Pastor H has served in a church in East China for many years. In her years of ministry experience, she formed her own thoughts the sinicization of Christianity.
The Christian Times, a Chinese Christian online newspaper, interviewed Pastor H, who shared her thoughts on the topic.
Pastor H said, first of all, that we should not treat the topic too politically. If we discuss it with too much political color, its essence may be lost easily and misunderstanding is caused. Since we are all Christians, we can look at the sinicization of Christianity from the perspective of church and faith.
Pastor H thinks that the sinicization of Christianity is just one of the different expressions in different periods. Christianity originated from Asia Minor at first, and then there was a process of the Europeanization of Christianity when it spread to Europe, and then there was a process of Anglicization when it spread to Britain from continental Europe. Later, there was a process of Americanization when it spread to the United States. When it spread to the third world, there would be a process of Africanising or Indigenization and so forth. In fact, in the past, the sinicization of Christianity was called localization or indigenization.
“Regardless of other messy things, our Christianity itself should be actively sinicized or localized. Instead of wearing a western dress, it should be more grounded and integrated with Chinese soil and culture. When Christianity is mentioned, everyone’s first reaction is ‘this is a foreign religion’. Although Protestantism has been in China for more than 100 years, it still gives many people the impression that Christianity is a Western religion. In this sense, from the perspective of theological thinking, the sinicization of Christianity is inevitable. Under such circumstances, Christianity must be ‘upgraded’ and cannot remain unchanged.”
Pastor H shared that during the period when Protestantism came to China in history, China was only a missionary point at that time. Foreign missionaries can draw on the map where the place is, which church it is, or what institution there is. However, now it has been here more than 100 years, today’s situation of Chinese Christianity has become completely different from that of more than 100 years ago. Yet, it is easy for us Chinese Christians to look at China from the perspective of missionaries because many Christian books are written by western missionaries, and when we read these books, we will naturally unconsciously stand in their position and look at China from their perspective.
But now, “Christianity in China” is shifting closer to “Chinese Christianity”, and China is no longer a number of missionary sites.
“For a long time, we have been losing our voice, we have been mute, and we have been unilateral recipients rather than givers. But from now on, Chinese Christianity can never continue like this. China’s Christianity has grown up. We are now the main body, not a point for missionaries. We have to give back, give and give.” Pastor H said.
We Chinese want to wake up, and the Chinese themselves will preach the gospel to their compatriots. After we have sorted out the gospel by ourselves - what kind of language and characters we should use and how to tell our compatriots, we can achieve the best effect. You can’t continue to use the old things. Faith and gospel will never go out of style, but those outer “coats” are already out of style. For instance, in the past, many people used to say like this “believe in Jesus to go to heaven, but otherwise to hell” when they were preaching the gospel, and they achieved good results. However, if the same is uttered today, the effect will be quite different.
“Because almost all the materials we read before were written by foreign missionaries, which is a Western-centered view of church history. It is centered on the West, but we are orientals and Chinese, so many questions arise. Therefore, we can see that many arguments of Western Christianity have also been transplanted to them. Western fundamentalism and modernist liberal arguments, all of which have been transplanted to China, and then we Chinese Christians have been arguing there, which has influenced the Chinese church a lot.”
Finally, Pastor H makes her own appeal to Chinese churches and believers: “Therefore, I think that the sinicization of Christianity is a long-term project. Churches and believers in China want to wake up. In fact, not only ordinary believers but also many fellow pastors have not woken up. They have not deeply realized the importance of the sinicization of Christianity to the development of Christianity in China, that is, to make ‘Christianity in China’ become ‘Chinese Christianity’.
- Translated by Charlie Li
H姊妹在华东某地一教会服事多年，多年的服事过程当中，她对基督教中国化有很多自己的思考。
基督时报，中国一家基督教网络报纸，采访了H姊妹，她分享了对基督教中国化的认识。
H姊妹说，首先我们不应当过于政治化的看待“基督教中国化”的课题，带上太多政治色彩讨论“基督教中国化”的话很容易会失去本质，而且也容易引起误解。既然都是基督徒，那么我们就从教会和信仰的角度看基督教中国化就可以了。
H姊妹认为基督教中国化不过是不同的时期不同的提法之一。基督教最开始是从小亚细亚起源的，然后传到欧洲的时候有一个基督教欧洲化的过程，然后从欧洲大陆传到英国也有一个英国化的过程，然后传到美国就有一个美国化的过程，传到第三世界就会有非洲化的过程、印度化的过程等等。实际上，在以前的时候基督教中国化被称为本土化或者本色化等等。
“不考虑别的乱七八糟的，咱们基督教本身自己也要主动地中国化或者说本土化，不能再继续穿着一身洋装了，而是应该更加落地，跟中国的土壤和文化来相融，不能够一提起基督教，大家的第一反应就是‘这是一个洋教’。虽然基督教新教已经来到中国100多年了，但是很多人提起来基督教还是洋教的印象。从这个意义上来讲，从神学思考来讲，基督教中国化这是必然的。在这样的情况下，基督教必须要'升级'，不能一成不变。”
H姊妹分享说，在历史上基督教新教入华的那段时期，那时候中国只是一个宣教的点。外国宣教士可以在地图上画，这是哪个地方，是哪个会哪个教派的一个宣教点，那个地方又是哪一个机构的宣教点……但是现在已经过去100多年了，100多年以后的今天，中国基督教的情况已经变得和100多年以前完全不一样。但是我们中国基督徒还是容易站在传教士的视角来看中国，因为很多基督教的书籍都是西方传教士写的，而我们读这些书的时候自然就会不自觉的站在他们的立场上，用他们的视角看待中国。
