Chapter 6

For those of you who are trying to understand China and the Chinese people, I’m sure you’ve often wondered what the Chinese people think about their own government, their lives, and their future. As you read in this chapter, there is really two parts of the equation when it comes to understanding what the common Chinese thinks about their lives. Before we can understand their current situation, we must look at the massive changes that have taken place in China over the last 30 years. In reading through that part of Chapter 6, I hope that it has given you a greater understanding of modern life from the Chinese perspective. And especially for those Chinese who were young adults during the Cultural Revolution era, some of whom that I’ve met spent time in prison…… Today’s situation doesn’t look so bad! In fact, it looks pretty good! They’re making money, going out to eat…. Living a pretty good life. So one part of the equation is having the perspective of where these people have come from over the last 30 years.

In the second half of this chapter, I tried to hit on several of the issues that Chinese people deal with in their modern-day lives: Taiwan, Corruption in the Government, the Rural/Urban Income divide, etc. It is really interesting to talk with Chinese about Taiwan, because that is almost a non-issue with the Chinese. Taiwan IS a part of China and WILL reunited with the mainland. I don’t know if I’ve ever met a Chinese friend, whether Christian/non-Christian, who thinks otherwise. It also strikes me as very interesting that I don’t ever meet Chinese who have a deep interest in seeing China become a democracy. And it isn’t because I’m not asking people, because I try to talk to people about it all the time. But they are just not really interested in seeing Democracy come to China. Many times, especially among Taxi Drivers that I talk to, the response is something like this: ‘Well, maybe 30 years from now, but today, China has to worry about other things.’ The other things that they mention are the continued reform of sectors of Chinese society and the stability of the country.

I can’t wait to hear from some of you! What has your experience been in talking with Chinese people about their lives and thoughts on modern-day China? Looking forward to the dialogue!

Chapter 5

The topics that I write about in this chapter have to be among my favorites because with all of the changes that have happened in China, it has meant that there have been openings for new opportunities for Westerners in China. In the space for this blog entry, I’d love to hear from many of you on your take on the Ethical Foundations for China Service and ways you’ve been able to use them in your own engagement in China or that of your organization.

It was such a wonderful process that we were able to go through to get to the point of finishing the Ethical Foundations. I had entertained thoughts of a ‘statement paper’ on guidelines to use while engaging in China, with the end result being many ministries that would ‘sign on’ to adhering to these principles. As I began to bring in other China ministry leaders into the process, we agreed that ‘guidelines’ to be used for organizations may be the better way. We met on and off for two years straight until we finished the Ethical Foundations in June 2006. Since that time, we have seen at least 30 organizations worldwide adopt the Ethical Foundations and they have become a wonderful standard and a help for many to use. I hope they have been helpful for you too!

Finally, I’d also love to hear other new opportunities you’ve found that I didn’t mention. I also am available to counsel with your organization or church if you’d like to find a good fit for your service in China. Just contact me here and we can talk more about how you may be able to serve China.

Looking forward to hearing from you all on the contents of this Chapter!

Chapter 4

“Christians in America need to get over their insatiable hunger for persecution stories, and we in the house churches must get over our persecution complex. Yes, there has been persecution in this city's past, but our greatest need is not eliminating persecution but building up mature fellowship and developing unity among Christians."

—Beijing House Church Pastor, 2006

What a wonderful and apt quote from this Beijing House Church pastor! I think it sets the stage for this whole chapter. First things first! I must state this disclaimer…. I do not believe that there is no persecution of Christians in China. I know and believe that there are Christians today who are suffering for their faith. As you just read in this chapter, my intention is to help the church in the West to refocus its attention off of the persecution of Christians in China and on to the much bigger story in China, which is the growth of the Chinese church and its increasing influence in China. It is becoming widely accepted that persecution is not the main story of Christianity in China today and it is my contention that many in the West have a hard time letting go. But it is when we let go that we see China with new eyes and we see how we can best engage with what God is doing. As another example of this, Christianity Today recently had a wonderful article in its May 2008 issue called ‘Great Leap Forward,’ about Chinese Christians. In the article, they told a story about Job, a new convert in Beijing who started a Bible Study in his home. The Bible Study quickly grew to 100 people and from this study, they started a ‘House Church.’ Upon starting the House church, he quickly engaged with local Government officials. Here is a small excerpt from the article:

