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10/29/2007 Chinese churches - three generations from nowBecause it kind of seems that things will head that way, doesn't it? After all, second generation Chinese find that they already have a lot of cultural simiarlities with their Aussie friends. We speak English just as well as they, we like the same kinds of food, we understand the same kinds of jokes. If first generation people find there is a huge culture gap, and second generation people find there is some culture gap, then perhaps the third generation will find there is no longer any culture gap. And hence, no longer any need for Chinese churches. When talking about the future of Chinese churches, we are talking about the future. How can we tell the future? We can only look to the past. And in fact that's why you study church history. In order to look forward, you look back. And when you look back particularly at the experience of North America over the last 30 years, you see that the future for Chinese churches is not bleak, but in fact very strong.
Australia's White Australia Policy (otherwise known as the Immigration Restriction Act) was passed in 1901 and only repealed in 1973. So for 72 years Asians were not allowed to migrate to Australia. And in fact in the years prior there were heavy restrictions on Asian migration. However the corresponding policy in the United States (known as the Chinese Exclusion Act) was passed in 1882 and repealed in 1943. And in Canada the Chinese Immigration Act of 1904 was repealed in 1947.
This means that the Chinese churches in Canada and the United States has had an extra 30 years of cultural assimilation. The North American Chinese churches are three generations ahead of us in terms of Chinese people growing up with white Americans, watching their movies, and working in the same offices.
So what would you expect to see in Australia after three more generations of cultural assimilation? Thirty years is a long time. And you'd probably expect that in the year 2037 English congregations of Chinese churches would be dying. You'd expect that they'd be at the tail end of a long, slow death, while ABCs flood to normal Aussie churches.
Well to see what is going to happen in Australia, we look to Canada and the United States, who have acutally experienced those extra 30 years of cultural integration. But instead of seeing churches that are dying out, the English congregations of Chinese churches are in fact flourishing.
CCCOWE conducted a survey in April 2007, and the data was recently released on the CCCOWE website. They surveyed English pastors of Chinese churches in various cities around the world. Among the many questions was one asking what the rate of growth was of their churches. Here in Australia ABC congregations are growing at 7.22% on average. But in the United States, ABC congregations are growing at a huge 12.38%!
Far from being at the last gasp of death as their churches become irrelevant, their ABC congregations are flourishing! And this gives us a strong pointer that ABC congregations here in Australia will keep on growing. They will keep on being the best way for Chinese people to hear the gospel.
This is because culture runs much deeper than we expect. It's not just a matter of speaking English well, or using forks and knives, or understanding their jokes. The deepr things of culture - the worldview, the beliefs, the values - these change much slower than the mere behaviours.
It's a nice theory when people tell you that Chinese churches are going to die out - but it's not based on any solid data at all. Merely conjecture, and a shallow understanding of culture. But in order to look forward, you look back. And when you look back, particularly at the experience of North America over the last 30 years, you see that the data shows us very clearly what our next 30 years will hold.
The future for Chinese churches is not bleak - but in fact very strong! [ PS: this means that you should stick with Chinese churches as the best way to reach the Chinese, despite its difficulties! ] 10/26/2007 Parenting - how not to be too little, too late
A saying goes that the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, and the second best time to plant a tree is now. So if you have primary aged children, now is the best time to start influencing your children! Because if you leave it too late, you may have lost your chance to train your child... 10/23/2007 Chinese theological issuesHowever apart from those issues that were thrashed out by the early church (such as Christology), by and large the set of doctrines that are featured in theological textbooks and Bible college lectures tend to reflect the kinds of issues that have dominated Western church history.
And that's fair enough - for many years the gospel flame was kept alight in the West, especially during the Middle Ages (on account of the rise of Islam), and in the period before the development of the modern missionary movement. And so it's quite natural for the issues that Western churches have fought over to find themselves in theology textbooks, most of which have been written in the West.
