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.
Why Stewardship Matters for China
Chinas economic growth is unprecedented in recent history, and the effects have been jarring. Having been involved with China long enough to remember when ordinary citizens needed ration cards to purchase basic necessities, I can also recall my shock and surprise when I first saw advertisements for a new weight loss program plastered on the side of a bus in a prosperous southern Chinese city.
Remembering Samuel Lamb
Rev. Samuel Lamb (Lin Xiangao) passed away in Guangzhou on August 3, 2013. He was 88 years old.
Pursuing the Right “Dream”
The "China Dream" which the country's newly installed leaders are promoting is largely a vision of economic growth and prosperity, couched in terms of national pride and increasing strength vis-a-vis the international community. This vision of a strong and prosperous country is not new; late-Qing reformers and May 4th activists alike sounded a similar call, and progress a century later is still measured against the backdrop of this longstanding national struggle.
From Cape Town to Seoul
China's Christians embrace commitment to world evangelization.
Christian leaders from China made history at the 2010 Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, not by their participation, but by their absence. Although some 200 leaders had made preparations and raised the necessary funds to attend, the vast majority were stopped at the airport and prevented from leaving China.
Nearly three years later, about 100 of these leaders were able to join their counterparts from around the world in Seoul, Korea, for the Asian Church Leaders Forum.
The Unseen Side of China’s Internet Explosion
What China was lacking in technology 30 years ago it has more than made up for as it has leapfrogged traditional communications media to become one of the most connected countries in the world. A generation ago the idea of a personal telephone in one's home was unheard of, unless one's family was particularly privileged. Today, although wired telephones in every home still may not be the norm, personal mobile phones are considered a necessity. Even for migrant workers with no permanent home and very few personal possessions, the mobile phone is a lifeline to family back home and to job opportunities in the city.
Educational Inequality and the Making of a New Urban Underclass
Visitors to China often remark at the speed with which cities, or large portions of cities, seem to suddenly appear. Pudong and Shenzhen have risen literally out of nothing to become urban showpieces and major financial centers. The "Bird's Nest" stadium that became the much heralded centerpiece of the 2008 Beijing Games was erected at unprecedented speed, along with dozens of other Olympic venues, several new subway lines, and major beautification projects across the city.
None of this would be possible were it not for hundreds of millions of migrant workers streaming into China's major urban centers. They are the silent, or at least unacknowledged, partners in China's rush to lead the way in global urbanization.
Toward a Culture of Partnering
Opportunities for collaboration between Christians inside and outside China have evolved as China's continued opening has allowed for more natural cross-cultural relationships. Early attempts at partnering were often one-way, with those outside China providing funds, training, and other resources to an indigenous church with great needs but seemingly little to contribute in return. With the emergence of a new generation of trained leaders who are increasingly connected with the global church, either virtually or directly through going abroad or working with foreigners in country, collaboration has moved to a new level.
Beyond “Two Camps”: The Complex Relationship between Official and Unregistered Church in China
Attempts by China watchers to unravel the complexity of China's Christian community often result in a bifurcated view depicting a pitched battle between the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and the house church. Liberal theology, political control, and collusion in persecuting believers characterize the TSPM, while the "real Christians" are to be found only in the house church, a bastion of evangelical faith set amidst an atheistic state that is out to destroy it.