![Starbucks and McDonalds franchises next door to each other in Shanghai, China. Nothing succeeds like success, and many Christian ministries have adopted a franchise-like pattern based on a founder’s compelling vision facilitated by a highly structured and quality-controlled delivery system…[But] can the gospel be franchised? I think not.](https://media.chinasource.org/uploads/2024/04/BL230426-header-ChinaSource-cross-cultural-ministry-Christianity-in-China-Lamin-Sanneh-300x150.jpg)
Nothing succeeds like success, and many Christian ministries have adopted a franchise-like pattern based on a founder’s compelling vision facilitated by a highly structured and quality-controlled delivery system…[But] can the gospel be franchised? I think not.
What is needed is people who know Jesus and love Tibetans enough to find ways to engage them personally, enough to walk with them through faltering steps of faith, and enough to endure long enough in the field that seeds sown find their way to good soil, hearts God has already prepared.
Chinese churches and local churches in the UK are working hard to welcome and shepherd the vast number of Christians from Hong Kong as soon as possible, giving them opportunities to serve, and mobilizing them to reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ to non-believing Hong Kong newcomers and others in the Chinese diaspora.
The changing migration patterns discussed in this issue of the Quarterly take on eternal significance when viewed in light of the great repositioning taking place within the global Chinese church. The Lord of the Harvest is sovereignly at work, raising up laborers and sending them into new fields for his glory.
Our Lord is the lord of history, and everything happens according to his plan. The recent political developments in and related to China have impacted the movement and dynamics of the global Chinese diaspora. They have closed some doors for mission while opening others.
Our social networks serve as a conduit for others to understand our lives, our faith, and the transformative impact of our beliefs. New media offers the most accessible, effective, and personal means for interaction and connection. Our virtual community becomes our broadest mission field, accessible to all for engagement.
China is open for business, and a lot more. What is God calling you to do with that information? What might you try?
Robert and Betty went to the untamed Tibet and built relationships, preparing for themselves and others to move and live in these new areas. Robert was a visionary with deep understanding of the cultures, but also brave, as the title says, facing local robbers, politics, and later, war-haunted China.
Ministering cross-culturally is critical for fruitful missionary engagement. As the Chinese missionary movement matures and expands and goes where no man or woman of the gospel has gone before, cross-cultural ministry praxis will become increasingly critical.
As mission in China goes through changing circumstances, it is important to remember that the growth of the Chinese church is primarily the missio dei (mission of God) rather than our mission.
Let’s pray that the Belt and Road Initiative and the wide diaspora of Chinese throughout the world, including the West, will be an expansion of opportunity to reach them, since the restrictions in China have become so limiting.
From the desk of the guest editor.