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?