The church is a platform that can often reach out to different social groups. For instance, there are workplace groups, rural migrant worker groups, intellectual groups, stay-at-home mothers and disabled groups and so on. Recently, the Christian Times interviewed brother W who specializes in serving the intellectual community, and he shared his experience and sentiment of pastoring this community for more than 10 years.
Brother X is an intellectual Christian who did philosophy and culture research for many years, and later became a Christian. In the process, he experienced from the usual kind of wait-and-see attitude, cool judgment of the Christian faith, and then the mental journey of being broken and inspired by God’s truth and love. Brother X said frankly, “The first characteristic of intellectuals is that they are rational. For instance, when pastors talk about miracles in the Bible, it is difficult for such people to understand and accept them. When pastors talk about Genesis chapter 1 to chapter 11, involving cosmology, astronomical galaxies, geology, archaeology and other fields, many pastors themselves are lack of confidence concerning these topics, so the intellectuals are the group that will have rational debates and doubting questions on such topics. They will use reason to analyze, and then go around a big circle, and eventually they will not return to what the Bible is about, but become rational analysts.”
“This factor will influence intellectuals to open their hearts to listen to God’s Word. In fact, the Bible is telling a creation myth, which is a poetic style. These kind of people are rational. On the positive side, it can promote pastors to discover their blind spots and promote pastors to grow up again. On the other hand, some questions are inconclusive, so people should not get caught up in them and ignore the core message of faith. However, it is often difficult to convince these people or even leave their faith because the pastors are not deep enough or refuse to answer or prevaricate.”
“When pastoring intellectuals, whether preaching or talking with them, pastors need to give a basic framework and logic. For instance, when pastors talk about Kings, if you can share it with a basic framework and logic, they will be more convinced. When preaching, it is also best to have a basic framework and outline. If pastors follow their own feelings, it is difficult to attract such people without logic and a sense of system.” Brother X adds.
Brother X continues, “Among the intellectuals, there is a kind called humanistic intellectuals. These people have a good opinion of Christianity, but their background is the background of Chinese culture. Some people will say that they feel very comfortable and concentrated in reading of the Analects of Confucius, but when reading the Bible, they feel that there is something like a gap. Therefore, when this happens, pastors need to do cross-cultural communication, and pastors need to compare and interpret the characters in Chinese culture with this theme in the Bible, so as to help these people establish a cultural identity and natural input. For instance, Jerusalem and the Forbidden City, one is the city of God and the other is the center of imperial power. There are similarities and differences between the two in cultural comparison, but the ultimate goal is to make each other better accept the values and cultural views in the Bible.”
“Intellectuals in a broad sense include: lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers, etc. This kind of group is actually the most difficult to open their hearts, because they all wear a professional mask. They are very eager to be respected by others. Therefore, these people are very proud, have a strong sense of self-esteem, and are unwilling to open their weakness to pastors and staff. They are even less willing to accept being broken. They often say, “I can carry it. I have no problem.” The breaking of the traditional church is not very effective for them. They won’t behave like ordinary wives when their husbands are derailed, they will cry at church for this is easier to be broken and healed.”
Brother X suggests, “To raise this kind of people, pastors need to have a certain knowledge reserve and give this kind of people a room to communicate, debate and collide with each other. In this process, we need to pray for them a lot. In the work of the Holy Spirit, they can be moved and guided so that they can only rely on their minds to analyze God’s Word and faith, and finally know God with their hearts and honesty, and experience their own faith.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
教会是一个能够常常接触到不同种类社会群体的平台。比如，职场群体、农村务工群体、知识分子群体，也有全职母亲和残障群体等等。近日，基督时报采访一位专门事奉知识分子群体的W弟兄，他分享了自己10多年来牧养这个群体的心得与感悟。（==英文当summary）
X弟兄是一位知识分子出身的基督徒，他曾经多年做哲学文化研究方面的工作，后来他成为一名基督徒。在这个过程中，他也同样经历了作为知识分子具有的那种对基督信仰的观望和判断，再到被上帝的真理和爱破碎与感召的心路历程。
X弟兄坦言到：“ 知识分子的第一个特点就是，他们的理性很强。比如，当牧者讲到圣经中的有关神迹的时候，这类人群是很难理解和接受的。当牧者讲到创世纪1至11章时，涉及到对宇宙论、天文星系，地质系、考古系等领域时，很多牧者讲的时候，他们自己也都是心虚的，因此这类人群会有理性的辩论和质疑。他们会更多的用理性去分析，然后绕了很大一圈，最终没有回到圣经要讲的内容上，而是成为了理性的分析家。”
“这个因素会影响知识分子打开心来听上帝的话语，其实，圣经是在讲一个创世神话，它是一种诗歌体。这类人群的理性强， 从好的方面来看，它可以促进牧者发现自己的盲区，促进牧者再成长，另外一个角度来看，有些疑问又是没有定论的，人不应该深陷其中而忽略信仰的核心要旨。但往往因牧者深度不够或拒绝回答或者搪塞了事，最终很难让这些人信服，甚至离开信仰。”
“牧养知识分子的时候，无论是同他们讲道还是谈话，牧者都需要给出一个基本的框架和逻辑。比如，牧者讲列王纪的时候，如果你能够讲的有基本的框架，有逻辑来分享，这样他们会更加信服，讲道的时候，也最好有一个基本的框架和纲要，如果牧者跟着自己感觉讲，没有逻辑和体系是很难吸引这类人群的。”X弟兄补充说到。
