Issue No 1: July 2003

The highlight of the whole visit, was a two-and-a-half hour conversation with Bishop K.H. Ting who received the team at his home in Nanjing. At 89, Bishop Ting is still the president of Nanjing Seminary and one of the vice-chairpersons of the National Political Consultative Conference. He is also unquestionably the spiritual mentor of the churches in the CCC. He explained that, at the center of his concern for theological reconstruction, is a re-assessment of the place of the doctrine of “justification by faith” in the thinking of the churches in China. The missionaries preached a message of salvation for the believers and perdition for all others. This is deeply rooted in the psyche of the Chinese Christian, especially in the rural areas where the majority of the churches are. It divides the people into two categories, the ‘saved’ and the ‘lost’. China needs unity, not division.

“Justification by faith” is not the whole Christian doctrine. There are other dimensions of the biblical teaching that need to be lifted up in the Chinese context, e.g. God’s love which is extended to all people. Bishop Ting linked this reflection to Christian anthropology. The human being is subject to God’s on-going creation. Theology should not condemn the human being as utterly bad. China has many leaders with exemplary moral behavior. Christianity should introduce the Chinese people to a God of love and provide room for reason and thinking, in dialogue with Chinese culture. Theological education should help pastors to acquire a more enlightened theology.

In this connection Bishop Ting spoke of the “cultural Christians”, Chinese intellectuals who are interested in Christianity and come together informally in groups for discussion and Bible study. Some of them join the church but many do not. Chinese theologians and pastors should be able to be in conversation with people in these circles. This relationship with the Chinese intellectuals Bishop Ting calls “unorganized evangelism”. He said: “intellectuals in China want to learn new things, like Christianity. In former times they were hostile towards Christianity, but now they have a great willingness to hear what Christians have to say. They are curious and some enjoy the music in our churches and they raise many serious questions to us. This is a fluid experience. Even when many of them are not interested in the church, this is a significant expression and result of evangelism”.

With regard to the concept of the post-denominational church4, Bishop Ting gave a very helpful historical perspective. At the time of the liberation (1949) and the Korean war the unity of the Chinese people became an imperative. That situation obliged the churches to look at the disunity of their denominations and institutions. One step they took was to form Nanjing Union Seminary. Gradually the Chinese Christians began to understand unity theologically. Today many churches no longer want to be denominational – but they are not yet fully united. “Post-denominational” union is the best description for the present stage4. The CCC could be called a uniting church - not yet a united church. There are several groups which are still not comfortable with the concept and have only a partial relationship with the CCC, e.g. the Little Flock, the True Jesus Church and the Seventh-Day Adventists. All three are on good terms with TSPM which has no ecclesiological claims. Bible distribution is one channel through which the CCC relates to these groups.

The team was impressed by the fact that, since the evangelistic task is carried out in this "post-denominational" setting, it is pursued ecumenically. Evangelism in the CCC is therefore not conceived in terms of proselytism. To evangelize in this context does not mean to make more Presbyterians, or Methodists, or Anglicans, or Orthodox. It aims at spreading the Good News in a rapidly changing socialist society, a society that needs the freshness of the Gospel, regardless of limited confessional boundaries.

The Chinese churches and people feel the pressure from churches abroad to (re) establish their denominations and to do mission and evangelism with a particular denominational agenda. One of the rich resources of the Chinese church to meet successfully this challenge is the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, which has already been referred to in this report. The three pillars of this Movement (self-government, self-support and self-propagation) “have clearly been a great benefit to the Church, in expressing the truth of the Gospel, in asserting our national independence, and in ensuring the stability of the social order. It has clearly embodied the teachings of the Bible with regard to glorifying God and benefiting humankind (c.f. I Cor. 9:20-21; Mat. 6:16)”5.

Responding to new challenges: Evangelism in a rapidly changing society

The team noted that the churches in China are facing two major challenges which call for creative and innovative answers. The first is the growth in numbers, the second is the search for unity. To this could be added a third challenge of becoming a Chinese church in a society that is socialist, has an extraordinary cultural heritage and is in a process of rapid modernization and economic growth. Any consideration coming from outside, any effort to accompany the churches in China should take into account these realities and acknowledge the ways in which the church is seeking to respond.

The fact that the Christian faith is experiencing a tremendous revival in China, primarily as a result of the more open policy of the State towards religion in general, has had a great impact on the mission and evangelism endeavor of the church. The Catechism of the CCC6 defines the “commission of the church on earth” as:

The following extract from the March 1999 edition of Tian Feng, the magazine of the Chinese church: “…refers to a symposium on self-propagation which was held in Shanghai in November 1998 with several participants from all areas of China and all levels within the church, which came to give their opinions on how the Chinese church needs to approach the task of evangelism today.

Symposium participants all agreed that the basic purpose of any church is to spread the Gospel and bring people to a knowledge of God. Tong Yiqiang from Ningxia Province says that self-propagation is precisely the aspect of "Three Self" which sets the church apart from other organizations within society. Every work unit and organization in society seeks to govern itself well and support itself financially, but it is only the church which also seeks to spread a message of Good News. Similarly, Gao Siquan from Sichuan Province believes that if self-propagation work is done well, the other two areas of self-administration and self-support will fall into place. If believers receive good, solid teaching about faith then they will be more enthusiastic in their support for a church which gives them what they need. Therefore, self-propagation is the key to the rest of the church's life and work.

In a similar vein, Rev. Wang Weifan from Jiangsu Province argues that it is essential for Chinese believers to have their own experiences of the truths of the Gospel within their own lives, and then to spread the Good News based on their own experiences. Rev. Wang believes that a testimony from a Chinese believer about how the Gospel message has made an actual difference to his or her life can reach far more people in China than a message extracted from some Western theological text.