Job was accustomed to working with government officials, security officers, and other influential people in his city of 7.8 million people. As a doctor, he regularly treated local Party officers. He saw no need for his church to meet clandestinely. Rather, Job met with officials monthly, keeping them informed of the church's activities, even inviting them to Christmas and Easter services. Job and his wife now rent office space and do not hide the fact that it's for church services.

Job is consciously avoiding the traditional approach that unregistered house churches once used. "The old house-church movement's relationship with the government is confrontational," he says. "We are looking at coexisting. For them to ask anything of us, we will look at it, and if it's proper, we will do our best to cooperate." Last Christmas, Job's church, together with urban house churches across China, worked with local officials to deliver "parcels of love" to needy families.

It's a strategic gesture, a great leap forward for Christians eager to express God's love for their neighbors. "Government acceptance of us depends on our community contribution," says one pastor.1

If persecution was as widespread as some people would have you think, do you think Job would have had this interest and success in engaging with government leaders? Aren’t the government leaders the ones who are supposed to be persecuting? I would highly encourage you all to read this article, which can be found here.

I had two other intentions in writing this chapter. I wanted to use this chapter as another ‘call to action’ for more responsible reporting on stories on China. I’d be interested to read on this blog of other stories you may have about hearing only half the story. I also have had a long standing approach to those who are suffering persecution that while its hard to go through persecution, it is clear in Scripture that God also uses it for His purposes in our lives. And if that is the case, why do we get so upset with the Chinese government when they do persecute? After all, isn’t the current massive growth of the Chinese church the fruit of the persecution of the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s? Interested to read your thoughts!

1. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/may/19.22.html

Chapter 3

In this chapter of the book, I really had two purposes in writing the chapter. The story about the Togolese of course was a fictional story, but I hope it made you think about what it would be like for Christians from another culture to come into our world here in the West and treat us like we often times treat the Chinese. I’m hoping to hear from many of you in this blog of what you thought about that exercise and what feelings it induced. Increasingly, I’m talking to Chinese pastors who are having very mixed feelings about short-term teams from the West coming to China. On one hand, they want to be very accommodating to their Western brothers and sisters in Christ. On the other hand, these pastors are crazy busy with their work in ministry and they feel that the short-term teams add little benefit to their ministry. I hope the story of the Togolese also will help foster conversations in the West about how we can most effectively engage with Chinese Christians, coming to China not assuming our way is best.

Secondly, I hope that the rest of the chapter gives you all many more ‘pieces of the puzzle.’ These pieces deal both with current changes in China and how we see them (like the development of rule of law), and how we as Westerners engage in China. I certainly hope that it was beneficial to bounce these ideas around, both in your own mind and with others that you may be reading the book with.

Comments, questions or concerns about this chapter are welcome in this space. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Chapter 2

The changes that have happened in China over the last 20 years have had at least two characteristics: First, they’ve come at us fast. In fact, they’ve come at us so fast that it has been easy to miss the changes that have happened in China. Secondly, the changes in China have been deep, wholesale changes in almost every sector of society. Of course, we know about the changes that have been made in the economic sector that has fueled this remarkable economic growth, but there are many other areas of change. When we uncover them, I think it really helps us with many pieces to our overall picture of China and her Church.

