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Reading Tea Leaves from the 2021 National Religious Work Conference
[…] individuals, and activities obey Party and state regulations as well as try to direct them to be patriotic (“loving the country, loving their religion”). It encompasses a number of activities that are formal, such as registration of a new congregation, and informal, such as calling pastors on the phone to check on them. The […]
Reverse Culture Shock
[…] plunged down on the reverse culture shock curve (see also this link). This is the stage where lots of things are irritating, like . . . The number of mosquitoes and sand flies that bit us on holidays. December and January are hot, not cold as we have become accustomed to. Complaining Australians (ironically […]
Building God’s Kingdom Together
God is powerfully at work in China, even amid trying times. While the number of foreign Christians decrease, regulations increase, and some ministry doors have closed, the Great Commission calling and promise remains sure. Despite the challenges, God is opening up still more ministry gateways. This moment requires wisdom, perseverance, and unity. In this […]
Supporting Article
Hope for HIV/AIDS in China
The effect of HIV/AIDS is increasing and is expected to affect 5% of the Chinese population in the next 20 years. What is being done to address the medical issues and the social stigma of this devastating disease? What have Christians dealing with HIV/AIDS in Africa learned that can be applied to the situation in China?
Supporting Article
How China’s Religious Affairs Bureaucracy Works
The author helps us to understand the workings of the religious affairs bureaucracy first by following the story of an aspiring pastor, then by viewing them historically. The Chinese Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement Association, China Christian Council, Religious Affairs Bureau and United Front Work Department are all discussed along with how they interact, lines of authority and the role of guanxi.
Americans Drive on the Left and Other Truths I’ve Learned
Years ago, I was having a conversation with my Malaysian friend, and we started talking about how Malaysia has a lot of British influence. “We drive on the right like they do,” my friend explained.
“Wait, what?” I thought I had heard her wrong, or that she had misspoken. “You mean you drive on the left like they do.”
Skills No Longer Needed
Re-entering a country that is “home” can be confusing. There is an unlearning—a releasing of some of the strategies that were only needed in a place with different rules and ways of living. We do not return as people who have stayed as we were before we left. There are things to shed; there are things to keep.
Chinese Christians in the New Era—Hope and Overcoming
[…] the Japanese invasion in the 1930s to protect their congregations and lost their lives as a result. Swells is right, of course, that a focus on the numbers of converts was always misplaced; the focus should always be on the faithfulness and integrity of those who do convert, not on whether they are numerous […]
The 2023 Regulations for Religious Activity Site Registration
What the Party Doesn’t Want You to Know
[…] in China have told me that as many as one-third of churches have been closed down in some areas, that approval for one-third of preachers have been canceled, and that meeting sites in rural areas are entirely banned. Such measures have left Christians at the grassroots angry and depressed. With the return of the […]