Blog Entries from 2012
The Resource Library is where you will find the latest resources from across our publications.
Chinese Education: From Hallowed to Hollow
For the fourth straight year in row, the number of college hopefuls taking the national university entrance exam, or gaokao, has dropped. Analysts trace the decline to a corresponding drop in the number of children born at the beginning of the last decade due to China's one-child policy. However, the decrease also suggests two realities facing young people in China today.
The Urban Paradox: Together, Alone
As of this year, China officially has more people living in cities than in the countryside. Returning recently to one of China's sprawling megacities, I was again brought face to face with the human reality underlying the most massive migration in the history of the world.
The Church in China: A Place at the Table
I sat across from a Chinese Christian in the lobby of a Beijing hotel as he rearranged the cups and plates on the coffee table between us. Having cleared a space at the center of the table, he pointed to a cup sitting at the edge, near one corner.
Does Christianity Have a Future in China?
China's comeback as a world power is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary stories of our time.
Equally extraordinary is the comeback of China's church. Both numerically and in terms of its growing influence in society, the church has experienced phenomenal growth during the past three decades.
China: Nothing Is as It Seems
In order to understand China today, it's helpful to understand this simple rule: nothing is as it seems. In fact, I would say this rule applies when observing and analyzing nearly all segments of life in China: politics, economy, social relationships and even religion. To put it another way, whatever China seems to be at any given moment, it is in fact, the opposite. This can be difficult for Westerners because we tend to be dichotomist in our thinking, wanting something to be either this or that. We don't do well with this and that.
The Facts about the Church in China
Facts about the church in China may be more readily available than they were 10 or 15 years ago. But more information does not necessarily produce greater clarity. Often the opposite results.
China and America: Kids Connecting for Christ
My passion and the core values of FollowOne involve connecting underutilized resources with underserved needs for the glory of God. This is happening now in a way that is shocking but wonderful. It all began when God started moving in the life of a young girl in Georgia. When I met Emma in 2010 her mother mentioned, "Emma has a special place in her heart for China."
Keeping a Proper Perspective
From the opening chapter of his work on the proper method of mission practice (Nevius was at least partly inspired by Timothy Richard's work in Shandong), the following quote is a reminder for those of us who have found what we believe to be a better method for working in China to keep a proper perspective: