Tag: Xi Jinping
China in the Mirror: Challenges and Realities
Reflections on China, Part 1: The Context in 2024
I first went to China in 1985, serving there until 2012. The level of surveillance and scrutiny of expatriates at that time was high… While the current ministry context, with highly technological surveillance tools, feels restrictive, it appears to be a change in method, rather than a change in concept. We have been here all along.
How “Runology” Is Changing Ministry to Diaspora Chinese
More Chinese people, both believers and non-believers, are looking for ways to leave China. Some people are leaving because of persecution, while others want to escape the imposition of “Xi thought.” As Chinese immigrants arrive in our communities, we need to look for ways to welcome the newcomers and show them the love of Christ.
Official Protestant Groups Plan Next Five Years of Sinicization
What Does the TSPM/CCC 5-Year Plan Tell Us about the Direction of Official Protestantism?
What the latest plan for Protestant leadership in the TSPM and CCC tells us is that Xi Jinping continues to attract or compel Christians to align themselves with traditional Chinese culture and, as important, with the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda.
Sinicization: Culture or Politics?
The cultural and political aspects of the Sinicization campaign go hand in hand. At its core, the campaign is all about political control. Yet, given China’s culture of political dominance, it is also very much about culture—a culture of obedience in which religion serves the interests of the state…
The Mountains Are Shorter, Part 1
Today China’s officials are much less likely to turn a blind eye toward unauthorized Christian activity. Under the rubric of national security, Xi Jinping has shifted the government’s emphasis from aggressive economic growth to social control.
Hearing from the Church in China, Part 2
Trying to “Keep the Flies Out”
Despite China’s growing global economic power, it is becoming increasingly closed and hostile to foreign influence from outside and foreign people inside the country. How, then, does the church in China maintain ties with the global church? We remain open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and pray for discernment to interact wisely with Chinese brothers and sisters.
National People’s Congress 2023
A Reading Roundup
There is no question that we are in a new era. To understand the recent National People’s Congress and National People’s Consultative Conference, read Joann Pittman’s roundup of news and analysis.
Supporting Article
Pastors in China’s New Era
Lee explains the three main reasons why the Communist Party is wary of Protestants: their faith is seen as an ideological threat to the Party, churches can bring foreign influence, and they are a collective action threat. She then explains the various ways pastors are dealing with the actions the Party is using to hold them in line.
Pressure on the Church, Pressure on the Party
A Reader Responds to the 2022 Winter CSQ
When pressure comes, Christians generally respond in one of three ways: fight, flight, or somewhere in the middle…. When praying for the Chinese church, we must not fail to pray...for the unity of Christians under pressure.