Editor’s note: As we put the finishing touches on the winter issue of ChinaSource Quarterly, we are thrilled to let our readers know that we are planning to publish it very soon. This issue will shine a spotlight on returnee ministry, the history of Chinese students abroad, biblical perspectives on ministering to returnees, and how all of these factors can inform international student ministries and returnees as they prepare to go back to China.
Be sure to subscribe so that you can get the upcoming CSQ delivered to your email inbox as soon as it’s published. We believe that the issue will inspire and challenge readers to take a new look at returnees and ministry to international students.
Today we’re sharing Joann Pittman’s ChinaSource Perspective, a meditation on the concept of the sojourner, to give a brief overview of what’s to come.
Returning from a Sojourn
I love the word sojourn, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “to make a temporary stay in a place; to reside for a time.” Maybe that’s because I have spent a good part of my life as a sojourner, one residing in a place for a time. During my childhood I lived in Pakistan. Every few years my family would return “home” to the US for a leave. It may have been going “home” for my parents, but it certainly wasn’t for my sister and me. At the end of each sojourn in the US, we couldn’t wait to return to our home in Pakistan. I have also been a sojourner most of my adult life, having worked in China for most of the years between 1984 and 2012. When I headed there in 1984 my plan was for a one-year sojourn. Obviously, God had other plans for me. My sojourn in China ended when I joined the ranks of returnees by moving back to the United States.
A returnee is someone who returns to their home location after a sojourn somewhere else. Because sojourn refers to a temporary stay in another place, we don’t use the term returnee to talk about a tourist, someone who returns home after a holiday. Having been on a sojourn implies having been in a place long enough to learn something about the new location, and perhaps even absorbing some of the values of a place. A sojourn abroad almost always changes people in some way. Maybe they learn new ways of eating or speaking. Maybe they learn new ways of thinking. As you will see in the articles in this issue, many Chinese people encounter Christ during their time as sojourners.
The Bible is also filled with stories of sojourners and returnees. In the ESV, the word “sojourn” is used 122 times, and the word “sojourners” is used 67 times, a fact that prompts me to sing the old gospel tune, “This world is not my home; I’m just a-passing through….”
This is the perspective I brought to my reading of this issue of the Quarterly, realizing that the stories of returnees are really the stories of sojourners. And since all who follow Christ are sojourners, how might we be challenged and encouraged by these stories?
What follows are a few key observations that I had:
- The numbers are interesting and tell a story of opportunity. There are approximately 1 million Chinese studying abroad, with close to 300,000 of those in the United States alone. Sean Cheng notes that the returnee rate is now approximately 700,000 per year. This means that 80% of Chinese students and scholars are now returning to China. This is in contrast to 5 percent in 1987 and 20 percent in 2007. If even 5 percent of returnees are believers, that means there are possibly 10,000 Christian returnees each year. If that’s not a ministry opportunity I don’t know what is!
- The past four years have seen significant changes in the landscape of returnee ministry. These have been brought about by several years of harsh pandemic restrictions as well as rising international tensions, particularly between China and the United States. During the pandemic, the number of students arriving in the US drastically declined, leaving many international and Chinese student ministries wondering what the future would hold. While the numbers have rebounded, many ministries report a decrease in student engagement with church or campus outreach activities. Furthermore, the ever-tightening political environment and crackdowns on civil society and religious practice mean that returnees must contend with more intense scrutiny than before. Leaving behind a Western political environment that may view them with suspicion, they also face suspicion at home of being spies for the West. It is harder to find and connect with good churches, and societal pressures remain tough. Support during this increasingly challenging transition is both more important, yet more difficult than ever before.
- There are lessons to be learned from the Biblical stories of Jacob and Onesimus (the runaway slave of Philemon) about returning from a sojourn. Jacob struggled with his identity as a sojourner since he was fleeing his brother. But God was using the sojourn to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant. Despite a life of loneliness and toil, he set his hope on the promise of God for future blessing. He lived by faith, both while he was away and when he returned home. In Paul’s letter to Philemon, we read Paul’s admonition for Philemon and his church to receive this young believer Onesimus upon his return. In this story we see that there is a church to receive him back and a missionary who helped prepare him for a successful re-integration. Returnees need to be discipled to put their hope in God, not in their identities as either Christian or returnee, and churches in China must be called and prepared to receive them.
- While we tend to think that the era of students and scholars from China studying abroad is a recent development that started with the opening and reform policy of Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s, it actually has a long history, dating back to the 1880s. Learning about these early returnees and their contributions to the development of Chinese society offer us important insights as we disciple returnees.
Recently, I listened to a talk by a well-known American “China hawk” about the current state of play in the relationship between the United States and China. It was not an upbeat talk. During his presentation, he referenced the hundreds of thousands of Chinese students in the United States. Coming from a military and intelligence background, he was only able to perceive these students as current or potential future spies. Further, he suggested that attempts at positive engagement with these students were an exercise in futility. It was an incredibly disheartening talk and the opposite of how Christ calls his followers to both perceive and treat those who are sojourners in our land.
May we as Christians, no matter our nationality or political leanings, never perceive Chinese students and immigrants in our midst this way. May we welcome them, love them, tell them about Jesus, and disciple those who believe. May we prepare them well to return and may the churches in China prepare well to receive them.
This issue of ChinaSource Quarterly will inspire, encourage, and equip us to do this work.
Image credit: MIA Studio via Adobe Stock
Joann Pittman
Joann Pittman is Vice President of Partnership and China Engagement and editor of ZGBriefs. Prior to joining ChinaSource, Joann spent 28 years working in China, as an English teacher, language student, program director, and cross-cultural trainer for organizations and businesses engaged in China. She has also taught Chinese at the University …View Full Bio
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