Partners in Faith

I remember when China opened in 1979 and Americans were allowed to visit China. This open door was like a dream come true, especially for missionaries who were forcibly deported from China in the early 1950s. When the Bamboo Curtain was lifted after 30 years, it was an emotional and spiritual turning point.

I remember the Urbana missions conference in 1980, where the late Rev. David Adeney’s passionate call for Christians to go to China as students, teachers, and business people launched a movement in Western missions. Although the Chinese government would not allow any evangelism or missionary activities, China’s need for modernization required outside help. Christians in the West with pure and passionate hearts for those in need have grown this movement for over 40 years!

Those of us involved in China ministry since the early 1980s have been eye-witnesses of China’s rapid changes on the surface. The economy boomed when China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Modern buildings, bullet trains, and advanced technology have demonstrated the efficiency of China’s system. Indeed, China has made a great deal of progress and people’s living standards have risen. Poverty and illiteracy have decreased dramatically.

When Xi Jinping visited the San Francisco Bay Area in 2023, the president of China proudly invited 50,000 American young people to come to China to witness the efficacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the power of an authoritarian government. Xi Jinping’s invitation to “come and see” can be very attractive because of free tuition and friendly arrangements in China. But behind the Chinese hospitality (supported by government funding) lies a broader government strategy and set of objectives. Therefore, although it seems China’s door remains open, Christians are facing a very different context compared with the openness in the early 1980s, if we decide to take advantage of this invitation.

I remember when I started in China ministry in the early 1980s, and one question was always on my mind: “What is our role as Christians from the West in China?” As China opens again after COVID-19, I believe we are asking the same question again.

What is our role as Christians from the West in China? Our answer cannot be the same as in the 1980s because China is no longer poor. She has become the world’s factory and exports goods all over the world. Chinese people no longer have materialistic needs, as the current leaders believe China is poised to become a global leader. Furthermore, the Chinese church’s fast growth and commitment to evangelism and reaching the unreached are inspiring and encouraging!

Therefore, my answer is simple: “Our role is to be a partner and supporter of the church in China.”

This simple conclusion won’t have a simplistic solution. Both registered churches and unregistered churches are facing restriction, pressure, and even persecution, and our partnership and support responses will have to meet the variety of realities within the church in China.

How can those of us living in the free world be wise and helpful Partners of the church in China? We need to learn a great deal. Here are some of my suggestions for how to begin:

• Distinguish among China, the CCP, and the church in China
• Study China’s modern history
• Study the Chinese worldview
• Study the indigenous theology and the legacy of the church in China for the past seven decades
• Befriend Chinese students and scholars from China
• Go to China to teach, if you have a clear calling
• Be a host family for the children of Christian families sending their children to study abroad in Christian schools
• Study for at least one year in a good language school in China
• If you go to China, or meet Chinese people, be a keen culture observer and ask critical questions:
  • What is life like in China today under CCP leadership?
  • What do people believe?
  • What is their hope?
  • How do they define human beings?
• Be prepared to answer difficult questions about the US and Western cultures such as:
  • Why guns?
  • Why homelessness?
  • Why is there so much crime?
  • Why drugs?
  • What are the conversations around gender identity in the West?
  • Is the US a Christian country?
  • Why the decline of Christianity?

I hope those of us who are curious about China will become partners of the church in China. Are we willing to commit the time and energy to do our homework? May the Lord continue to use Christians in the West to accomplish great things for his kingdom in China.

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