As someone who has been involved with China for over 60 years, I’ve witnessed the shifts in Sino-Catholic relations, from the closed society of the Mao era to the cautious engagements of today. This Quarterly issue is especially significant, addressing both longstanding and emerging challenges faced by Catholics in China amidst ongoing socio-political pressures.
We hope you will see that Chinese Catholics live with a strong awareness of Our Lord Jesus’s presence with them amidst many challenges, that they live in hope in exceedingly challenging times, and they remain faithful to him in ways that can inspire us all.
Above all, we hope you will see that Chinese Catholics live with a strong awareness of Our Lord Jesus’ presence with them amidst many challenges, that they live in hope in exceedingly challenging times, and they remain faithful to him in ways that can inspire us all.
What the latest plan for Protestant leadership in the TSPM and CCC tells us is that Xi Jinping continues to attract or compel Christians to align themselves with traditional Chinese culture and, as important, with the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda.
The cultural and political aspects of the Sinicization campaign go hand in hand. At its core, the campaign is all about political control. Yet, given China’s culture of political dominance, it is also very much about culture—a culture of obedience in which religion serves the interests of the state…
Churches and individual Chinese Christians have felt the impact of this shift to greater emphasis and concern about security. Unregistered churches and groups are seen as threats affecting societal and cultural security. Any foreign connections are seen through a security lens as a potential threat to China’s stability and healthy development.
Xi Jinping has put forth a grand vision and blueprint for China’s future. The Chinese church is eager to evangelize but over the past ten years has experienced significant restrictions. How then should the church and mission movement in China respond?
When our friendship storyline is out of step with the larger cultural narrative, whether in China or in the West, how do we as the body of Christ continue to build bridges of understanding?
That this non-Western contextualizing will leave many of our Western theologies and “brands” diminished or transformed could encourage us to repent for the scandal of our divisions…and to redouble our efforts to fulfill one of the final earthly prayers of Jesus that “we all be one.”
The Sixth Plenum just finished a four-day meeting. What might the resolution that came out of the meeting mean for the church in China?
This new publication, by Wayne Ten Harmsel, will soon be available. An excerpt from chapter three is included.
Not exactly.