However the issues that face churches in the West are not the same as the issues that face churches in the East. There is some overlap, but there are some issues that the Western churches continue to struggle over, which aren't so big for Eastern churches. And likewise there are some issues that the Eastern churches need to work very hard on, which Western churches don't seem to struggle with. And so while your theology textbook or college course may spend a lot of hours on a particular issue, and less hours on others, it does so not because it's representing the theological issues of all churches everywhere - but generally only of Western churches.
One area of theology where Chinese churches need to think especially carefully is the doctrine of church, otherwise known as ecclesiology. There are a lot of assumed truths about what is a church and how to go about doing church - and it may even be proof-texted. However I don't think that much Chinese church ecclesiology is theologically mature, and instead tends to reflect more of the culture than the Bible.
A second area of theology where Chinese churches need to work harder is the doctrine of providence - that area of theology that deals with how God is at work in the present time. This includes issues like how we are to make decisions, how we can expect God to work in our world, even how money is provided for ministry. And again, there are a lot of assumed truths about how these should be done. And while it may fit very well with Chinese culture, on closer inspection it doesn't hold up to much scrutiny.
You can't fault Bible colleges for not covering everything in the same amount of detail - because there will be still other issues that are 'biggies' for still other cultures! And lecturers will also have their own areas of expertise.
But this does mean that Chinese students going through Bible colleges must be prepared to do their own investigation into those areas that their lectures will not cover in enough detail. They must not only learn theology, but learn how to think theologically - so that they can do it for themselves. In those areas of particular need, they must become experts themselves.
This problem is also exacerbated by how we tend to go about teaching in Chinese churches. In a series of online articles, American author Samuel Ling highlights the tendency for Chinese churches to avoid teaching doctrine, and instead our preference for biblical studies. This means that Chinese Christians are not exposed to systematic teaching about key doctrines, and have no models about how to go about doing this. Not only that, Samuel Ling highlights the preference for pragmatics over theory. And as a result the teaching of doctrine (perceived to be only theoretical and of little value) tends to be overlooked in favour of teaching on discipleship (much more pragmatic).
As a result those who teach in Chinese churches, whether as Bible study leaders or pastors, need to discipline ourselves to give their congregation great examples of how to teach theology - and how to teach it well. Not just reciting the formulations from the Western church, but engaging with, and challenging the implicit theology of people in the pew. We need to show how the study of doctrines such as ecclesiology or providence is intensely practical.
[ PS: can you think of other doctrines that are particularly needed in Chinese churches? ] 10/17/2007 200 years of Protestant missions in ChinaRobert was born in England in 1782. At the age of 19 he wanted to become a missionary and began preparing for that. This was his prayer: “that God would station him in that part of the missionary field where the difficulties were greatest and all to human appearances the most insurmountable.”
And so in 1807 at the age of 25 the London Missionary Society sent him to China. The sea voyage took him eight months, and he arrived in Macau just over 200 years ago, on the 4th of September 2007. But when he got there, no one would help him: the Catholic missionaries who were there kept causing trouble for him, the British merchants didn't want him around, and the Chinese government didn't want foreigners trying to learn Chinese. On top of that he was cheated, the people sent to help him weren't allowed to stay, and living in China took quite a toll on his health. Yet all up he ministered in China for 27 years, and even died there at the age of 53. And in 1834 he was buried in Macau. During those 27 years, it was very hard going, and Robert Morrison only saw ten coverts. But probably his most important work was in producing the first Chinese-English dictionary, and grammar, and the first Chinese Bible translation. The dictionary took him 13 years to compile, and when finally published it came in three volumes. And his Bible translation also took about 13 years, and while he could have done it for the Mandarin of the educated class, he worked to produce it in the language of the common people. All of these things he had to do in secret, because it was actually illegal for Chinese people to teach Chinese to foreigners, it was punishable by death. But even though he only saw ten people come to Christ in his 27 years, his Chinese Bible, his Chinese dictionary and grammar was actually immensely important for the missionaries that came afterwards – missionaries like as James Hudson Taylor, who was to land in China 20 years after Robert Morrison's death. Robert Morrison's ministry probably didn't seem terribly grand