Learning from Jingjiao, China’s Earliest Christian Church
Creating a Truly Chinese Church
A truly “Christian” Chinese church will not only be thoroughly enculturated, but it will also retain the entire “rule of faith” shared by the rest of the universal church. Finally, Chinese Christians, knowing they are part of the universal church, will continue to seek to share the joys and trials of the indigenous churches of all other cultures. Such a church would be biblical, God-pleasing, and truly Chinese.
The Long History of Government Oversight and China’s Church
When [Church of the East] missionaries arrived in the Chinese capital of Chang’an in 635, they understood that Christianity in the Middle Kingdom required government approval…The application was successful, and a government edict allowed the new Luminous Teaching, as it called itself, to be spread in all China, including the building of a church in the capital city.
Jingjiao—Not Nestorian
In AD 635 Christian missionaries whose worship language was Syriac traveled thousands of miles down the Silk Road to plant a church in China. The imperial officials examined their teaching and issued a decree (preserved in the stele) allowing the church to be established.