Facing a medical crisis is difficult at any time. When it happens far from home, family, and familiar medical facilities it can be devastating. Having good, accessible insurance can relieve some of the concern and the financial burden of medical care overseas. One insurance provider that has been serving cross-cultural workers in Asia for years is Talent Trust Consultants (TTc).
It is a very tricky thing to assess when it is time to leave a particular field of service or line of ministry.
This series of blog entries refers primarily to the question of expatriate Christians attending Chinese services at registered—or at least publicly "open"—local churches. It is assumed that in most cases, the risks to local believers (and to the expat workers as well) are such that it would be irresponsible to participate regularly in unregistered church services. Part one deals with some of the common objections to attending Chinese church services. In part two some of the main reasons why I have chosen to attend Chinese church services will be given. Part three will list some of the ways I have been blessed by my attendance at Chinese church services.
The past three decades have seen tens of thousands of Christians from outside China engaged in myriad activities aimed at serving the Chinese church and society. Today their role is changing. New skills – one in particular – are needed to work out what this role and what their relationship to China's church should look like in days to come.
Editor's Note: This editorial originally appeared in "What Every Expat in China Ministry Needs to Know" (CS Quarterly, 2013 Summer).
The traditional definitions of missionary are not adequate for missionaries being sent from China; a new definition is needed due to the unique circumstances involved with those sent from this nation. Following this discussion, the author provides an overview of the current situation surrounding missionaries being sent from China.
For more than a century, there have been many indigenous mission movements from China, from Chinese, as well as from Central-coastal China that have experimented with mission endeavors. This article looks briefly at the most important of these undertakings by individuals and by groups.
In recent years, churches in China have begun to send missionaries overseas. This article in the Christian Times is about missionaries to Laos, Pakistan, and Cambodia sharing about their experiences in a church in Anhui.
The first part of the article on the Fuyinmen (Gospel Door) website focused on western missionary work in the medical field in Guangdong. The second part of the article focuses on education and a missionary's encounter with Hong Xiuquan, who would later lead the Taiping Rebellion.
In recent years it has become more common for political and religious leaders in China to acknowledge some of the positive aspects of early foreign missionary work in China.
Is the role of foreign workers in China changing? Yes and no. The biblical mandates remain unchanged: go into all the world; make disciples of all nations; love your neighbor; build my church. These scriptural imperatives also remain unfinished. Is the role of the foreign worker changing? It depends on where the worker is and who he or she relates to.
A ChinaSource interview conducted by Kay Danielson with a long-time expatriate Christian working in China.