during his time, and in fact we might be tempted to call it a failure. But God's ways are not our ways. And the seed that he planted, of the gospel in the common language of the Chinese, has flourished and borne much fruit over the past 200 years - some estimate that 200 years on, there are now 30 million Christians in China. We can give thanks that God sent missionaries like Robert Morrison to bring the light of the gospel to our ancestors! And we can also see his strong conviction that God will speak through his word. A Bible that people could understand – the Bibles that we all have are a precious thing that he thought worth labouring for. [ PS: Robert Morrison was part of the 'first wave' of modern missions, that reached out to the coastal trading cities of distant countries. ] 10/11/2007 Survey of English pastors of Chinese churchesThey received 62 responses, and the findings of the survey can be found at the following website: http://www.cccowe.org/eng/content.php?id=69 and also has some graphs worth checking out. One shocking statistic is the attrition rate of English senior pastors and assistant pastors in the Chinese church. In the 2001-2006 period, 163 pastors had left Chinese churches to do ministry elsewhere - that's about 27 pastors a year! And considering the time and resources spent in someone going through Bible college, finding a church position, and then having to leave because it hasn't worked out, that's a massive loss to Chinese churches everywhere. Questions 9-16 asked respondents to gauge their level of satisfaction and stress in a range of different areas. It would have been better if there was a control group of non-Chinese pastors that we could compare these results with. But having said that, the stress results showed the differences between the different geographic regions. And from that we can see that , on average, English pastors in Australia experience less stress in church and ministry than our counterparts in Canada and USA (3.5 compared to 3.74 and 3.69). And English pastors in Australia are less likely to be thinking of leaving their church for another ministry position compared to our counterparts in Canada and USA (2.3 compared to 2.58 and 2.31). So it seems that, at the moment, that things in Australia are pretty good, compared to North America! Question 17 asked about the top two training needs. And the top two of every geographic region (including Australia) was 'leadership' and 'mentoring' (the other choices were 'preaching', 'time management' and 'family management'). Question 18 is also interesting. When asked what party respondents were most likely to be in conflict with, the top responses from pastors in Canda, SE Asia and Australia was 'senior pastors' and 'board'. In the USA however, it was 'lay ministry members' and 'congregation members'. Have a look at the data yourself - it's a revealing survey! [ PS: I should also note that I didn't participate in the survey... ] 10/7/2007 What Christian parents wantHowever when I speak to the children of those same parents, their perception of their parents is very different... Instead of perceiving their Christian parents as being interested in their spiritual welfare, they instead get the impression that their parents are only concerned about marks, school, and getting a good job. Moreover, it seems to them that their Christian parents are indifferent to their spiritual welfare! How does this come about?
How can parents change this perception? Christian parents must be scrupulously careful in what they communicate to their children in their words, actions and priorities. In every conversation - and even in their non verbal communication - they are teaching their children. Through all of these children build up a picture of what is important to their Christian parents. Parents need to know that their children hear and see everything that goes on in the home - and act accordingly. This means that Christian parents have to change their conversation, replacing some of those questions about studies - with questions about what they could be praying for. Or questions about their spiritual growth. Christian parents need to replace some of their concern about marks - and also show their desire that they grow in faith and hope and love. That it's just as important for them that they prepare for this world - as they do for the world to come. A few parents may actually have to repent of priorities that are in fact far away from God's plan for Christian parenthood. But for most Christian parents, thankfully it's merely a perception thing. [ PS: what is your non verbal communication conveying? ] 10/4/2007 Four ways of relating to parents1. Compliance In this model, the child does whatever the parent tells the child to do. While this may be appropriate for young children, it becomes more and more inappropriate for adult children. As an adult, their aim should be to honour their parents (see earlier post). Yet out of a desire to keep the peace, or out of laziness to commit the emotional energy needed to truly engage with their parents, or perhaps by not being aware of other ways of relating, an adult child might still relate using the compliance model. This is further complicated when parents want for their children to keep relating to them under the compliance model, well into true adulthood. While there may be compliance on the outside in terms of behaviour, on the inside the child might all the while be harbouring resentment