The changes in China are both positive and negative, and they require us to rethink the kinds of foreign Christians who are still needed in that country. Some kinds of foreigners are not needed while there is a great need for another kind—those who exemplify biblical values and priorities in all aspects of their lives. Not only can they help strengthen the testimony of Chinese believers and those who shepherd them, they can also act as evangelists.
G. Wright Doyle
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September 22, 2015
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Scholarship
The author shares how his worldview has changed over the decades and how his relationships with others have changed as a result of this. As China continues to develop and grow, its need for foreign interaction will change. The deepest benefit foreign believers can bring is the benefit of a life that flows from God through Jesus; however, those whom China invites to come and stay will change according to the country’s felt needs.
Bill Job
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Scholarship
The Missionary's Curse: and Other Tales from a Chinese Catholic Village by Henrietta Harrison.
Harrison recounts the story of Catholicism in a small village in Shanxi, from its initial arrival at the opening of the seventeenth century right up to the present.
Andrew T. Kaiser
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Scholarship
The editor's point of view.
Andrew T. Kaiser
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Scholarship
While living in Beijing, I came to know well a migrant family. They had arrived in Beijing in the mid-1990s and had managed to find good jobs and earn enough money to buy an apartment and start a family. Even though they did not have a Beijing hukou, they managed to get their children into a decent school. It was interesting to watch the children grow up, because clearly they saw themselves more as urbanites, even though they technically weren’t.
Joann Pittman
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September 21, 2015
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Stories
When we encounter cross-cultural differences like the indirect communication style featured in my recent post on the rule of three we have a choice. You either complain about the difference and become frustrated or seek to understand it better and adapt.
Joab Meyer
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September 18, 2015
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Ideas
When a child is born in China, the parents must register him/her and obtain a hukou (household registration certificate). When a couple recently went to register their child, they were told that, since they were not married, they would have to pay a 40,000 yuan “social maintenance fee.” Not having that amount of money, they launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise money to pay the fee. Their story garnered a lot of attention and prompted discussion on social media. It was even covered by The New York Times.
ChinaSource Team
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September 15, 2015
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Stories
If you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend reading Builders of the Chinese Church: Pioneer Protestant Missionaries and Chinese Church Leaders, edited by Wright Doyle and Carol Hamrin.
Joann Pittman
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September 14, 2015
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Scholarship
Effective communication requires engagement from both ends of the communication cycle—both the ability to send a message and receive feedback from your audience. Using this cycle to reach a common understanding is more of an art than a science—even when we communicate with others from our home culture. However, it is even more challenging when communicating cross-culturally in China.
Joab Meyer
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September 11, 2015
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Stories
Tainted milk, diseased pigs sold on the market, 40-year-old meat discovered in a warehouse in Hunan, and lead-contaminated water in a newly built Hong Kong housing estate—these are just a few examples of the food scare nightmares that have come to light in China in recent years. More such stories continue to surface, seemingly on a weekly basis.
Brent Fulton
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September 9, 2015
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Stories
It is easy to think of the China Inland Mission era as being in the distant past. This article, translated from the mainland site Christian Times reminds us that it is not as far away as we thought.
ChinaSource Team
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September 8, 2015
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Stories
It’s not entirely true that I love parades in general, but I must admit to having a strange fascination with Chinese military parades. I’m not sure why, but perhaps it’s because they are multi-layered and there are interesting things going on at every level.
Joann Pittman
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September 7, 2015
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Stories