Curious Christian

9 responses to “Christianity in China”

1. 

   John

   2008-05-12

   Doesnt Philip Jenkins write about this theme of the efforts and influence of the huge numbers of non European/American missionaries in The Next Chrisendom?

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2. 

   Matt Stone

   2008-05-12

   Yes, its a great book and I wish more people would read it. There is much data to suggest that the demographic centre of Christianity is shifting drastically; that globally it is becoming post-Western, and that even locally in the West it is becoming post-white. Christianity is growing globally, but not evenly, and the influence of white Western Christianity is diminishing. We do however still have much more money and education so a massive capital-labour split has opened up. This is no doubt contributing to current tensions in the Anglican communion.
   The question I keep asking myself is, is the emerging missional church a sign that western Christians are finally beginning to learn from the overseas missionary experience, or is it the last gasp of a western church trying to revive itself from within? To what extent is the emerging church a missionary movement and to what extent is it a revival movement is a crucial question here. I am afraid to say I see many signs pointing towards the bulk of it being the latter. I take Scot McKnight’s critique seriously and I think there is way to much focus on post-evangelicals and not nearly enough on pre-Christians.

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3. 

   Maria

   2008-05-13

   In response to your second question, it seems to me that missionaries from non-Western cultures bring first-hand experience of many of the things the emergent church is trying to learn how to do — live in community, not depend on institutions, be free of materialism, etc. Whether we are willing to learn from their experience might be the difference between a last gasp attempt at reviving the church and a true missionary movement.

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4. 

   Chris

   2008-05-13

   Jenkins’ next book, “The New Faces of Christianity” addresses the second question better than his first book 🙂

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5. 

   Matt Stone

   2008-05-13

   I will look forward to that!

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6. 

   Peggy

   2008-05-13

   Matt,
   Have you read “Back to Jerusalem”? I can’t remember … but there is a tremendous vision within the Chinese church for them to take the gospel outside of China. Very powerful little book.

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7. 

   Lon

   2008-05-14

   Thanks for sharing the article.
   I think it’s definitely in the works, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
   There’s still an issue of having indigenous leadership, even in the west. If anything, the emerging church is learning from and being inspired by the church in the south/east, but I’ve yet to see the real rumblings of non-westerners directly planting churches here…

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8. 

   Matt Stone

   2008-05-14

   Peggy, no, but sounds exciting.
   Lon, well I’m certainly seeing it happening in western Sydney where I live, not just in terms of church plants but also in terms of church growth. The church I am involved in lets out space to a Korean church plant, and half of the people in my Christian counseling class are Asian, many from China. Moving onto the local Catholics, last time I attended a service in Parramatta a significant portion of the church members were Philippino. I think our local church statistics would be a lot worse if they weren’t being bolstered by migrants from countries experiencing a boom in Christianity. Jenkins suggests American stats are similarly being bolstered by migrants from South America.

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9. 

   Peggy

   2008-05-14

   Matt,
   It is a phenomenal book! You can get a good idea of the content at their website: http://www.backtojerusalem.com/
   There are significant excerpts there as well as the maps of their plans.

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