Articles by Brent Fulton
Brent Fulton is the founder of ChinaSource.
Dr. Fulton served as the first president of ChinaSource until 2019. Prior to his service with ChinaSource, he served from 1995 to 2000 as the managing director of the Institute for Chinese Studies at Wheaton College. From 1987 to 1995 he served as founding US director of China Ministries International, and from 1985 to 1986 as the English publications editor for the Chinese Church Research Center in Hong Kong.
Dr. Fulton holds MA and PhD degrees in political science from the University of Southern California and a BA in radio-TV-film from Messiah College.
An avid China watcher, Dr. Fulton has written and taught extensively on the church in China and on Chinese social and political phenomena. He is the author of China's Urban Christians: A Light That Cannot Be Hidden and co-authored China's Next Generation: New China, New Church, New World with Luis Bush.
Dr. Fulton and his wife, Jasmine, previously lived in Hong Kong from 2006 to 2017. They currently reside in northern California.
He is currently facilitating a network of member care professionals serving missionaries sent out from China. He also consults with other organizations on the impact of China's religious policy.
ChinaSource Perspective
The Great Repositioning
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.
Supporting Article
China’s Place in the World
Fulton discusses Xi Jinping’s “China Dream” that envisions a new role for China on the world scene. He looks at three arenas where Xi seeks to establish China’s superiority.
Lead Article
Member Care for Mainland Chinese Missionaries
Breaking New Ground in a Developing Field
Generational, cultural, and personal issues create challenges and advantages for Chinese cross-cultural missionaries and point to the need for member care. How can this need be met?
ChinaSource Perspective
Taking the Long View
Here we have a multi-faceted picture of churches that may identify with one another confessionally, but which differ on questions of where and how to worship, the role of women in the church, and how to relate to government authorities. Far from representing a rigid, cookie-cutter approach to church life, the Reformed tradition as it is currently lived out in China is dynamic and adaptable, reflecting the resourcefulness that has enabled the church to thrive amidst all kinds of adversity.
ChinaSource Perspective
Viewing the Registered Church through Different Lenses
With the media’s incessant focus on official persecution of the unregistered church in China, Fulton reminds us that it is often easy to forget the vibrant dimensions of Christian life playing out in China’s registered churches.
Supporting Article
The “Wenzhou Model” and Missions from China
Fulton analyzes the “Wenzhou Model” of missions for how it might be used in twenty-first century missions. He points out some of its strengths, liabilities, and aspects that can be replicated in today’s world and others that cannot.
ChinaSource Perspective
More Blessed to Receive
Expatriate teachers went to China to give. But often they ended up taking more of China with them than they had bargained for. The editor of ChinaSource Quarterly gives several suggestions for how to be a good reciever.
ChinaSource Perspective
Questions Beneath the Surface
In this issue of ChinaSource Quarterly, husband and wife team, Li Ma and Jin Li, bring together valuable perspectives, primarily from mainland Chinese Christian thinkers, on the emergence of denominations within the contemporary Chinese church.
ChinaSource Perspective
Contextualization Mediates History and Meaning
Further Reflections
As Wendel Sun writes in this issue of ChinaSource Quarterly, most Christians serving cross-culturally have a strong desire to faithfully and meaningfully communicate the gospel. To accurately convey the truth of the gospel in terms that are understandable in the target culture, one needs a deep understanding both of Scripture and of the culture in […]