Curated briefings, guides, reviews, and tools for learning, ministry, and prayer.
Last week Brent wrote about a Christian serving among China’s Muslims who joined in the Muslim celebration of Ramadan. Given the fact that we are now at the halfway point of the month of fasting, I thought it would be a good time to highlight some recent articles and resources about Islam in China.
The film Beijing Taxi, directed by Miao Wang, a Beijing native who immigrated to the US in 1990, begins two years before the Olympics and follows the lives of three taxi drivers. Each of them shares their own perspective on Beijing’s transformation, China’s rise, and most importantly, what it all means to them. Is China hosting the Olympics really all the glitz and glory that it was dreamed to be? What price economic growth and development?
This week ChinaSource is launching a China ministries cohort at Missio Nexus. It will be a place where those serving in China-related ministries can gather to discuss issues relevant to our work. Come join us!
In response to the uncertainties resulting from China's new Overseas NGO Law, we've created the ChinaSource Law and Policy Monitor. Here we introduce this new service and explain how organizations can sample the Monitor while helping ChinaSource in its efforts to understand how the law is impacting those who serve.
A ChinaSource 3 Questions interview with Werner Mischke, author of The Global Gospel: Achieving Missional Impact in Our Multicultural World and coordinator for “Honor, Shame and the Gospel: Reframing Our Message for 21st Century Ministry,” to be held June 19-21 in Wheaton, Illinois.
I have been to Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region twice. The first time was in 1992; a teammate and I took the train. Back then it was a journey that took two days and three nights; today the fastest train makes the journey in 30 hours. On my second visit to Urumqi (in 2004) I also travelled by train, but from the southern Xinjiang city of Kashgar. That was a 24-hour run along the edge of the Taklimakan Desert.
The film, Stonehead, is set in a small village in China where children, the "left-behind children," are raised by their grandparents because their parents have all moved to urban cities for better jobs. The story centers around three main characters who, even though it’s never clearly stated, each represent a different way left-behind children cope with their family situations. But the film also speaks more widely about the coping mechanisms used by people thoughout Chinese society today.
Read Frog with care, pray for those seeking Truth in a troubled, chaotic culture, and celebrate Mo Yan’s genius.
In the current policy environment, it’s no longer “business as usual” for faith-based organizations serving in China. Legal changes call into question the viability of some ministries. Others are finding ways within the new laws to continue serving. ChinaSource is watching the situation closely as we provide counsel to organizations dealing with these changes.
A painless way to learn about the early history of Christianity in China—listen to The China History Podcast!
Daxing Bootcamp, located in the suburbs of Beijing, is probably a place you've never heard of. But growing numbers of parents in China who are at wits’ end have heard of it or of the 400 rehabilitation camps like it. The government has set up the centers to treat teenagers with internet addiction disorder. Web Junkie takes us inside Daxing Bootcamp and introduces us to three of the young men who are treated there.
In the 2017 spring edition of the ChinaSource Quarterly, published last month, we highlighted survey results of Christian workers in China (local and foreign). The research project was carried out by the China Gospel Research Alliance, made up of representatives from OMF, Frontier Ventures, Open Doors, and ChinaSource. The CGRA partnered with Global Mapping International (GMI) to produce this handy infographic portraying the key findings in the survey.