Marking the Chinese Coordination Centre for World Evangelization’s 50th anniversary, the 10th CCOWE in Kuching, Malaysia was a significant occasion to honor the past while contemplating the future. It also brought to the surface key tensions facing the movement as it goes forward.
In the opening session General Secretary David Doong positioned today’s CCCOWE as rooted in the history of the ever-expanding global Chinese church. Participants sang the CCCOWE anthem and heard from past leaders who have shaped the CCCOWE legacy. Over the following days, plenary speakers and panels surveyed the challenges facing the church as it looks forward. Echoing many of the themes addressed two years ago at the Lausanne Congress in Seoul, Korea, topics included immigration and displaced peoples, integral mission, creation care, Gen Z, cultural change within the church, and the threats posed by artificial intelligence, among others.
Perennial Themes
This being my third Congress in the past 25 years, I was not surprised to see several perennial themes making an appearance. More than one speaker commented on the preponderance of Chinese restaurants worldwide, suggesting that, since Chinese are everywhere, the Chinese church ought to be everywhere too. Several addressed the loss of the younger generation, who do not feel at home in traditional Chinese-speaking churches and are going elsewhere, or who are leaving the church altogether. Along with this analysis came a fair amount of self-critique, as speakers asked why it is so hard to change Chinese church culture. The familiar call, “Chinese, where are you?” reinforced the sense that, for all the mobilization and global scattering over the past 50 years, whether intentional or otherwise, the proportion of Chinese within the global mission force remains relatively small.
The tension between where CCCOWE has been and what lies ahead was evident, both in what was said, as well as who was–and who was not–represented.
Younger leaders accounted for only fifteen percent of those in attendance, lending some credence to the sentiment that CCCOWE represents the past more than the future. As the common language of the Chinese diaspora, the dominant use of Mandarin at the Congress was to be expected; yet it left little room for second and third-generation Chinese leaders to join in the conversation (had they chosen to attend). While a few sessions at the Congress were designed specifically for the participants who were under 35 years of age, the discussions seemed to center around how the younger generation can navigate the traditions and hierarchy of the established Chinese church, rather than how to break new ground.
Rather than mourn the loss of the younger generation to multi-cultural or non-Chinese congregations, why not instead celebrate these younger Chinese Christians who are extending the witness of the Chinese church beyond the walls of its traditional identity? In his closing remarks, David Doong floated the hopeful idea of perhaps holding a youth congress in the future. Given the relative paucity of younger leaders at the event, this could be a meaningful next step.
China’s Silent Majority
Another significant segment of the Chinese church was present but largely silent. China’s Christians constitute the majority of Chinese believers globally, but they were absent from the platform (although some were active in the afternoon working groups). Political considerations and security concerns undoubtedly played a role in their lack of visibility. Yet excluding them from the conversation not only deprives the global Chinese church of precious insights drawn from decades of faithfulness amidst opposition; it also further exacerbates the theological divide between the church in the Mainland, whose theology of the cross has grown out of its lived experience, and the Chinese diaspora, which has developed in very different soil. Providing a forum for the cross-pollination of ideas that could enrich both seems an urgent task, particularly as more Christians from China join the ranks of the global Chinese church.
Within these two segments–younger Chinese Christian leaders and Mainland Chinese believers–are found innovative and courageous servants who are on the cutting edge of global missions. As a movement devoted to mobilizing the Chinese mission movement, CCCOWE faces the challenge of fully embracing both these streams.
The Price of Unity
Reconciliation was a recurring theme throughout the Congress. Winnie Fung of Cedar Fund spoke of Shalom as being found “when all things are reconciled to God and all things are made new.” Prof. Allen Yeh of International Theological Seminary, a pioneer in the field of polycentric leadership, spoke of the need for reconciliation in race, class, gender, and age. Pointing to a lack of unity as the reason why the Great Commission has yet to be completed, Rev. Rick Warren from Saddleback Church urged participants to pursue unity as the key to world evangelization.
Truly embracing the future, rather than just contemplating it, requires honoring the legacy and past traditions without being bound by them. It calls for more than new leaders and fresh ideas. These are no match for the strong cultural muscle memory embedded in organizational structures and church relational hierarchies. The exhortation by Albert Ng of Island ECC in Hong Kong to older leaders, “Our job is to bury ourselves inside the soil and die,” may have been off-putting to some, but it did drive home the need for the current generation of leaders to intentionally create space for those to come.
If unity is indeed the key to world evangelization, then the hard work of reconciliation will be required to get there. Facing the tensions and building on the momentum for change initiated at the 10th Congress, CCCOWE is uniquely positioned to take the lead in this daunting yet vital task.
