Analysis

Does China still need us?

By G.A.R. ⋅ November 17, 2009 ⋅ Email This Post Email This Post ⋅ Print This Post Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Does China still need us? Yes or No? In almost 20 years of full-time China ministry I have heard a few foreigners answer that question with a “No,” but I have never had even one mainland Chinese Christian agree with them. It is not a question of Yes or No, but of How? Like the doctor who amputated the left leg of a man whose gangrene was in his right leg, help is needed but destructive if not informed and careful.

Two components are the keys to that “How?”: first Heart, and second Role. The Heart factor has not changed, the Role factor has changed a lot and continues to change. Also, appropriate Roles can vary considerably by regions and demographics but Heart issues are universal.

Heart

Being more relationally oriented than their task-driven foreign friends, Chinese are quick to discern and prioritize heart issues. Do you look down on them? Are you wise in your own eyes? Are you sensitive or oblivious? Self-focused or other-focused? Adaptable or rigid? Balanced or extreme? Meek or ostentatious? Culturally aware or myopic? What is your agenda for the relationship? Are you emotionally healthy or moody and explosive? Is your character strong or weak? Do you really want an ongoing relationship or merely a brief spiritual high to add to your collection? Are you there to learn or just teach? Follow or lead or just walk together?

Often the Chinese are silently but accurately taking a reading on these elements while the foreigner (especially if a westerner) is obsessed with determining the next steps towards fulfilling his spiritual ego. But if the Chinese discern that he/she fails in these personal elements, the only next steps will be politely walking in a circle that leads nowhere!

These heart issues have not changed, nor are they likely to change for a very long time. They are similar to issues in exchanges with other cultures as well, but seem even more pronounced when engaging with Chinese. When I ask trusted Chinese brothers and sisters “What are the biggest hindrances foreigners erect in China?” they do not usually bring up cultural or linguistic issues, instead they bring up heart issues like: “They look down on Chinese people” or their weakness in facing temptations. Chinese need friends with Christ-like hearts first and foremost, and to see those hearts applied in family and coworker relationships. They need to see Christ’s love, patience, character, and grace modeled before their very eyes, from people who view the experience as “iron sharpening iron” not master craftsmen shaping docile clay.

Role

As China and its church have changed the appropriate roles for foreigners have as well. The word that most comes to my mind about the Chinese church overall is the word “maturing.” I say that without condescension. Church life in any culture or setting evolves through stages over time, such as from evangelistic to pastoral to holistic to globally missional. The Chinese church has had less time to evolve, just a few decades ago it was relatively small and isolated. By God’s sovereign love it has had massive growth for 3 decades now-praise Him for that but at the same time recognize in very many places it is 30 years old or younger!

In 1979 Christians were just emerging from virtual invisibility during the Cultural Revolution, and the vast majority were peasant farmers. Large areas, both rural and urban, had few believers or even none at all, and Bibles were scarce even where available. Few pastors had any training whatsoever, in fact many “believed in Jesus” but didn’t even understand the basic gospel! The priorities were simple: evangelism, Bibles and rudimentary training. Expatriate English teachers and other tentmakers could evangelize in the cities and disciple converts. Foreigners were needed to supply Bibles: funding for both legal and covert printing, and delivery for the covert. Overseas Chinese were especially needed to train pastors, as westerners were more conspicuous and less culturally suitable. Radio helped in all three components. No spectacular degree of qualification was required for most of these, just the basics of being a genuine Christian.

Ten years later more and more educated urbanites started coming to faith. Increased numbers of foreign Christians arrived both short and long term, helping disciple them beyond the basics, and so ideally needing more than basic qualifications themselves. Masses of rural converts desperately needed further discipleship, in the absence of which more and more cults developed, evoking doctrinal questions.

Now, another 20 years after that, the educated believers are seeking a developed theology and church life that are Biblical and Chinese and credible. Most (not all!) Han areas have been evangelized to at least some degree while very many ethnic minorities have not, so many Christians are recognizing the call and challenges of cross-cultural ministry both domestically and even internationally. This is a sign of maturation, even while hundreds of millions of Han themselves have still never heard a clear presentation of the gospel. Emotional and relational problems are finally being recognized as traditional roles and all-out suppression of feelings are being questioned. Wealthy Christians are asking what that identity entails, as are Christian educators, engineers, doctors, intellectuals, and even government officials. As government guarantees of necessities are retracted, Christians are confronted with questions of their responsibility for not only orphans, but the elderly, the destitute, disaster victims, AIDS patients, and human trafficking along with other social ills. In these areas Christians and government officials are finding themselves to be allies, not adversaries.

China’s culture as a whole provides little if any background to equip believers to respond to virtually any of these social challenges. Herein lies the key role for we foreigners: bringing the fruit of long experience to bear on these niches for a church that has now evolved far past simple evangelism–though that is still needed, as are Bibles and basic discipleship. This newer role calls for more skilled workers, qualified in the fields of science, counseling, cross-cultural missions, theology, science, business, charity, leader development, sociology, etc.. Or shall we leave the Chinese to repeat our own centuries of trial and error? They in fact asking for the benefit of our experience in areas that have been holes in the fabric of China’s history.

Not to say there is an utter vacuum of indigenous leadership in any of these areas. Chinese leaders are increasingly emerging in many of them, notably charity and modern business management. But clearly there remains ample room for expatriate partnership, and soon if faith-based principles are to have any influence going forward.

Which brings us to the question of “Do we really need them?” What about the holes in our own fabrics? Do we not need our materialism, individualism, exaggerated academic rationality, lukewarm faith, obsession with tasks, aversion to suffering, and many other areas of dry-rot to be exposed by our brothers and sisters in China? Certainly I have needed it. One verse sums it all up so far,

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’” 1 Corinthians 12:21

Finally, even a short article such as this would be remiss not to at least mention some of the things China emphatically does not need from us.

Your Leave It At Home List:

  • Denominations and other dominations
  • Winds of doctrine that only blow people further apart, even if you’re sure it’s in the right direction
  • Other secondary doctrines (meaning any that not all Biblical Christians generally agree on them throughout history)
  • Big piles of cash (another whole article)
  • Your claims to fame
  • Your politics
  • Your invitation to visit your country
  • Your very own books translated into Chinese
  • Your own sincere but pre-determined agenda and time-frame, especially if funding-driven

But otherwise by all means do come, bringing your heart and He who lives in it!!

Then be sure to come back again.

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