The Challenge of Relationships in the Church
What they should be and how they can damage the witness of the church.
What they should be and how they can damage the witness of the church.
Saying goodbye to Nai Nai . . .
An Oscar winner and filial piety.
Daddy, where does God live? Does He have a very big house?
With Chinese New Year only two weeks away, there is definitely an energy in the air—shopping, planning trips home, booking dinners and gatherings. Underneath this flurry of festive activity lies a very real and difficult social struggle.
A Chinese author reflects on the positives and negatives that leaders, seminaries, and churches face when cross-cultural workers leave the country.
Family needs, particularly the needs of the spouse and children, are among the causes of the high attrition rate among Chinese long-term missionaries.
The Chinese church passionately desires participation in missionary sending to unreached peoples. Field research findings with Chinese missionaries and with prospective Chinese medical missionaries highlight issues related to the needs of the Chinese missionary’s nuclear family. Although mission-sending organizations can help, much of the impetus for resolving difficulties faced by the Chinese missionary’s spouse and children must come from the Chinese missionaries themselves.
If you’ve lived in China at all during the past 10 or so years you’ve probably encountered the phrases “I believe in me,” and “I just need to be myself” fairly often. In fact, at times these phrases seem to be the mantra of the Chinese millennial. The phrases are often thrown out as the solution to friends who don’t understand you, trials you’re facing, and personal struggles with historical issues in your past.
In this article, originally published in Jingjie, author Wang Ming Li examines the very public and famous journey of singer Annie Yi, who ultimately decided that the path to overcoming rejection by her father was to “just be myself.” But is this really a panacea for our life problems? How do we as Christians respond to significant family of origin wounds? Wang first examines Annie’s journey, then shares her own personal experience and reflections.
“She doesn't know me anymore,” my friend Xiao Min remarked offhandedly one day, as though this fact didn't bother her. As the weeks went on, I would slowly discover that this statement reflected a very deep pain in Xiao Min's heart. The first time she brought it up, though, I was surprised she would treat the matter so coolly. After all, she was talking about her own daughter.
Having read Wang Jun’s article “The Preeminence of Love in Chinese Families” in the most recent ChinaSource Quarterly (18.2), “Christian Ethics and Family Living in China,” I would like to respond with a few thoughts that I trust will be helpful, and that might open further dialogue on this important topic.
The latest issue of ChinaSource Quarterly takes an in-depth look at the pressures facing young Christian families in urban China.