Samuel H. Chao^[1]

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of our founder, Reverend Jonathan Chao. How can we commemorate this pioneer who supported the growth of the Chinese house church movement, who spared no effort in establishing Chinese theological seminaries, and who led the revitalization of mission work in China? When he founded the China Ministries International (CMI), he advocated for the “Three-fold Vision” (Evangelization of China, Kingdomization of Church, and Christianization of Culture) as the guiding direction that Chinese churches should strive towards. During his lifetime, he constantly rallied for the “Three-fold Vision”, but there were few followers at that time. Now, twenty years later, the “Three-fold Vision” has been recognized by many Chinese churches. Nevertheless, how do we implement the “Three-fold Vision”? We believe now is the time. We need to clarify its trajectory from historical context, work on current strategies, and look forward to its future direction. We have no time to waste, because the whole world has been changing drastically in the past twenty years.

We recall that Rev. Jonathan Chao seized the opportunity of China's “Reform and Opening Up” in 1978, establishing the "Chinese Church Research Center" in Hong Kong, and publishing the journal of “China and the Church” among other publications. I believe that this journal has benefited many churches, mission organizations, agencies around the world who have been involved in China missions, as well as scholars who study China. I also expect that this new journal, “Gospel! Culture! Kingdom!” will help readers to gain a better understanding of mission work in China, because the time has arrived to “Let the Gospel come out from China!”

I. Opportunities and Challenges Brought to Churches in China by Globalization

The globalization process brought about by the information explosion in the past two decades has enabled Chinese Christians who have been isolated for nearly seventy years to finally contact overseas churches through communication channels such as smartphones, the Internet, and social media. The contact between churches at home and abroad was supposed to be a good sign for the “Kingdomization of Church”. However, in reality, the contact is now fragmented and intermittent due to the following reasons. It does not promote the Kingdomization of Church, but may even become an obstacle:

The Chinese government has intensified its strict control over the Internet. In recent years, a series of internet regulations have made it increasingly difficult for Christians to go over the Internet Firewall to obtain information and resources from overseas churches. More and more Zoom accounts used by Chinese churches for online courses have been revoked, and Zoom accounts registered abroad are also prohibited in China. At the same time, through stealing online registration information, the government strives to prevent Chinese Christians from traveling abroad to attend various conferences. For example, in 2024, the national security and related departments issued a large campaign and warned house churches not to send people to attend the Lausanne World Mission Conference in Seoul, South Korea. As for Christians who have attended conferences in places such as Thailand, South Korea, or Hong Kong, many of them were questioned by police after returning home. It is obvious that the Chinese government intends to completely cut off the connection between the Chinese church and churches around the world, and to reduce the Christian church to a tool serving its totalitarian ideology.
Due to internet blockades and communication restrictions, Chinese churches’ understanding of overseas churches is mainly limited to the overseas Chinese churches, and they have little contact and understanding of the non-Chinese speaking churches. Due to the fact that there are a small percentage of Chinese churches in the total number of churches around the world, Chinese churches lack contact with and understanding of the many churches around the world that have diverse cultural and ethnic groups. Therefore, it is hard for the Chinese church to have a kingdom mindset and vision to expand the Kingdom of God. It is also easy to have biases such as: the ַabsolutization of some models of theology, pastoral care and church governance from a certain denomination, and hostility towards other churches. This makes the already fractured Chinese churches even more divided, making it difficult to achieve Kingdomization, and weakens the power to preach the Gospel.
Since only a few institutions report on the situation of the church in China, churches around the world cannot have a comprehensive understanding of the church in China. For example, the outside usually only knows that the Chinese church is persecuted by the regime, and knows little about the dynamics of pastoral care and state of the spiritual life in Chinese churches. The Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of house churches is certainly a heartbreaking fact, but the biggest crisis for the Chinese church does not necessarily come from external persecution, but from the spiritual health of the church. This is especially true when church leaders lack spiritual maturity and the ability to shepherd the heart. They will not be able to shepherd millions of broken families, especially the young generation who swing between the two poles of “Juan (fighting to work hard)” and “Tang (lying idle and do nothing)”, let alone be able to carry out fruitful missionary work, social charity, social justice, and other ministries. Overseas churches’ lack of understanding about Chinese churches seriously prevents them from sound judgment regarding China mission strategies, making it difficult to provide proper help that meets the real needs of the Chinese church.

II. Opportunities and Challenges Brought to China Ministries International by Globalization

Globalization not only brings opportunities and challenges to the Chinese church, but also provides opportunities and challenges to CMI. For example, Rev. Jonathan Chao’s “Three-fold Vision” has been followed by many overseas Chinese churches and mainland Chinese churches over the past 40 years. We can take advantage of the trend of global digitalization in order to truthfully and holistically present to the world how the Chinese churches have inherited and implemented this vision. We hope that churches around the world, with their diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, may be inspired to implement the "Three-fold Vision" too, making it a blessing and contribution of the Chinese church to the universal church.

Meanwhile, CMI may share with the Chinese church the experience and fruitfulness of the universal church to deepen their understanding and implementation of the “Three-fold Vision". This can be achieved by relying on the network and resources accumulated by the universal church around the world over the past forty years, and through various channels including traditional writing, multimedia, etc. Especially at the Kingdomization level, we may not only focus on the unity of the Chinese church itself, but also move towards unity with the universal Christian church. In these last days, we must fight against the “cosmic powers over the present darkness” (including the spiritual forces of cultural secularism, religious extremism, and political authoritarianism), and mobilize all of God’s people to expand the kingdom of God and to welcome the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Of course, CMI also faces a challenge: Are we willing to break out of the familiar framework of China mission work in the past few decades? Are we willing to explore a new pathway to connect China missions and world missions with a global perspective and an eschatological awareness?

III. The New Journal Gospel! Culture! Kingdom!: An Attempt to Connect Churches in China and the Universal Church

In response to the above-mentioned opportunities and challenges facing the Chinese church and China missions due to globalization, we hereby propose to inaugurate a new Journal. This journal will provide a platform of direct communication between the Chinese church and the universal church as an attempt to make China missions global.

Dr. Samuel H. Chao has been the president of CMI US since 2004, and has served as a missionary to China and East Asia with his wife ever since. He is now writing an official biography of the late Jonathan Chao with a team of writers including Lorna Chao and Susanna Chen. ↩︎