RESET YOUR CLOCK: A New Hour in PRC Ministry in North America Samuel Ling [Note. This is an expanded version of a talk given at a retreat of PRC Christian leaders, Lake Forest, Illinois, November 15, 1996.] I. What Time Is It? -- Stirrings of the Birth of a New Movement PRC ministry is a field of mission and ministry which has been undergoing constant and rapid change. Since the first cross-cultural missionaries began reaching PRC’s in North America for Christ in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, there are estimates that 5% to 10% of the 300,000 PRC’s in North America have accepted Christ. This means that there are about 20,000 PRC’s who have once professed faith in Christ. Hundreds of American (Caucasian) individuals, families, churches, para-church groups (IVCF, ISI, CCC, Navigators, COM, etc.) and other ministry groups continue to befriend, love, evangelize and disciple PRC’s. The newest member of this ministry field is the Mandarin-speaking Chinese congregation in North America: of the Mandarin-speaking baptism candidates in the 1990’s, about 90% of them come from mainland China! Add to the above astounding development the fact that there are dozens (some say 200) PRC seminary students and full time Christian workers in North America, and we can truly say that a “PRC Christian movement” (or a new generation of PRC believers) is in the making. A very crucial recent development is the planting of PRC churches. Whether the Chinese church in North America can accept this or not, the fact is that PRC’s are beginning to start churches on their own, for their own people, in order that discipling and ministry opportunities may be maximized for the thousands of new PRC converts. In Canada alone, we can witness over 20 congregations within Chinese churches devoted to, or made up largely of, PRC worshippers. The number is much higher in the USA. The present moment is similar, in my own mind, to the 1970’s for the non-PRC Chinese Christian movement in North America. In 1972, the North America Congress of Chinese Evangelicals met for the first time in Richardson Springs, California. NACOCE gave birth to CCCOWE in 1976. By 1974, Kenneth Chin and others in the Pray For Asia Fellowship were calling for a movement for Chinese students to return to Asia to engage in mission. This generation of California-based leaders went on to develop the World Christian Conference for Christian Graduates in the late 1980’s. Meanwhile at the 1978 NACOCE congress, the Fellowship of American Chinese Evangelicals (FACE) was born, sounding a call for “parallel ministries” for American and Canadian born Chinese in the Chinese church. Today, American born Chinese ministries, and the broader challenge of planting Asian-American churches, are an accepted part of the ministry scene in North America. The late 1990’s is a crucial moment in PRC ministry. We are witnessing a new stage: some say that the golden hour of PRC evangelism in North America is over. This does not mean that we do not need to reach out to PRC’s; quite the contrary, the need is greater than ever, as the size of the PRC community continues to grow, as many graduates settle in the corporate world and raise their children here. The point is: the needs are more complex. We need to think of PRC ministry in the same way in which we think of the OBC (Hong Kong-Taiwan) and ABC church: PRC’s need a complete set of ministries to serve them: pre-evangelism (English lessons, friendship, hospitality, etc.), evangelism (by the Chinese church as well as the cross-cultural American PRC workers), discipleship (the most crucial need), leadership training (where PRC churches fill a real need), theological training (an often neglected need, but which has far reaching implications), literature, counseling, and overall coordination. The time has come for PRC workers -- Americans, Chinese from Hong Kong/Taiwan, and PRC’s themselves -- to pool our resources and take the next step in faith. II. Chinese Intellectuals and Christianity in Modern Chinese History, 1800-2000 The history of Christianity in China has been the frustrating and fascinating history of the encounter of the Christian gospel with Chinese culture. From the time of the Jesuits in the 16th and 17th centuries, Chinese intellectuals have been fascinated by Christianity, but often misunderstood why the missionaries went to China. In the 19th century, Protestant missionaries did much to modernize Chinese society, introducing women’s education, modern medicine, journalism, shipbuilding, mathematics, as well as working to end foot-binding and opium addiction. During this time when Chinese officials began to understand the need for a “self-strengthening movement” (1860’s to 1890’s), Chinese intellectuals sometimes came into contact with Christianity. For example, the leader of the 1898 Hundred Days’ Reform movement Liang Ch’i-ch’ao worked as a secretary for the missionary Timothy Richard in 1894 and 1895. Richard, a Welsh Baptist who was far ahead of his time, translated hundreds of manuscripts into Chinese. His idea of Christian literature was: it should be as broad as God’s (general) revelation, and commensurate with men’s needs. Richard’s organization in China, the Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge (SDK), continues to exist today as the Chinese Christian Literature Council in Hong Kong. However Chinese intellectuals often did not understand