Finally, Lin Zhihua from Fujian Province reminds evangelists that they must seek to build some kind of link for their listeners between today s modern world and the world of the Bible. In order to do this, evangelists must find out as much as they can about what is going on in the world around them and in the lives of those who come to hear them preach. They must then seek a way to apply Biblical and eternal truths to the situations in which their listeners currently find themselves. Lin quotes the 19th Century preacher Charles Spurgeon who, when asked how he prepared a sermon, replied, In one hand, I take up my Bible; and in the other hand I take the newspaper. In a similar manner, preaching sermons which were suitable several decades ago will not succeed in reaching out to a Chinese population facing the concerns of the 1990s. Lin says that people come to listen to evangelists because they want to hear something of direct relevance to themselves and their lives today. If evangelists can only throw a lot of Bible quotes at people but have no way of showing how Scripture can apply to real-life situations in the world then people will turn away and reject the Gospel message as outdated and irrelevant8.”

One of the very important vehicles which the Chinese churches have used to propagate the Gospel is through printing millions of bibles. Even though a large number of the population is still illiterate, many pastors and lay people shared with the team that evangelism is based in the biblical stories of Jesus.

In this regard, in the visit to the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, the team was told that in its teaching the Seminary seeks to:

A clear expression of the role of the Bible, as a valuable tool for mission and evangelism, appears as an answer to the question “Why should we read the Bible?” in the catechism of the CCC. It says, “Reading the Bible enables us:

The universal priesthood of all believers

The “generation gap” in the leadership and clergy caused by the cultural revolution (1965 – 1979) and the preceding years, which was a major concern in the ‘80s and ‘90s, is beginning to be reabsorbed. Gradually younger people – many of whom are women – are taking over, in the local churches, the seminaries and the governing bodies of the CCC and TSPM. Opportunities for this new generation to have ecumenical experience and exposure will be crucial for the future.

There has been a proportional increase in pastoral vocations among young people in relation to the growth of the church, but even so, there are still not enough pastors and here is precisely where the lay movement becomes so vital for the mission and evangelism of the churches.

In one of the conversations a pastor shared with the team that the Protestant Reformation principle of the "Universal Priesthood of all Believers" is very relevant, because “every Chinese Christian is a pastor and therefore also an evangelist, “following Jesus’ person-to person style”, he said. Bishop Ting told the team “a lot of evangelism is happening because people are bringing their friends to the churches, in an unorganized way”.

Many Christians see their task of sharing the Good News by the example of their deeds - by their silent witness in society. A pastor with whom the team met, a member of the CCC leadership, defined evangelism as “Christian presence among the people”, and illustrated this referring to the passage in the Bible that speaks of the resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus. He said that when this happened, Lazarus stood there, in the middle of the crowd, without saying one word, but his silence was bearing witness to the Lord's liberating, saving and resurrecting power (John 11: 42-44).

The development of China’s “market economy” can also be used to evangelize creatively like the case of Chen Zhongli, whose story is told in another article of the ANS. The following is an extract:

“…..Slowly, Chen and her husband expanded their business. Their Northern Jiangsu specialties such as "soup dumplings" (tang bao) were popular, and after setting up a larger restaurant and taking over a second one, they were owners of two big eateries in prime settings of Nanjing. In January of 2003, just before Chinese New Year, they finally opened a third branch of their Golden Eagle restaurant - a huge building, elaborately decorated and home to 100 waitresses, cooks and other staff.

The restaurant's employees call Chen "Auntie", not "General Manager." Yet watching the modest manager interact with her staff, itbecomes clear that her concerned and warm management style only enhances their respect for the boss. Chen also makes a point of giving a Bible to new employees, instructing them to familiarize themselves with Christian thinking.

"When we were discussing the option of opening up a third restaurant, I only had one condition," Chen recalls. "I wanted this to be a Christian place, and I told my husband and children that I would not have any of the traditional Gods of Wealth - in fact, idols - placed in this building."

Chen clearly sees this enterprise as a place to reach out to people who under normal circumstances would never step into a church building. "Cadres will probably not go to church services, but they do frequent posh restaurants," Chen observes. With this aim in mind, she sees her work as a calling: "If you really believe, you will appreciate the meaning of every day at work."

Chen's social involvement does not stop at work, though. Through the Amity Foundation, she also supports a child that was on the point of dropping out of school for lack of money. And in the midst of numerous work related duties, she still finds time to visit this little girl. "I plan to go and see her again in spring," she smiles10”.

But of course, as a result of further development of the church and its increasing influence in society, lay people also preach explicitly, by words, the Good News and for this they need preparation. So the Chinese churches devote a great amount of resources and energy to train the lay people in order to fulfil their vocation. “Therefore, training has been provided to many volunteers to improve the preaching workforce”11. In fact, many churches have among their staff not only pastors, but also "evangelists", brothers and sisters, who receive a special preparation to perform their duties in this area of the church.

In spite of the tremendous growth of Christianity in China, it is still a very small minority in the country, so there is a lot to do! And this is not only in quantitative terms but also from the qualitative point of view. In the 1910s and the 1920s there was also a strong revival and growth in China as part of a modernization process in that time, but it died out. The same could happen again. The mission of the church in every society, and especially in a society in transformation – like in the current Chinese situation – is empowered by God to provide the instruments for “practical and critical discernment” from the perspective of the Gospel.

Referring to mission and evangelism, one of the church leaders in one of the meetings said the following, which is quoted here in summary:

Above all this: the main reason for the growth of the church is that God is at work among his people in China! Let us continue to pray for the continuing sharing of the good news of the gospel in this part of the world!