Ideas

Editorial reflection and analysis on issues shaping Chinese Christianity.

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What Is a Disciple?

Recently the mainland-based The Good and Faithful Steward blog published a short post about what it means to be a disciple, reminding readers that being a disciple is more than just taking on the name of Christ (“Christian”), but actually following Christ.

Chinese Indigenous Missions

On December 31, Christianity Today published a piece titled “Made in China: The Next Mass Missionary Movement.” This article provides an excellent introduction to the topic and some of the related issues.

To help provide context and background, we thought now would be a good time to highlight some of the resources that ChinaSource has published on the topic over the years. We hope these will be helpful to those wanting to learn more.

The Changing Face of Political Leadership in China

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.

3 Questions: Spiritual Formation in China

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.

Spiritual Formation

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.

Cultural Chop Suey

In the past year, we have heard numerous reports of the Party’s attempts to promote traditional Chinese cultural values and to warn against the pernicious influence of western cultural values. But are the traditional values even there anymore? In the third section of the article ”The Shadow of Chinese History," Huo Shui takes a look at the destruction of traditional Chinese values and wonders on what values will China base her future development.

Choosing a Career

Whether in China or anywhere else around the world the choice of which career path to take is one that elicits no small amount of hand-wringing and late-night anxieties. For the Christian, there are additional concerns of avoiding corruption and trying to be in God’s will. How then should a Christian approach this question?

Recently, a blogger at The Good and Faithful Steward blog site shared some insights into the struggle.

China: Grandfather or Grandchild?

In the first section of the article "The Shadow of Chinese History," writer Huo Shui gives an overview of Chinese dynastic history. We highlighted that section in a post titled “A Long and Glorious History.” In the second section of the article Huo Shui uses the concepts of grandfather and grandchild to help us understand China’s desire for dominance.