the true meaning of the gospel, and missed an opportunity to commit their lives to Christ. As a matter of fact, scholars and officials attacked Christianity vigorously in the 1860’s and 1890’s, culminating in the Boxer Uprising of 1900. And when one such intellectual leader did become a Christian -- Dr. Sun Yat-sen -- he was forbidden by his elder brother to go into the ministry. Instead he became a doctor and led in the Revolution of 1911. After this revolution, Chinese intellectuals such as Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, Cai Yuanpei and Li Dazhao began to see that China needed a much deeper transformation than that provided by a piece of paper called the constitution (drafted by an American professor). China need a culture marked by science, progress, democratic values, individual freedom, and by ... some overarching, all-encompassing ideology. Christianity was tried and rejected (and attacked, 1922-1927); many went on to choose Marxism. The rest is history, as China became a socialist country in 1949. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, after the Communist revolution of 1949, revival broke out and many students turned to Christ. Many of these students came and replaced an early generation of Korean-War students (who mostly became secularized after graduation), and started Bible study groups which by the 1980’s became churches. This is the first wave of true openness to the gospel. The PRC’s in the 1980’s and 1990’s represent the second wave of openness. These two are so close to one another in time, that we often miss the tremendous meaning of what is happening right before our eyes. With such a turbulent history in the recent past, it is inevitable that the current generation of PRC’s in North America (and in Europe/England, Japan, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong) would have a deep misunderstanding (and even mistrust) of Christianity, understood as a historic religious institution closely tied to 19th century imperialism. It is in response to this challenge of misunderstanding, that PRC ministry must rise and give a biblical apologetic for the faith once delivered to the saints in Scripture. III. Chinese Intellectuals and the Chinese Church, 1800-2000 The Chinese church is the fruit of the labors of western missionaries, who largely brought a pietist, anti-theological gospel to China. On top of this, Chinese revivalists and evangelists have added a moralistic tone to their preaching, echoing Confucian values of submission, loyalty and clan solidarity. In recent years we have reaped the fruit of such an anti-intellectual, anti-cultural bias: while the rich spiritual heritage of missions and the indigenous revivalists have strengthened the mainland Chinese church to face persecution and suffering in the past 45 years, the overseas Chinese church has been unable to rise up to the intellectual challenge of this strategic hour in history, to answer the myriad of questions raised by PRC’s. What the PRC’s want, in short, is nothing less than a full-orbed biblical life and world view: what does the Bible have to say about politics? music? art criticism? interracial relations? the future development of Chinese thought and culture? What will be the model of the PRC church in North America? It will inevitably be a blend of several elements: (a) the strong emphasis on suffering, sacrifice, the Cross, and prayer coming from the house church movement in mainland China; (b) the revivalist, anti-intellectual and pietistic tradition perpetuated both in mainland China and through the overseas Chinese church; (c) an elitist, cerebral demand for strong, expository preaching of Bible doctrine with no frills; and (d) a struggle to find role models and Biblical precedents for teamwork, compromise, and leadership patterns. The overseas (Hong Kong/Taiwan) Chinese church is handling over to the PRC Christian community an ecclesiological crisis. In the past 30 years we were busy doing evangelism, discipleship and missions. We neglected to build a biblical life and world view, and we certainly neglected to search for a strong, biblical model for the church. All of us, PRC’s and otherwise, need to do catch-up homework now. IV. Chinese Intellectuals and the Kingdom of God What are the goals of mission? First, to bring men and women under the Lordship of Christ, to bring every thought captive to Christ (II Corinthians 10:4-5). Second, to disciple believers into maturity as a church, as a missionary movement. We need to pray for PRC missionaries! Third, to enable the indigenous church to impact their society and culture with the power of the gospel, until Christ returns! Within these three goals, several needs deserve special emphasis: (a) family counseling and the rebuilding of marriages and blended families; (b) building a biblical and loving church community (see above, III), and (c) developing a Christian ethical value system for doing work in the business world (especially in a world filled with greed and corruption). These three emphasis fit the three creation ordinances given by God to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1-2: (a) be fruitful and multiply, (b) rest and worship the Lord, (c) develop the garden, manage the earth! V. Chinese Intellectuals and the Imitation of Christ As a whole generation of PRC’s come to Christ, grow in their walk with the Lord, and begin a career in ministry, we pray that Christ may be their model and Master. 