A few days ago, a pastor shared via the internet that if Chinese churches want to go abroad to practice the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, they must have an international vision.
First, the pastor cited the story of Abraham, who left his hometown and journeyed to the Promised Land. Abraham started from Ur in the Chaldeans and travelled to Haran and from there to Canaan.
“How can we reinterpret Abraham’s route in the present time?” the pastor asked. He suggested that the audience replace those city names in the Bible with city names with which they are familiar. By doing so, they might have a better view with regard to how Abraham travel from Iran to Iraq, then to Turkey, to Syria, then to Egypt, and eventually back to Israel.
"Does it feel different if we think about it in this way?" the pastor questioned. Indeed, Abraham’s journey revealed that he was not limited to one place, but he had a very international vision for his time.
Next, the pastor gave examples of the prophets in the Bible, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Amos, all of whom mentioned the judgments of the nations of their time. If we interpreted all of these in the present time, those prophets were actually announcing the fate of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. “Does it feel different again?", the pastor asked, emphasizing that those prophets, like Abraham, had an international vision.
Then the pastor asked the participants: "Can you name the fourteen countries that border China?" He wondered if our pastors are too narrow-minded. He pointed out that many pastors of Chinese churches may often only see the domestic churches we attend, or sometimes even see a narrower range. “Such narrow vision will limit us greatly”, he assumed.
Taking Jonah’s trip to Nineveh as an example, he said, "He is a Jew, and God sent him to Iraq, but he chose to go to Spain instead. He must have taken an international shipping company to reach there. If he did not have an vision for international ministry, he would have been lost. To make it even worse, he had to tackle language issues as well.”
The pastor referred to the second chapter of Acts, where the Holy Spirit came, and many people heard their own local languages from others who were not of their origin and heard them talked about the Kingdom of God in tongues. This must have been very inspiring.
“If we go into missions to ethnic minorities, but no one can preach in the local language, how do we do missions?” The pastor also emphasized that an international vision is very important for us if we want to follow Jesus’ Great Commission, but the reality is that many of our pastors lack a mission vision and have little experience in international cooperation. This will bring many limitations with regard to carrying out the Great Commission on all the earth.
He also shared the difference between internationalization and localization. He said that first of all, we must have an international perspective. We must break through the limitations of Chinese culture, but at the same time preserve our own culture. In general, as an international church or an international person, we must be able to integrate different cultural environments and preserve our own characteristics. In this regard, he mentioned the Antioch church in the Bible as a typical international church. The five core co-workers all had a vision for an international mission. In particular, Paul and Barnabas came from multicultural backgrounds. Other members also had complex and broad expertise in their background.
Lastly, he mentioned that if the Chinese church wants to do missions abroad, it is even more important to have a vision for ministry that is international.
"The Chinese church is not behind closed doors, entertaining only itself… going out of the country... It is essential to be in contact with the world. Then how to integrate with the international world? How to integrate into an international family? It requires us to have international cooperation capabilities and take the responsibility and mission of the Chinese church. Therefore, it is very important to have an international vision ".
- Translated by Xiaodan Zeng
日前，一位牧者在网上分享信息时说，中国教会若想走出国门实践耶稣基督的大使命，那么不可缺少国际化的视野和胸怀。
首先，他以圣经中大家所熟悉的亚伯拉罕说起，大家都知道亚伯拉罕是从迦勒底的吾珥出发到哈兰再到迦南地的，那么如果重新解读一样这条路线呢?这位牧师建议听众们可以就用我们现在熟悉的地名换到地图里面感觉一下，就是亚伯拉罕是从伊朗到伊拉克，再到土耳其，再到叙利亚，然后去到埃及，再回到以色列。“这样，是不是就感觉不一样了呢？”可以看到亚伯拉罕并不只是局限于一地一池，在当时是很有国际化视野的。
他再举例圣经中的先知们。以赛亚、耶利米、但以理、以西结、何西阿和阿摩司都提到了对列国的审判，如果换一种现在更容易理解的说法，就是说先知们对沙特阿拉伯、叙利亚、埃及、格鲁尼亚、保加利亚、罗马尼亚、巴基斯坦、土库曼斯坦、阿富汗这些国家的命运一一数点，是不是又感觉不一样了呢？“那么，当时的先知们是不是很有国际化的视野呢？”
接着他让大家思考一个问题：“今天与中国接壤的十四个国家，我们能说出他们的名字来么？”由此，他思考我们的牧者是不是眼光太窄了呢？我们可能常常只是看到自己身处的这个教会，甚至也许只是看到更窄的范围，这种视野会局限我们很多。
这位牧师又以约拿去尼尼微为例，说：“他一个犹太人，神派他去伊拉克，可是他偏偏要去西班牙，还搭上一艘外邦人的国际航运船，如果他没有国际化的视野，他连东南西北都分不清；更何况这里还涉及到语言问题。”
