Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Jesus Creed

Home
Evangelical
Listening to Chinese Christians (RJS)

Listening to Chinese Christians (RJS)

Last updated on: July 27, 2012 at 10:37 am by RJS

Listening to Chinese Christians (RJS) 2012-07-27T10:37:10-05:00 RJS

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Erhai Lake, Yunnan. Image from Wikipedia.

Tim Stafford had an article Listening to Chinese Christians in the March/April issue of Books and Culture on a book by Liao Yiwu, God Is Red.

Liao Yiwu is a poet, street musician, and chronicler of modern China who has persisted in antagonizing the Chinese government. After the Tiananmen Square massacre he wrote a protest poem that helped get him imprisoned for four years. Later he traveled about China describing lives of people who don’t fit the Chinese ideal— “hustlers to drifters, outlaws, and street performers, the officially renegade and the physically handicapped, those who deal with human waste and with the wasting of humans, artists and shamans, crooks, even cannibals.” Harassed by the government and refused permission to travel abroad, he escaped from China through Vietnam in 2011.

But not before publishing God Is Red*, a book based on interviews with diverse Chinese Christians. Liao makes clear that he is not a Christian himself, despite the attempts of some of these believers to convert him. He is fascinated by the vitality of the churches, however, and by the tenacity and courage of individuals he came to know.*

I have begun reading Liao’s book – and it is fascinating. Stafford continues in his review of God is Red:

All the same, he undermines (perhaps inadvertently) what has become the Standard Narrative: that foreign missionaries never adapted to Chinese life or had much success in building the church; that only when persecution came did the church explode in amazing numbers. Liao’s Christians tell a different story: of missionaries who lived sacrificially and won tremendous loyalty and love from Chinese people; of a church that almost ceased to exist under communist terror, with its members abandoning their faith (or at least any visible observance of it) or disappearing during waves of brutal repression; of a church that exploded in numbers only after the worst persecution ended, in 1979, when pastors were let out of prison and rehabilitated and churches were allowed to function again.

I found this paragraph particularly interesting. It was a large part of the reason I picked up and am now reading the book. It has become common, even in relatively conservative Christian circles, to view the Christian missionary movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as something of a colonialist, imperialist failure. Certainly the emphasis on missions has decreased dramatically, or so it seems. I wonder though, how much of this negative image is true.

What is your view of the foreign missionary movement?

What kind of mission work should the church engage in?

My grandfather was a missionary in China with the Christian and Missionary Alliance from 1921-1926. He was based somewhere around Wuchow (now written Wuzhou) in South China, between Hong Kong and Vietnam, with some involvement in what now seems to be Vietnam (it is not clear how to decipher all of the place names). It was a time of civil war and significant unrest in the region. We have copies of the Alliance Weekly with reports of the mission in South China including reports from my grandfather. This one from 11/25/22 gives some idea:

After our annual conference in September political conditions prevented our return to Lungchow via the West River. War was waging between Nanning and Lungchow, consequently all traffic was stopped above Nanning. Desirous of returning to our station before the victorious Kwong Tung army, Mr. Sension and I were granted permission by the Committee to proceed via French Indo-China. Mrs. Worsnip was to travel by launch to Nanning and await further instructions. Our experiences during this trip, how we were captured by Annamese and Chinese revolutionists and taken for French spies: how the Bolsheviki soldiers had determined to kill us; and how the officers protected and liberated us, the readers of ALLIANCE will have seen through Mr. Sension’s detailed article on this subject.

Lungchow is now spelled Longzhou. After a number of incidents – one of which involved a rapid retreat before an advancing army – my grandfather married my grandmother in Wuchow, South China (also a missionary with CMA, I have a copy of the marriage announcement found in an old Chinese bible). Within a year or so after their marriage they left China because of the civil war and unrest. He worked their way home on a ship by joining the Merchant Marine (so family legend tells me).

Diqing, Yunnan. Image from Wikipedia.

The region Liao visited, where he conducted the interviews in the book was a bit further west, in Yunnan Province, up in the mountains. The picture Liao paints in the book is of missionaries, Catholic and Protestant, who established schools and hospitals, cared for orphans, preached the gospel, and won the hearts of many people – many of whom stood firm in the faith through almost three decades of persecution from the early 50’s until 1980 or so. It was a far cry from the official version Liao had been taught “when Western missionaries were portrayed as “evil agents of the imperialists” who enslaved the Chinese mind, killed Chinese babies, and ruined indigenous cultures.” (p. xviii)

The church in China is not thriving because of western imperialism – and it did not vanish during the communist persecution. Some of the letters home printed in the Alliance Weekly and other newsletters from the early 20th century certainly contain comments that would raise eyebrows today. But they also exhibit a real concern for the people, as people, not merely as souls to be won. The reports are full of references to the local churches and the local pastors leading these churches. The missionary work appeared to concentrate on schools and education at various levels. Seeds were planted by Christians following the great commission to make disciples and to love God and love others.

There is much we can learn by listening to Chinese Christians. I will post on some of the interviews, places described by Liao Yiwu in God Is Red in upcoming weeks.

Because of the family history I always payed special attention to missions and missionary efforts when it came up in church and in other contexts. Visits by missionaries on furlough, presentations concerning the building of hospitals in Africa, schools in India, and Churches in Asia were a staple of Sunday school, Evening services, and special meetings. But they’ve all but disappeared from the evangelical church. Perhaps this is merely the changing tide of time – a new context and a new emphasis. The world is smaller, and missionary work less important. But I wonder if this is the major impetus. It is a topic worth some discussion.

Should we have more emphasis on missionary work today?

Where and how? or Why not? What has changed?

If you wish to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net

If interested you can subscribe to a full text feed of my posts at Musings on Science and Theology.

Christianity

Previous Post

July 27, 2012

Is Roman Catholic Theology Biblical Theology?

Next Post

July 27, 2012 Bruce at 62

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many chapters does the book of Judges have?

Select your answer to see how you score.

21 23 19 25