1. Commitment What does it mean to be born-again? Certainly the new birth consists of more than “joining a club,” i.e. the church. It involves a radical, inner, total transformation of the heart. Many PRC Christians need to re-consider whether they are truly born again, by taking a second look at repentance. How do we deal with sin? Are we honest enough with ourselves? Have we truly turned our whole lives over to the Lordship of Christ? The traditional distinction between “accepting Christ as Savior” and “dedicating our lives to live for the Lord” is not helpful. We need to preach the gospel of the Kingdom: The King is here, and the King is recruiting disciples, totally committed to Him. That is the gospel. 2. Biblical Use of the Mind There is a popular version of mysticism/existentialism being communicated among PRC’s today. This type of thinking makes the mind (thinking) to be sin. Original sin consists of using the mind. What we should do, in order to know God, is to reject the mind, and make a “leap upward” to the realm of faith and intuition. The soul need this mystical leap. This kind of thinking is opposed to things intellectual; often this rejection is aimed at western thought. (It is curious to note that very often western-style education and thinking is used to attack so-called western cognitive thinking). The Bible tells us that God created us to love Him with all our heart and all of mind. We are to understand His will (Colossians 1:10) with all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Granted, the sinful mind does not understand the things of God (I Corinthians 2); however the Holy Spirit’s work is to transform the mind (Romans 12:2; John 14:26, 15:26) so that the sinner understands his/her misery and need for the grace of God. The mind is transformed -- the soul is born again. The born again mind is to submit to the will of God as revealed in the Word of God. Psalm 119 is filled with exhortation to meditate on the Word of God, in order to gain wisdom (Proverbs 1:9). The mind is part of who we are, as human beings. We do not jump out of the mind in order to reach God. God transforms our mind; we submit our minds, cleansing it of secular thought patterns (Romans 12:2, I Cor. 1) and allowing the Spirit of God to fill us with His thoughts. 3. True Renewal of the Heart When a PRC meets Christ, he/she is often so overwhelmed by the love of God, as demonstrated by the Christian community, that there is an initial crisis-point (climax) of healing and celebration. The challenge is: once we become Christians, how do we give our hearts to Christ to live out a life of discipline and obedience? Part of the PRC’s reaction to 40 years of life under socialism is a tremendous, heart-felt search for freedom, meaning and liberation. PRC ministry events often fill this void with love, friendship, and celebration. While celebration is definitely part of what it means to be a member of the people of God, celebration is not the end-all. Life is lived out in obedience to God. Jesus says, if we love him, we must obey his commands. Discipline is hard work. It will be hard for PRC’s who have found a new freedom in the post-socialist era. The Holy Spirit will take our hearts and make them obedient. We will learn new habits (prayer, meditation on God’s Word, tithing, submitting to church authorities), and un-learn old ones. There is a very healthy emphasis, among PRC ministry leaders, on sin and the struggle to live holy lives. May this holiness be translated into ordered lifestyles. 4. Community One of the toughest challenges which merit our prayers, is how do we build teamwork in the PRC Christian community. The non-PRC cross-cultural worker need to be sensitive to just how elitist is the PRC’s position before he/she left China. If we can appreciate the absolutely privileged position many of them held in society, we can begin to understand the challenge to mutual submission. Although this may be an unwelcome remark (often shared among PRC Christians and PRC ministry workers), we need to face the fact and ask God to help us with his grace: We need to learn mutual submission. As PRC congregations are planted and as they grow, we will learn how to give of our energy and time -- first to do “little things” like washing the dishes -- and how to give our money -- tithing as the Bible teaches. Then we will learn to relate, as a PRC body, to the larger Christian world, where years of experience and habit have made the non- PRC church set in her own ways. Sometimes PRC Christians have a hard time understanding things like tax-deductible receipts, Board meeting minutes and decisions, incorporation and non-profit status, etc. The non-PRC need to be patient and help. Conclusion Let us reset our clocks. The present hour is the hour of building up the Body of Christ, the Church, among PRC’s. And much of the work will be done by PRC’s. Are we willing, sometimes, to forgo the more spectacular work of evangelism (where numbers of conversions look good on ministry reports) and let the PRCs themselves do it, and devote ourselves to the un-spectacular work of building up one worker at a time: a pastor here, a writer there, a thinker over here, a deacon/elder in the local church... The Holy Spirit has given the PRC Christians to the whole Christian community. They are family. Is it time to re-invest in these precious lives?