使徒行传2章里面，圣灵降临的时候，很多人都听到了自己的乡谈，听到自己的家乡话在说神国的道理，这让人感觉是很不一样的。如果去少数民族宣教，却没有人可以用当地的语言讲道，那如何宣教呢？更何况要国际宣教呢？
这位牧师强调说，国际化的视野对于我们在实践耶稣的大使命时是非常重要的，但现实是我们很多的牧者缺少国际化的视野和国际合作的经验，这会带来很多的局限。
在这里，他也插入分享了国际化和本土化的区别。他说到，首先我们要有国际化的视野，突破华人文化的一个局限，同时也要保存自己的本土化特色，综合而言，作为一个国际教会或者是国际人，是能够融合不同的文化环境，而且还能保存自己的自身特色。对此，他举出圣经里面的安提阿教会就是一个典型的国际化的教会，核心的5个同工都是具有国际范的，像保罗和巴拿巴都有双文化背景，教会的其他成员背景也是相当复杂的。
最后他讲到中国教会要走出国门，具有国家化的视野就更显得尤为重要了。他说：“中国教会其实不是闭门造车、自娱自乐，走出过国门....势必要接触国际。那如何跟国际上接轨？如何融入国际化的一个大家庭？需要我们具备国际的合作能力，承担起中国教会当尽的责任和使命。所以具有国际化的国度的视野和胸怀就显得非常重要了。”
有牧师分享：中国教会的牧者们不可缺少国际化视野
A few days ago, a pastor shared via the internet that if Chinese churches want to go abroad to practice the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, they must have an international vision.
First, the pastor cited the story of Abraham, who left his hometown and journeyed to the Promised Land. Abraham started from Ur in the Chaldeans and travelled to Haran and from there to Canaan.
“How can we reinterpret Abraham’s route in the present time?” the pastor asked. He suggested that the audience replace those city names in the Bible with city names with which they are familiar. By doing so, they might have a better view with regard to how Abraham travel from Iran to Iraq, then to Turkey, to Syria, then to Egypt, and eventually back to Israel.
"Does it feel different if we think about it in this way?" the pastor questioned. Indeed, Abraham’s journey revealed that he was not limited to one place, but he had a very international vision for his time.
Next, the pastor gave examples of the prophets in the Bible, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Amos, all of whom mentioned the judgments of the nations of their time. If we interpreted all of these in the present time, those prophets were actually announcing the fate of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. “Does it feel different again?", the pastor asked, emphasizing that those prophets, like Abraham, had an international vision.
Then the pastor asked the participants: "Can you name the fourteen countries that border China?" He wondered if our pastors are too narrow-minded. He pointed out that many pastors of Chinese churches may often only see the domestic churches we attend, or sometimes even see a narrower range. “Such narrow vision will limit us greatly”, he assumed.
Taking Jonah’s trip to Nineveh as an example, he said, "He is a Jew, and God sent him to Iraq, but he chose to go to Spain instead. He must have taken an international shipping company to reach there. If he did not have an vision for international ministry, he would have been lost. To make it even worse, he had to tackle language issues as well.”
The pastor referred to the second chapter of Acts, where the Holy Spirit came, and many people heard their own local languages from others who were not of their origin and heard them talked about the Kingdom of God in tongues. This must have been very inspiring.
“If we go into missions to ethnic minorities, but no one can preach in the local language, how do we do missions?” The pastor also emphasized that an international vision is very important for us if we want to follow Jesus’ Great Commission, but the reality is that many of our pastors lack a mission vision and have little experience in international cooperation. This will bring many limitations with regard to carrying out the Great Commission on all the earth.
He also shared the difference between internationalization and localization. He said that first of all, we must have an international perspective. We must break through the limitations of Chinese culture, but at the same time preserve our own culture. In general, as an international church or an international person, we must be able to integrate different cultural environments and preserve our own characteristics. In this regard, he mentioned the Antioch church in the Bible as a typical international church. The five core co-workers all had a vision for an international mission. In particular, Paul and Barnabas came from multicultural backgrounds. Other members also had complex and broad expertise in their background.
Lastly, he mentioned that if the Chinese church wants to do missions abroad, it is even more important to have a vision for ministry that is international.
"The Chinese church is not behind closed doors, entertaining only itself… going out of the country... It is essential to be in contact with the world. Then how to integrate with the international world? How to integrate into an international family? It requires us to have international cooperation capabilities and take the responsibility and mission of the Chinese church. Therefore, it is very important to have an international vision ".
- Translated by Xiaodan Zeng
Chinese Pastors Must Have an International Vision, Pastor Says
