Spiritual political correctness is a form of legalism shrouded by an appearance of spirituality. While it shapes believers’ thoughts and behavior, over time it harms faith and the church and prepares the ground for the abuse of power by pastors. This requires our serious attention.
Jordan Wei is an experienced Christian worker in Asia who has spent more than 20 years developing leaders. He shares some recent insights from his own experience that have transformed his understanding of the leader development process.
This is not a “how-to” book on leadership. It is a “who” book. Its thesis is based on the premise that without a clear understanding and commitment to the “who” of leadership, talking about the “how” will be unfulfilling, impossible to sustain and ultimately will do a disservice to the Christian leader.
Advances in theological education over the past 35 years have gone a long way toward satisfying the church’s still urgent need for trained leaders. It is increasingly common, especially in China’s cities, to find pastors who have received formal graduate-level theological training, including many who have studied overseas. But is that enough?
Why are many Chinese believers who go overseas for seminary training not returning to China to serve?.
Since rising to power three years ago, President Xi Jinping has frequently been called the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. Such comments often refer to the way Xi has consolidated power by bringing the various Communist Party organs firmly under his control and to how he has eliminated possible opposition through a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign and emphasis on rule by law.
In the final segment of the “Walking with Leaders” series on ChinaSource Conversations, our monthly podcast, we looked at the spiritual formation of leaders. One of our guests was John, an expat and trained coach whose14 years of service in Asia have included facilitating retreats and leading people through creative spiritual exercises.
Here John shares his thoughts on spiritual formation among Christian leaders in China.
In the fourth and final podcast in the “Walking with Leaders” series, we want to focus on the topic of spiritual formation—the big picture and landscape of ones journey to becoming more like Jesus. If coaching is about drawing out and mentoring is about pouring in, spiritual formation is the big picture of our relationship with God.
For many international organizations working in China, the transition to local leadership can be a challenging one. In particular, it is not always easy to achieve high levels of spiritual formation when many local leaders are either first generation believers or fairly recent converts.
A ChinaSource "3 Questions" interview based on the "Walking with Leaders" podcast series.
The latest episode in our ChinaSource Conversations podcast series continues our exploration into mentoring in the Chinese context.
In part two of our podcast “Mentoring in the Chinese Context,” we’ve brought back the same group of speakers to continue the conversation. In this episode they discuss what it means to be effective in ministry in the context of a changing China. They also explore the cultural complexities that should be noted when mentoring in China.