Rather than skirting uncomfortable China conversations, leaning into the narratives by which evangelicals seek to make sense of China and its church can uncover the biases and cultural assumptions standing in the way of a more authentic understanding of what it means to be citizens of God’s kingdom.
There is no question that we are in a new era. To understand the recent National People’s Congress and National People’s Consultative Conference, read Joann Pittman’s roundup of news and analysis.
Pursuing heart-level reconciliation can be hard, humbling work. A labor of love. Yet when our love is infused with God’s love—our source of strength to reconcile—we can persevere in the process.
The 2023 spring issue of the ChinaSource Quarterly comes out next week. Here’s a sneak peek from the guest editor.
Legislation may technically render a host of Christian activities illegal, but these activities do not suddenly cease. While we may hear that “China” is clamping down on unregistered meetings or websites or online gatherings, the reality on the ground may tell a different story.
When pressure comes, Christians generally respond in one of three ways: fight, flight, or somewhere in the middle…. When praying for the Chinese church, we must not fail to pray...for the unity of Christians under pressure.
As Christians in China study biblical peacemaking, many have had personal aha moments…they now see that conflict starts in the heart and that avoiding addressing the root heart issues in order to “avoid conflict,” only results in the heart conflict remaining.
Doubtless the vigorous development of theological education since the 1990s is one of the important evidences of the growth of Christianity in China. Besides reflecting the growth of the church, it was itself a factor in the further expansion of the church.
The winter 2022 issue of ChinaSource Quarterly offers perspectives like a plane dropping from thirty thousand feet to ground level, as they shift from high-level and mildly optimistic…to close up, personal, and much more pessimistic. Together, they offer helpful insight on what’s happening in China after ten years of…political leadership by Xi Jinping.
The key to the Western church’s ongoing effectiveness may well be its ability to learn from majority world believers, many of whom have experience in living out their faith in the face of political and cultural restrictions.
China is…in the midst of a religious boom, which the government is trying to use to further its grip on power… But can authoritarianism and religious life coexist?
The promise of Christmas is not that everything changes tomorrow, but that change is possible through Christ…It begins with the transformation of human hearts.