Tag: Chinese Culture

Blog Entries

The Double Ninth Festival

Honoring the Elderly and Embracing Spiritual Wisdom

Celebrated annually on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the Double Ninth Festival (重陽節/重阳节) falls on October 11 in 2024. From a Christian perspective on traditional Chinese festivals, it provides an opportunity to reflect on biblical values like wisdom, longevity, and honoring elders, blending cultural heritage with faith.

Blog Entries

Crossing Cultures: Conveying the Gospel

Worldviews are extraordinarily resistant to change, and archetypical cultural and gospel metaphors shape how missionaries convey the gospel across cultural boundaries. That is why it is so important for Chinese missiologists to “understand and critically integrate” imported cultural and metaphor worldview presuppositions lest what they “staunchly affirmed as biblical may have had more to do with nurturing cultural mores…than with God’s eternal truth,” as Brent Fulton writes.

Chinese Church Voices

From Auspicious Dragon to Christian Devil

The Metamorphosis of Myth into Faith

In his reflection on cultural heritage, Rev. Chow acknowledges that while no one has physically seen a dragon, it stands as a potent spiritual symbol for the Chinese, embodying a complex and profound mix of emotions—a reverence filled with honor and dignity. Rather than dismissing the dragon for its mythical nature, Rev. Chow proposes that we "value it doubly, as an integral part of our treasured traditions."

Blog Entries

Taking Another Look at the Chinese Dragon

Chinese Christians are not only receivers of traditional culture but also reformers of contemporary culture and creators of emerging culture. When reflecting on the complex relationship between the gospel and culture, we need a grand and holistic Christian worldview, capable of carrying the gospel’s tolerance of, challenge for, and renewal of culture.

Chinese Church Voices

Chinese Christians and the Chinese Zodiac

Idolatry or a Cultural Artifact?

For Chinese Christians, embracing both church feasts and traditional Chinese festivals is a delicate balance. While adhering to biblical principles and avoiding idolatry, we are also called to live in harmony with all, showcasing God's goodness to unbelievers (Romans 12:18).

Blog Entries

Prayer First

Sometimes God keeps graciously nudging our hearts as we pray, gifting us discomfort or a lack of peace until we make things right. Thank God for this nudging so our hearts can be set free, and relationships set right.

Blog Entries

Indignation or Creativity?

One old-timer (a Bible-smuggler…) told me... “There is a lot possible when we function within the law. We can still head in all kinds of directions. There are always open doors in every country no matter how ‘closed’ they are. We just have to find them.”

Blog Entries

The Benefits of Giving Face

Wu Chunhua described it in this way: “If you give a person face, that person will slowly relax and won’t be as confrontational and resistant in the relationship. The conflict will ease up. It won’t continue to get bigger.”

Blog Entries

Chinese Culture and Christianity: Diving into the Archives

ChinaSource Summer School Session 1

Chinese culture is a rich and complex topic, and we’ve created a reading (and listening!) list from our archives for you to immerse yourself in this subject.

Blog Entries

When a Gift Is Not Enough

When it comes to receiving an apology, we often want to hear a verbal apology. Yet, how often do we personally avoid giving a verbal apology when we have messed up?