As an example of this, I met an older couple yesterday that had just finished a three-week tour of China, their first trip to China. The older gentleman told me that before leaving for the trip, he had in his mind that China was a police state and he was expecting armed military personnel on every corner in the cities of China. What he found, of course, is a complete opposite picture of what he thought he would find in China. And this is a main point for me: That so many in the West have a picture of China in their minds that doesn’t come close to meeting reality. Of course, it is not really their fault in that we in the West automatically have a picture in our minds when it comes to the word “Communist.” I’ve taken the task of changing these perceptions as a personal crusade of mine. So here’s my main points from Chapter 2:

• The changes in China have been deep and have happened quickly.
• There is a clear road map that we can trace to see the development these changes have taken.
• It is our responsibility in the West to keep up with these changes and use our analysis to effect our engagement in China.
• In areas like Rule of Law, showing patience to the Chinese helps us develop relationships and gives us the opportunity to be ‘Jesus with skin on.’
• By understanding that China is undergoing a transition from a secular state to a religious state gives us hope for China’s future and helps us engage appropriately.
• Because Chinese intellectuals are increasingly seeing Christianity as the answer for China’s ills allows us to engage with them in ways that only proves to them that they are right.

So now it’s your turn! What do you think about Chapter 2? And what other changes and trends have you seen that would help us all understand China and her Church? I turn the floor over to you!

Chapter 1

Well, if you’re reading this posting, you’ve most likely starting reading my book. Let me first thank you for picking up a copy and reading the book. I hope you’re enjoying reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. May I encourage you at some point once you are done with the book to give your feedback on the book’s Amazon.com page found here. It will help me get the book into the hands of more people and all the proceeds from the sale of the book go back into the China Resource Center!

So, let’s revisit Chapter 1. There are two main reasons that I thought it would be good to start the book with Chinese history. First of all, I thought that bringing to light the ‘other side’ of the story of the 19^th Century missionaries would bring some pieces of the puzzle to the Western reader. In doing the research for this chapter, an interesting scenario took place. As I began to learn more about many of the missionaries’ attitudes towards the Chinese they were trying to reach with the Gospel, it made me upset that they would be so condescending towards the Chinese. I began to email and call other China researchers that I know about the situation and we all agreed that it really was a situation of the ‘good, bad and the ugly’ of the 19^th Century. During the time that I’ve been involved with China, I’ve always been perplexed why when Chinese governmental officials would talk in speeches or interviews about religion in China, they would always warn the Chinese people to be aware of ‘foreign aggression.’ It just never made sense to me until I began reading 19^th Century Chinese history. There are many in the West who have just thought that this tie with ‘foreign aggressors’ has been a way to subvert religion in China. Certainly over the course of the last 50 years, I’m sure that has occurred to some degree. But I think that we see through the course of 19^th Century Chinese history that in the minds of Chinese, they don’t forget what you’ve just read in Chapter 1. It is also interesting to me how clearly we see God’s providence throughout the 19^th Century. Despite mistakes that many Western missionaries made during their time serving in China, God’s will for the Chinese continued to come through and it was the effort of these missionaries that laid the foundation for the rapid growth of the Chinese church that we’ve seen over the last 50 years. What an interesting period of history to study because we really do see it all. So here are the questions I’ll pose to you all: I’m interested to know if after reading this chapter, you gained more understanding about how many Chinese think about Christianity. Also, I’m interested to know if this aspect of Chinese history is new to you, or if you already knew about the attitudes of some Christian missionaries of the 19^th Century.

The second reason to recall this history is that I think there is a lot we can learn even today as we engage with China. Even today, it is easy for us as Westerners to think that we have ‘the best’ ways to do evangelism, Bible study, discipleship, etc. And while we certainly have something to add in the equation, as you’ll learn in Chapter 3, the Chinese bring a very unique and different culture to the table that doesn’t always mesh with our methods and our patterns of ministry. You will see throughout the course of the book that I highly value the need for us as Westerners to come into China as learners first and adapt ourselves to the Chinese culture and situation rather than the other way around. So what thoughts to you all have about that?

