Crossing the River by Feeling for the Stones: Mennonite Engagement in China, 1901–2020 by Myrrl Byler. [Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History]. Harrisonburg, VA: Masthof Press, 2024, 464 pages (illust.). ISBN‑13: 978‑1601269355. Available from Masthof Press and Amazon.
In 1979, Deng Xiaoping initiated his Opening and Reform policies in China, which included a significant change: the reopening of China to the outside world. This marked the end of China’s period of isolation, allowing for foreign investment and greater educational and cultural exchanges. Deng recognized that years of isolation and political turmoil had severely harmed the Chinese economy and society. He believed that breaking free from isolation was essential for China’s modernization. Although the open-door policy did not specifically extend to foreign religious workers or organizations, Christians were able to enter China as teachers, students, and businesspeople.
Several denominational organizations that had been active in China before 1949 cautiously sought ways to re-establish their presence, initiating direct communication and dialogue with the China Christian Council, the official governing body of Protestant churches in the country. One of these organizations was the Mennonite Central Committee, which had begun its work in China in 1901.
“Feeling the Stones While Crossing the River” narrates the story of Mennonite efforts in China from 1901 to 2020, offering a compelling insight into how one religious organization navigated civil unrest, political changes, and re-engagement over a tumultuous 120 years.
Writing in the introduction, Professor Kevin Xiyi Yao of Gordon-Conwell has this to say about the book:
This is, by far a very rare, if not the only systematic narrative of a North American based Christian agency and its activities in China during the recent four decades. It traces that full history since the end of the Cultural Revolution and touches on all aspects of its operation, dynamics, personalities, and results. By doing so, this book affords us a rare case study to reflect on what the Christian missionary and charitable endeavors have done in China since the 1980s. This is exactly what is currently needed as the “Golden Era” is gone and a new normal settles in the Chinese society.
The book is organized into four parts.
Part One examines the early years of Mennonite work in China, covering the period from 1901 to 1945.
Part Two picks up the narrative in 1979 with the introduction of the Opening and Reform policies, during which the Mennonites established educational partnerships with various schools throughout China.
Part Three focuses on the development of English teaching in China and details how they built relationships with universities and engaged with local official churches.
Part Four looks at the Mennonite partners in China from 2006 to 2020.
I was particularly drawn to the sections from 1990 to 2006, when China invited teachers to universities to teach English. The stories felt very familiar since I also spent my time in China working in education! I’m not alone in this experience; many foreigners who have served in China either spent their entire careers teaching English or started there. Some went independently, while others partnered with organizations that had established relationships with various government entities. The Mennonite Central Committee approached this opportunity openly, rather than pretending to be something they weren’t.
The Mennonite Church has consistently emphasized education as a key means of cultural engagement. In their early days in China, they focused on educating youth, believing it would help Christianity thrive and contribute to the nation’s modernization and strength. This perspective was not unique to the Mennonites; it was a common theme among various mission agencies of different denominations during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and it continued into the new era as well.
In line with the high value that Mennonites placed on education, it was only natural for them to return to China following its reopening. In 1982, they established a new organization called China Educational Exchange (CEE) to recruit and send teachers to China and to facilitate scholarly visits to the United States. By 1990, 34 teachers were working in 14 different cities across four provinces. These teachers were allowed to practice their Christian faith and attend local registered churches openly. Additionally, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) supported the work of the Amity Foundation, which the Chinese government had designated to assist with Bible printing and distribution in the country.
CEE functioned according to five key principles (p. 59):
- We come to serve where the Chinese identify that they have need. We are not coming to restructure their programs and institutions, nor are the Chinese coming to restructure our society.
- Although there is a strong and undeniable impulse in our heritage to proclaim our values and plant our institutions, there is also another set of values which in this endeavor needs to control our minds, hearts, and hands in serving and hosting, listening, waiting, learning, inquiring, affirming.
- We acknowledge that the experience of our people in serving in radically different cultures – for example in Muslim countries, Socialist societies, etc. – can provide analogous understandings useful for the reception of Chinese guests in our communities.
- In this program is the expectation, joy, and wonder of growth. Neither our Chinese friends nor we know where these exchanges will lead. Our Chinese friends are attracted to the metaphor of planting a tree and watching it grow. They are people of the soil who know that days, weeks, and months must pass between seedtime and harvest.
- In this program there is a silent awareness that North Americans have caused injury in times past to Chinese society. In a small way we see this exchange as an acknowledgement that we are called to forgive and forget past mistakes and wrongs and to make new beginnings.
They were heavily influenced by Calvin Shank’s book, A Relevant Theology of Presence:
This concept of mission by presence makes understanding and appreciation of other cultures and religions essential, but even more it demands a sympathetic and compassionate understanding of the human predicament in any given place and circumstance. It calls for listening and sensitivity in entering into the world of others. We need to express more adequately our genuine sense of being with others who are not Christian. Much of what we do is considered paternalistic and patronizing. Christian presence of Christ can be a profound representation of the Gospel as it reaches out in love and fellowship. (p.71)
This book was given to all new teachers going to the field.
Although CEE was primarily an educational organization, it was eager to bless and serve the churches in China. When the Amity Foundation was established in 1985, the China Christian Council invited the Mennonites to provide English teachers for the new program. Many of them also took on additional roles at Amity.
One of the book’s strengths is the collection of first-hand accounts written by teachers in China during the 1980s and 1990s. Reading these stories evoked many memories from my own teaching experiences in those years. Additionally, there is a compelling account of the events of 1989, detailing the dilemma individuals faced deciding whether to stay or leave. This served as a poignant reminder of the presence of Christians in China during those challenging times.
CEE also valued learning. They wanted their teachers and staff in China to adopt a posture of learning from Chinese culture and churches. They aimed to learn from, not just about.
They did not impose a denominational identity on their church partners. However, by supporting a select group of Chinese pastors and scholars who studied at Mennonite seminaries in the United States, an interest in Anabaptist thought and practice began to emerge, along with its potential implications for the church in China. This included a specific interest in the Anabaptist theological understanding of peace. (p. 331)
We can learn lessons from the Mennonite story in China. They were willing to identify and seek to meet local needs by working within the system. They patiently persevered as “people of the soil,” knowing trees take a long time to grow and bear fruit. Finally, they saw the importance of learning from the culture, not just about it.
As Professor Yao writes in his introduction, this book is an excellent case study on how Christian agencies have been able to function in China. For the benefit of future missiologists and historians, I hope it is the first of many such books.
Our thanks to Masthof Press for providing a copy of Crossing the River by Feeling for the Stones: Mennonite Engagement in China, 1901–2020 by Myrrl Byler for this review.
