When it comes to church transformation, two house church pastors state that the Chinese church should return to the original "house church" and settle down to be equipped more before future revivals.
In 2021, we can be said to be in a new “unprecedented era of great changes”. The same is true of today’s churches, especially those in the post-pandemic era. What is the way out for the church to live out its faith to the world?
Recently a pastor in East China stressed that if Christians desired to integrate faith into their lives, they ought to pay more attention to culture and sports, and to enhance the training of willpower and character.
A scholar shared six images of rural Christianity in China through a literature review: positive reputation, utilitarianism, localization, marginalism, folk religion, and a "harmful thing".
"Many believers still can't accept services without a lobby because, without a gathering place, people would feel that their church has come to an end." A pastor in eastern China said, "Back to Jesus' teaching. Jesus did not limit the Christian connection to the church.”
Pastor W said that the traditional church model is more of a spider and a centralized model, while the re-emerging trend of micro-churches is a starfish model, and the key of starfish model lies in decentralization. In the organization of starfish model, any part of the organization can be as flexible, flat and completely autonomous as the organs of a starfish.
A pastor mentioned that a preacher should understand the background of scriptures in the context so that he would not interpret verses according to his will.
Pastor Cao Qien and Brother Liang Weibin (pseudonym), from South China, shared their pastoral experiences on how the church can better reach and shepherd Gen Z.
Cao, who has served in a charity for many years, believes "evangelism and social actions are distinct activities, and cooperation but not integration is the proper relationship between church and charity."
Many have expectations for spiritual revival, but they believe it has requirements, such as prayer, repentance and holy living. But either way, the revival requires the crowd.
Instead of arguing about megachurches or small churches, Pastor W suggests the Chinese church consider about micro church model in the post-pandemic era.
Pastor D from East China states that the church should not lie down in the atmosphere of running in place, but should still strive for development and discipline.
A Christian scholar urged that besides the Chinese Union Version (CUV) which is popular among the Chinese Christian community, Christians could also read some other well-translated Chinese Bible versions to broaden their horizons.