Church History
Introduction and the Early Life of a Conqueror of Demons
Many Chinese Christians suffered to love others and endured hardship in their native land because they loved the Lord. Pastor Hsi was one of them. Ordained by Hudson Taylor in 1887, he was the first pastor ordained by the China Inland Mission in mainland China.
The Legacy of Ancient Christianity for China
Viable parallels exist between ancient Christian learning and life with Chinese Christianity, and part of the purpose of our writing these series of presentations is to identify what those are in the best way we know how.
The Appeal of the Pentecostal Movement in Hong Kong
The Kaleidoscopic City: A Book Review
Mayfield highlights…the essential continuity that bound the early Pentecostal missionaries together with their evangelical contemporaries; the way in which the “heat and noise” of Pentecostal worship, which often repelled Europeans, actually served to attract the Chinese masses; and the strategic role that women played in the founding of Pentecostal churches.
Collective Misunderstanding
Deeply committed Syrian Christians traveled thousands of miles to plant a church in China, enjoyed a season of imperial favor during which the gospel took root and spread, and succeeded in communicating the essential message of Christ’s suffering for the salvation of the world and his resurrection from the dead.
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.
The Earliest Chinese Christianity Brought Back to Life
Readers [of Jingjiao] will not only be equipped with the fascinating history of Jingjiao, which helps overcome the anti-Christian narrative that Christianity was brought into China by European and American colonial imperialists. Christians and missionaries in various global cultural contexts will also benefit from this book by learning from the Church of the East missionaries’ creative strategies of inculturation.
Chinese Christianity Endures, Part 2
Learning from the 18th-Century Church Under Authoritarian Rule
Given China’s place in the world order today, it is very unlikely that they will completely ban all foreigners.... We can be confident that no matter how few the foreigners or how persecuted the flock, our God who makes the rocks cry out in testimony will ensure that his witness is never silenced, and his kingdom continues to advance.
J.O. Fraser and the Making of the Lisu Bible
Fraser’s most acclaimed contribution to missions is his translation of the Bible and Christian hymns into the Lisu language. When he first met the Lisu people in Tengyueh, they had no written language of their own. After Fraser learned to speak the language, he began to translate the Bible into Lisu.
Chinese Christianity Endures, Part 1
Studying the 18th-Century Church under Authoritarian Rule
The study then takes a closer look at the brief emergence of a comparatively Chinese underground church…before concluding with a fascinating reflection on martyrdom, comparing the Chinese notion of suffering perseverance motivated by filial loyalty to the saints who have gone before with the European concept of sacrificing one’s life for the gospel.