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Project Faith: Christianity Around the World Session 5: Christianity in China 1

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Project Faith: Christianity Around the World Session 5: Christianity in China 1 Project Faith: Christianity Around the World Session 5: Christianity in China 1. What does it mean to be a “Friend of China”? 2 Cor 2:15 For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence. 2. Asian Christians – by the numbers 3. When did Christianity Arrive in China? In the 6th & 7th centuries with missionaries from Nestorian Syriac-speaking traditions. 4. Syriac Christianity on the Silk Road: Nestorian Christianity spread eastward in the 6th century. 5. The Nestorian Stele of “the Luminous Religion”: This stele was erected in 781 and documents 150 years of early Christianity in China. It is a limestone block with text in both Chinese and Syriac describing the existence of Christian communities in several cities in northern China. 6. Christianity is preceded by Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. 7. Anti-Buddhist persecutions affected Christians too. In 845, at the height of the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution, Emperor Wuzong decreed that Buddhism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism be banned, and their very considerable assets forfeited to the state. 8. Christianity among the Mongols: Genghis Khan had Christians in his service. 9. Franciscans and Dominicans in the Middle ages: In the late 1200’s and early 1300’s Franciscan and Dominican Catholic missionaries ventured to China and met with such figures as Kublai Khan. 10. Marco Polo is part of this story. In 1271, the Polo brothers brought an invitation from Kublai Khan to Pope Gregory X, imploring him that a hundred teachers of science and religion be sent to reinforce the Christianity already present in his vast empire. The Black Death and the end of Mongol rule ended Christianity in China by 1400. 11. Coming of the Jesuits: The Society of Jesus launched missionaries efforts to China from Goa – where two Chinese boys were converts to Christianity. St. Francis Xavier dies off the coast of China in 1552 not having found an inroad to the Chinese mainland. 12. Jesuits set up missions in Macau and by 1600’s led missions on the mainland, introducing Western science, mathematics , astronomy, and cartography. 13. 17th to 18th centuries 14. The Jews of China: the Jews of Kaifeng 10th century 15. Russian Orthodoxy 16. Protestantism 17. Robert Morrison: He was born at Morpeth in Northumberland 5 January 1782 Was sent to China by the London Missionary Society in 1807 Was for twenty five years Chinese translator in the employ of The East India Company and died in Canton 1 August 1834. 18. Protestant missionary activity exploded during the next few decades. By 1953, all Protestant missionaries had been expelled by the communist government of China. 19. Persecution of Protestants In 1900 there were an estimated 100,000 Protestants in China. By 1950 the number had increased to 700,000, an impressive number but still far less than one percent of the total Chinese population. 20. Pearl S. Buck 21. Christianity Officially 22. Percentage of Christians in China: 3% 23. The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (Church): The three principles of self- governance, self-support (i.e., financial independence from foreigners), and self- propagation (i.e., indigenous missionary work). 24. First Anglican Woman ordained: Florence Li Tim-Oi, 1944 25. Persecutions still continue 26. China on course to become 'world's most Christian nation' within 15 years "By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon," said Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule. "It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change." China's Protestant community, which had just one million members in 1949, has already overtaken those of countries more commonly associated with an evangelical boom. In 2010 there were more than 58 million Protestants in China compared to 40 million in Brazil and 36 million in South Africa, according to the Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion and Public Life. Statement of Faith of the Three Self Patriotic Movement The following confession of faith was adopted on 8 January 2008:[16] The Chinese Church takes the contents of the entire Bible, the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed as the foundation of our faith, the main points of which are as follows: Ours is a Triune God, everlasting and eternal. God is Spirit. God is loving, just, holy, and trustworthy. God is almighty Father, the Lord who creates and sustains the cosmos and all that is in it, who keeps and cares for the whole world. Jesus Christ is the only Son of God, born of the Holy Spirit, the Word made flesh, wholly God and wholly human. He came into the world to save humankind, to witness to God the Father, to preach the gospel; he was crucified, died, and was buried. He rose again and ascended into heaven. He will come again to judge the world. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, who enables people to know their sinfulness and to repent, who bestows wisdom and ability and every grace, leading us to know God and to enter into the truth, enabling people to live holy lives, and to give beautiful witness to Christ. The church is the body of Christ and Christ is its Head. The church is apostolic, one, holy, and catholic. The visible church is called by God to be a fellowship of those who believe in Jesus Christ. It was established by the apostles as Jesus instructed them. The mission of the church is to preach the gospel, to administer the Sacraments, to teach and nurture believers, to do good works, and to bear witness to the Lord. The church is both universal and particular. The Chinese Church must build itself up in love and be one in Christ. The Bible has been revealed by God and written down by human beings through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is the highest authority in matters of faith and the standard of life for believers. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, people in different times have gained new light in the Bible. The Bible should be interpreted in accordance with the principle of rightly explaining the word of truth. It should not be interpreted arbitrarily or out of context. Human beings are made in the image of God, but cannot become gods. God has given humanity dominion over all God's creation. Because of sin, human beings have diminished God's glory, yet through faith and the grace of Jesus Christ, human beings are redeemed and saved, and are granted resurrection and everlasting life. Christ will come again. According to the teachings of the Bible, no one knows the day of his coming, and any method to determine when Christ will come again violates the teachings of the Bible. A Christian's faith and works are one. Christians must live out Christ in the world, glorifying God and benefiting people. .
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