Starting the Online Content

Wow! I just received the first copies of the book from the publisher and it looks great! I really excited about starting the online content of the book. Here's the basic idea: Once you've started reading the book, you will have the opportunity to add your thoughts and comments about the content of each chapters. You'll also have the opportunity to read more from me, including why I included certain parts of the book, why I didn't touch on other subjects, etc. I will have a seperate blog posting for each of the chapters, so you may need to scroll through just a bit to find the chapter that you want to comment on. Looking forward to going through this journey with many of you!

Sending the Book to the Publisher

After months of writing, I'm going to be sending the book to the publisher on Monday. I can't believe that I'm almost done! I now know why so few people write a book.... It's really hard work! I really hope that the book is used to clarify Western perceptions of China and her Church because we in the West have a great opportunity to engage with what God is doing.

The book will be available for purchase by late-May 2008 at Amazon.com, Christianbook.com and other online retailers.

I will attempt to clarify perceptions of China and her church in 7 Chapters. I’ve tried to keep this book short enough that one could read it on a North America to China flight, but long enough to cover the main points. By the time you get off the plane, you will have finished the book and will be ready to engage with China. In Chapter 1, we look at the history of Christianity in China and China’s missionary past as a way not only to learn about the missionary effort in nineteenth century China, but I think there are very valuable lessons we can learn from this history as we engage in China today. It was the novelist George Santayana who in 1905 wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

In Chapter 2, we will look at the current trends that are changing China literally from the inside out. These changes and developments are important for our understanding of China. This may be a surprising chapter for many of you as you learn of some of the main groundbreaking efforts being undertaken in China.

The Chinese people, as many of you know, have different social and moral standards than we do in the West and if we want to understand China, we need to understand how the Chinese differ in relationship building and social standards. In Chapter 3, we will also look at the Chinese view on legality and the Rule of Law.

Chapter 4 examines what I call the ‘Persecution Myth,’ the myth that Christians in China continue to be consistently persecuted for their faith in Christ. It is a myth because persecution is not happening as much as we may think and we in the West need to change our paradigm. It is widely known among those Westerners living in China and those working with the Chinese church that persecution is no longer the main story of the Church in China. We will also look at why the myth continues to persist and the organizations who don’t want the myth to be killed.

For all Westerners who want to actively be involved in what God is doing in China, Chapter 5 will become your guidebook for involvement in China. New opportunities to work with transparency in China, a new ‘industry standard’ of engagement in China and a practical guide for getting started in China are all yours for the taking in this Chapter.

One of the other keys to our understanding of modern-day China is seeing China and life through the eyes of the Chinese themselves. With my work in the China Resource center, I’m talking to many Americans about China as I speak on China and her church. It’s clear to me through these conversations that people’s thoughts and perceptions about the lives of today’s Chinese are inaccurate. In painting with very broad strokes, I hope in Chapter 6 to present useful information to clarify the overall picture of how the Chinese themselves view their government, life and democracy. My guess is that some of my findings will surprise you.

As you will find out through the pages of this book, I have been working with Chinese and in China for 20 years. In Chapter 7, I’ll give you an overview of my work in China and introduce you to the work of the China Resource Center. I believe we have a great mission and I’m excited to be involved.

I must also note the two Appendixes, because I think they will be of great use to many of you. In Appendix A, I detail an effort I’m launching to bring you, the reader, into the fray of putting the pieces of The Chinese Puzzle together. I’m launching a blog that will give you the opportunity to give me feedback on the book and read additional comments from me about the book. I look forward to reading your input soon! Appendix B is the full text of the Ethical Foundations for China Service, which was created by a number of China ministry leaders as we came together at Fuller Seminary in June 2006 as a way to not only give us a standard by which to use in China, but also as a guide for other China-interested organizations and individuals. It is our hope that you may take the Foundations into your own organization and use it as a discussion starter and a point of dialogue about most effective practices in China.

I thank you for your interest in this book and I hope it is useful for your understanding of China and her Church. I'm looking forward to your comments on this blog as you get a chance to read The Chinese Puzzle!