God in household leadership, generosity, and constant prayer (Acts 10:1–2).
Ministering cross-culturally is critical for fruitful missionary engagement. As the Chinese missionary movement matures and expands and goes where no man or woman of the gospel has gone before, cross-cultural ministry praxis will become increasingly critical.
Christians need to acknowledge a fact. We might disagree on whether Confucianism is a religion or not. But Confucianism, together with Daoism and Buddhism, are spiritual traditions that have provided “chicken soup” for Chinese souls for more than two thousand years.
Today China’s officials are much less likely to turn a blind eye toward unauthorized Christian activity. Under the rubric of national security, Xi Jinping has shifted the government’s emphasis from aggressive economic growth to social control.