and hatred. And while the child may have grown up, the relationship with the parents has not. 2. Disengagement In this model the child is passively disinterested in the constant nagging of the parent. They may shut themselves in their room, or cut themselves off emotionally from their parents, or seek any way to cut short conversations. This model often appears in adolesence - picture the noncommunicative teenager! This stems from the awareness that somehow, things are now different in the relationship - but an uncertainty as to how to relate to parents in a new situation. And perhaps the simplest solution to this discomfort is to withdraw, and talk as little as possible. Ironically, parents often respond to disengagement by pursuing their teenager (or even adult child) more and more, since it seems that their words of caution and wisdom aren't sinking in. And so caring parents repeat their messages again and again so as to be heard - but this is perceived as nagging. The situation that was once merely uncomfortable for the child now becomes annoying - and this then leads to a vicious cycle where the child retreats further and further from their parents. 3. Confrontation In this model the child reacts against their parents making use of their newly discovered powers of articulation and personhood. All of a sudden they discover their rights as a person, and how their rights are not being respected by parents. And this comes out in the fights they have with their parents. "I'm an adult now, I can go out if I want, you can't stop me." This is one of the unfortunate outcomes of Western individualism's focus on the individual's rights - the relationships we are in must necessarily take second place. 4. Engagement In this final model, the adult child is actively engaging with their parents. The adult child is relating to their parents as an adult, seeking to understand their arguments, showing interest in their views, sharing information that they have, and asking for advice. In short, engagement is acting responsibly. I detailed five steps to engagement in the last post (see previous post). But observe that engagement is different from compliance. In compliance the parent is the one doing the thinking and making decisions; in engagement the child is the one making decisions, and enlists the help of parents in their thinking and decision making process. The adult child is now the one who makes decisions - and does so in a responsible manner. And engagement is different from confrontation. It shares with it the use of the child's powers of articulation and awareness of personhood - but it is mature, not childish. The adult child realises that to make responsible decisions, it is wise to listen to the counsel of their parents. To seek their advice. And the adult child realises that they are not merely individuals, but beings created for relationships. [ PS: what model characterises your relationship with your parents? ] 10/1/2007 How to get along with your parents
Well, it will probably come as no surprise that this is what many Chinese young people find, and from a whole lot of different churches too.
In today's post I'll let you know one of the reasons why this happens - and what you can do about it.
First of all, you have to understand that Asian parents want their children to be responsible - not independent.
Responsibility and independence sound like the same thing - but they are definitely not! As an ABC you are probably hoping that you can become independent, but this is not what your parents are looking for - they are looking for responsibility. This is because of a clash of cultures - Easterners tend to be more collectivist in their thinking, and Westerners tend to be more individualistic in their thinking. And since many ABCs have been brought up in Australia, it's no surprise that ABCs unconsciously take on a lot of the values of their adopted culture, one of which is individualism.
Your parents want you to be responsible. But unless they see evidence of you being responsible, they naturally won't treat you as though you're responsible - it's as simple as that. Because they love you and care for you, they will protect you in the only way they know how - by making decisions for you, and by vetoing your decisions in order to protect you. That's why it seems that they are treating you like children - it's because they are treating you like the children they perceive you to be!
Secondly then: if you want to improve your relationship with your parents, what you need to do is not just be responsible, but actually show them that you are responsible.
See, you may actually have been making responsible decisions for years now. In fact some of the young people whom I know struggle with all this are actually already in the workforce, and hold very responsible jobs. They exercise the kind of responsibility every day that people are willing to pay money for! But at home they are still being treated like a teenager. And that's because they haven't shown to their parents that they can be responsible.
Consider honestly what your parents see of you. It's likely that they following things happen:
Now honestly. Given that perception, you really can't fault parents for stepping in, can you! It really does appear to them that you are going to ruin your life, so they naturally want to step in and protect you. Instead of seeing this as them trying to make your life hard, see it as a sign of their love and concern.