X弟兄继续说：“在知识分子里，有一种叫做人文知识分子，这类人对基督教有好感，但他们的底色是却是中国文化背景的底色。有的人会说，我读论语就觉得很舒服，很走心。但我读圣经就觉得隔着一层什么。所以这个时候，牧者需要做跨文化沟通的工作，牧者需要把中国文化中的人事物和圣经中的这个主题做一个对比和解读，以此帮助这类人群建立一种文化的认同和自然的输入。举个例子，耶路撒冷和紫禁城，一个是上帝的城，一个是皇权的中心。两者在文化比较上，有相同和不同的地方，但是最终的目的是为了让对方更好的接受圣经中的价值观和文化观。”
“广义上的知识分子包括：律师、 医生、教师、 工程师等。这类人群其实是最不容易打开心的人群，因为他们都带着一个职业的面具。他们非常渴望得到人的尊敬，因此，这类人群是很骄傲的，自尊感很强，不愿意把自己的软弱向牧者和同工敞开。他们更不愿意接受破碎。他们经常会说：“我都能扛，我没有问题，传统教会的破碎对他们是不太奏效的。他们不会像一般家庭妇女，当遭遇到老公出轨了，一来教会她就哭诉，这样比较容易被破碎和医治的。”
X弟兄建议到：“牧养这类人群，牧者需要有一定的知识储备和给予这类人群彼此交流、辩论和碰撞的空间。这个过程中，需要多多为他们祷告，在圣灵的工作中，他们可以得到感动和引导，从而从只是依靠头脑分析来上帝的话语 ，何为信仰，最终到用心灵和诚实认识上帝，经历属于他们自己的信仰体验。”
访谈｜一牧者分享知识分子群体的四个特点及牧养经验
The church is a platform that can often reach out to different social groups. For instance, there are workplace groups, rural migrant worker groups, intellectual groups, stay-at-home mothers and disabled groups and so on. Recently, the Christian Times interviewed brother W who specializes in serving the intellectual community, and he shared his experience and sentiment of pastoring this community for more than 10 years.
Brother X is an intellectual Christian who did philosophy and culture research for many years, and later became a Christian. In the process, he experienced from the usual kind of wait-and-see attitude, cool judgment of the Christian faith, and then the mental journey of being broken and inspired by God’s truth and love. Brother X said frankly, “The first characteristic of intellectuals is that they are rational. For instance, when pastors talk about miracles in the Bible, it is difficult for such people to understand and accept them. When pastors talk about Genesis chapter 1 to chapter 11, involving cosmology, astronomical galaxies, geology, archaeology and other fields, many pastors themselves are lack of confidence concerning these topics, so the intellectuals are the group that will have rational debates and doubting questions on such topics. They will use reason to analyze, and then go around a big circle, and eventually they will not return to what the Bible is about, but become rational analysts.”
“This factor will influence intellectuals to open their hearts to listen to God’s Word. In fact, the Bible is telling a creation myth, which is a poetic style. These kind of people are rational. On the positive side, it can promote pastors to discover their blind spots and promote pastors to grow up again. On the other hand, some questions are inconclusive, so people should not get caught up in them and ignore the core message of faith. However, it is often difficult to convince these people or even leave their faith because the pastors are not deep enough or refuse to answer or prevaricate.”
“When pastoring intellectuals, whether preaching or talking with them, pastors need to give a basic framework and logic. For instance, when pastors talk about Kings, if you can share it with a basic framework and logic, they will be more convinced. When preaching, it is also best to have a basic framework and outline. If pastors follow their own feelings, it is difficult to attract such people without logic and a sense of system.” Brother X adds.
Brother X continues, “Among the intellectuals, there is a kind called humanistic intellectuals. These people have a good opinion of Christianity, but their background is the background of Chinese culture. Some people will say that they feel very comfortable and concentrated in reading of the Analects of Confucius, but when reading the Bible, they feel that there is something like a gap. Therefore, when this happens, pastors need to do cross-cultural communication, and pastors need to compare and interpret the characters in Chinese culture with this theme in the Bible, so as to help these people establish a cultural identity and natural input. For instance, Jerusalem and the Forbidden City, one is the city of God and the other is the center of imperial power. There are similarities and differences between the two in cultural comparison, but the ultimate goal is to make each other better accept the values and cultural views in the Bible.”
“Intellectuals in a broad sense include: lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers, etc. This kind of group is actually the most difficult to open their hearts, because they all wear a professional mask. They are very eager to be respected by others. Therefore, these people are very proud, have a strong sense of self-esteem, and are unwilling to open their weakness to pastors and staff. They are even less willing to accept being broken. They often say, “I can carry it. I have no problem.” The breaking of the traditional church is not very effective for them. They won’t behave like ordinary wives when their husbands are derailed, they will cry at church for this is easier to be broken and healed.”
Brother X suggests, “To raise this kind of people, pastors need to have a certain knowledge reserve and give this kind of people a room to communicate, debate and collide with each other. In this process, we need to pray for them a lot. In the work of the Holy Spirit, they can be moved and guided so that they can only rely on their minds to analyze God’s Word and faith, and finally know God with their hearts and honesty, and experience their own faith.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
Interview: Pastor Shares How to Pastor Intellectuals
