We should not erect an artificial barrier to sharing the gospel of Jesus by insisting on a Western language that non-Christians in Asia are not familiar with. Jesus is the answer, yes, but to what questions? East Asian people have a rich tradition of spiritual formation in the general sense of renovating the heart.
The Muslim people groups in China need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Sharing the gospel with them takes cultural sensitivity and education. Come along for a deep dive into the cultures and faith of these people and learn how to pray for them and effectively evangelize them.
In recent years, the Chinese government has tightly controlled the dissemination of key societal information while treating grassroots Christianity like a political opponent. This situation has left independent Christian researchers in a predicament as they struggle to access the necessary research materials while fearing unintentionally harming Chinese Christians, particularly well-known independent scholars.
Christians need to acknowledge a fact. We might disagree on whether Confucianism is a religion or not. But Confucianism, together with Daoism and Buddhism, are spiritual traditions that have provided “chicken soup” for Chinese souls for more than two thousand years.
Johnson talked about how China is using civil religion, which he defines as the government using religion and religious images to legitimize its rule. This has been most visible in the government’s more tolerant attitude towards what it considers to be indigenized religions.
China is…in the midst of a religious boom, which the government is trying to use to further its grip on power… But can authoritarianism and religious life coexist?
References for your further reading that cover national level changes in China in regulations and administrative measures pertaining directly to religion.
Do you love to read? Do you love to read books about China? Do you love to discuss books about China? If yes, then this is for you.
Whether a century ago or today, whatever our China stories may purport to tell us about being apolitical, of “leaving our politics at the door” or “staying out of politics,” one of the hard lessons of history is that foreign Christian involvement in China is unavoidably political.
A sociological approach to the religious landscape in China is helpful in understanding the growth of Christianity in recent years.
During the 1980s, more and more people in China turned to religion. The turn toward religion included young and old, rural and urban, people who were nearly illiterate and university professors. While many came to Christianity, others returned to Confucianism, Islam, and Buddhism.
In 1979, churches, temples and mosques began to be restored and reopened for religious activities. That was the beginning of the economic reform era, and it was also the beginning of the Chinese Great Awakening.