A lot of these things are perception problems. For example, you actually have been giving that decision a lot of thought, and have already worked out the pros and cons like a responsible person would - it's just that they weren't aware you were doing all of that. You may be a tremendously responsible person at work, but they don't see what you do in the city - only what you do during those rushed moments at home.
There may also be a range of other reasons as well that can complicate your relationship. But just with this, you can already see some strong reasons why they might be dubious about your responsibility.
There are in fact some things you can do to help with this perception problem, and you have it within your power to make that change. When they begin nagging you about something, instead of responding like a teenager and storming off to your room, why not sit down and talk to them about it, just like you would a colleague at work? Instead of cutting off the lines of communication, take the lead in opening them up further, just like a responsible adult would. Ask them questions about how it makes them feel. Why it worries them so much. Maybe even thank them for bringing it to your attention. They nag because they think you haven't heard them the first time, and so they need to say it again and again. You need to show them that, as a responsible adult, you are willing to hear from them - in fact, you welcome it.
When you have a decision that needs to be made, allow them to be part of your thinking process. Do some of your own initial thinking about the pros and cons (just some, not all of your thinking), and then go to them and ask them for their advice. Talk them through the pros and cons that you see, and ask them what they reckon. They will probably leap in and give you a solution ("you should do this"). But that's not good enough for a responsible person - ask them for their reasons for thinking that's the way to go. Test their reasons - not as a beligerent teenager, but instead as someone who wants to understand their wisdom and pick their brains. See if the three of you can maybe come up with some more pros and cons, or a new way of thinking about it together. This way they can see that you actually do think about decisions responsibly, and that you do have some insight into the things of this world.
So thirdly, in those areas where you have been given responsibility, you want to make sure that you are making responsible decisions and acting in a responsible manner.
Young children obviously shouldn't have a lot of responsibility given to them (so a lot of what I have to say here needs to be stored away for another time), but adults ought to have responsibility, and should be capable of handling it. And when they see that you are responsible, they will feel more and more comfortable in allowing you more and more responsibility in greater and greater areas.
It's not going to happen overnight, but it will happen, as they see that happening. And trust me, the first few times you do the responsible thing, they may not say anything, but they will notice it. And when they see the pattern of responsibility building up, they will start to treat you as an adult.
The fourth thing is to remember that, in all of this, as a responsible adult, you are the one who still has to make up the decision.
This not about making them happy by obediently doing what they tell you to do - that's going back to childhood! No, it's actually about showing them that you think and act responsibly - like an adult.
So in the end you may not actually go with what they told you to do. But hopefully they will see that you were responsible in your thinking process. They may not be entirely happy, but hopefully they would have been impressed.
The fifth thing to keep in mind is that this is not an act - you really do want to learn from their wisdom.
You are not just pretending to listen - trust me on this. They're your parents, they know you very well, they can tell if you're faking it. Especially when you haven't had lots of practice! Instead consider that, because they know you very well, it's actually a good thing for your decision making. Your friends that you talk to all the time? They only know you for a couple of years. But they've known you for 20 years plus! Not only that, they must have had some level of wisdom to have made it so far in this world, especially as migrants!
So what you want to do as a responsible person is to make full use of their general wisdom, as well as their particular inside knowledge of your character strengths and weaknesses over 20+ years of interacting with you. When they tell you that "this course is not so good for you, you should do that instead", they actually have a lot of authority. Ask them for their reasons for them saying that. It may in fact be built on some insights to your character that your friends don't have the history or the maturity to pick up. And only your parents can provide that kind of insight to you. Ask them specifically about what they know of your character, and add it to your thinking material.
Again, it's still up to you to make the decision in the end, but remember that it's the responsible and adult thing to do.
Your parents have a lot of wisdom they can share - and they can also make your life pretty hard! Why not make things easy for yourself, and make the most of the wisdom they have at the same time?
[ PS: things have been really busy since returning from Malaysia/Singapore, that's why there weren't any posts in September! ] |
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