“Get shut down and get shut down often,” recommends Travis Todd, in describing his approach as a digital evangelist in China. As the government tightens restrictions on online Christian content, his team focuses on sharing Jesus with as many people as possible, not on building a brand.
Despite all the regulations and restrictions that the Chinese government puts in place to limit religious content on the internet, digital evangelism is alive and well and bearing fruit. The articles in this issue focus on what God is doing through digital engagement, not on what the Chinese government tries to prevent.
The GodTools app is a new way for Christians to get training in evangelism so they can be ready to share Christ with friends and family. Download it and find culturally appropriate articles in over a hundred languages.
What is the best way for Christians to engage others online? What tools are available to help spread the gospel effectively? The guest editors of the upcoming ChinaSource Quarterly attempt to answer these questions and give readers a taste of what’s to come.
What if I told you there was a safe, secure way in which information can be received by people in China? It cannot be easily turned off or blocked, it cannot be traced, it leaves no digital footprint, and best of all, it cannot be censored or edited.
Quickly adapting to new technology has become a way of life for believers in China. They have done it before, and they will do it again. But in the meantime, they are growing in how to live as disciples of Jesus in the WeChat generation. May God strengthen them and give them wisdom.
How the Covid-19 shutdown and a 21st-century piece of technology were used to help change traditional forms of the Chinese church—at least for a while.
“The China we once knew no longer exists. The China that was with us for forty years—the China of ‘reform and opening up’—is making way for something new.”
A continuing conversation on the use of digital tools and trends in how the church gathers for worship and teaching and how they serve their communities.
The governing leadership in China over the years has been consistent, indeed almost predictable. And, as such, as we look at the history of mission and church development in China, we can foresee what Christians in Hong Kong will face in the new normal.
Yes, we can use WeChat and many other ways to speak Life to our personal networks of image-bearers. But we speak best, truest, and fullest in the flesh.
The biggest story about WeChat is that the Christian church in China is using it well and growing through it. God is using this media for his glory!