但是现在，“在中国的基督教”已经在往“中国的基督教”靠拢了，中国早已经不再是若干个宣教点了。
“在很长的时间里面，我们一直失声，我们一直是哑巴，我们一直是单方面的接受者而不是给予者。但是从现在开始，中国基督教绝对不能再继续这个样子了。中国基督教已经长大成人，我们现在已经是主体了，不再是宣教士的一个点了，我们要反馈，要给予和付出。”H姊妹如此说。
我们中国人要觉醒，中国人自己来给自己的同胞传福音。经过我们自己把福音理清楚了——该用怎样的语言和文字，通过怎样的方式给同胞讲，才能达到最好的效果。不能够再继续用以前的那些陈旧的东西，信仰和福音永不过时，但是外面的那些“外衣”却早就过时了。就比如，以前很多人传福音的时候喜欢用“信耶稣上天堂，不信耶稣下地狱”这句话，而且取得了很好的效果。但是同样的一句话放到今天的话，效果就大相径庭了。
“因为我们之前所读的几乎全部的资料，都是外国宣教士写的，是一种以西方为中心的教会历史观。是以西方为中心的，而我们却是东方人，是中国人，所以这样就产生了很多问题。所以我们就看到，西方基督教的很多争论他们也给移植过来了，西方的基要主义、现代派的自由派的争论……这些也全部都移植到中国来了，然后咱们中国基督徒就一直在那里争论，让中国教会受到了很多影响。”
最后，H姊妹对中国教会和信徒发出了自己的呼吁：“所以，基督教中国化我认为这是一个长期的工程。中国教会和信徒要觉醒，其实不仅仅是普通信徒，有很多教牧同工他们也没有觉醒，没有很深的认识到基督教中国化对基督教在中国发展的重要性，那就是让‘在中国的基督教’成为‘中国的基督教’。
专访|一位姊妹牧者理解的基督教中国化——打破以西方为中心的教会历史观
Pastor H has served in a church in East China for many years. In her years of ministry experience, she formed her own thoughts the sinicization of Christianity.
The Christian Times, a Chinese Christian online newspaper, interviewed Pastor H, who shared her thoughts on the topic.
Pastor H said, first of all, that we should not treat the topic too politically. If we discuss it with too much political color, its essence may be lost easily and misunderstanding is caused. Since we are all Christians, we can look at the sinicization of Christianity from the perspective of church and faith.
Pastor H thinks that the sinicization of Christianity is just one of the different expressions in different periods. Christianity originated from Asia Minor at first, and then there was a process of the Europeanization of Christianity when it spread to Europe, and then there was a process of Anglicization when it spread to Britain from continental Europe. Later, there was a process of Americanization when it spread to the United States. When it spread to the third world, there would be a process of Africanising or Indigenization and so forth. In fact, in the past, the sinicization of Christianity was called localization or indigenization.
“Regardless of other messy things, our Christianity itself should be actively sinicized or localized. Instead of wearing a western dress, it should be more grounded and integrated with Chinese soil and culture. When Christianity is mentioned, everyone’s first reaction is ‘this is a foreign religion’. Although Protestantism has been in China for more than 100 years, it still gives many people the impression that Christianity is a Western religion. In this sense, from the perspective of theological thinking, the sinicization of Christianity is inevitable. Under such circumstances, Christianity must be ‘upgraded’ and cannot remain unchanged.”
Pastor H shared that during the period when Protestantism came to China in history, China was only a missionary point at that time. Foreign missionaries can draw on the map where the place is, which church it is, or what institution there is. However, now it has been here more than 100 years, today’s situation of Chinese Christianity has become completely different from that of more than 100 years ago. Yet, it is easy for us Chinese Christians to look at China from the perspective of missionaries because many Christian books are written by western missionaries, and when we read these books, we will naturally unconsciously stand in their position and look at China from their perspective.
But now, “Christianity in China” is shifting closer to “Chinese Christianity”, and China is no longer a number of missionary sites.
“For a long time, we have been losing our voice, we have been mute, and we have been unilateral recipients rather than givers. But from now on, Chinese Christianity can never continue like this. China’s Christianity has grown up. We are now the main body, not a point for missionaries. We have to give back, give and give.” Pastor H said.
We Chinese want to wake up, and the Chinese themselves will preach the gospel to their compatriots. After we have sorted out the gospel by ourselves - what kind of language and characters we should use and how to tell our compatriots, we can achieve the best effect. You can’t continue to use the old things. Faith and gospel will never go out of style, but those outer “coats” are already out of style. For instance, in the past, many people used to say like this “believe in Jesus to go to heaven, but otherwise to hell” when they were preaching the gospel, and they achieved good results. However, if the same is uttered today, the effect will be quite different.
“Because almost all the materials we read before were written by foreign missionaries, which is a Western-centered view of church history. It is centered on the West, but we are orientals and Chinese, so many questions arise. Therefore, we can see that many arguments of Western Christianity have also been transplanted to them. Western fundamentalism and modernist liberal arguments, all of which have been transplanted to China, and then we Chinese Christians have been arguing there, which has influenced the Chinese church a lot.”
Finally, Pastor H makes her own appeal to Chinese churches and believers: “Therefore, I think that the sinicization of Christianity is a long-term project. Churches and believers in China want to wake up. In fact, not only ordinary believers but also many fellow pastors have not woken up. They have not deeply realized the importance of the sinicization of Christianity to the development of Christianity in China, that is, to make ‘Christianity in China’ become ‘Chinese Christianity’.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Interview: Female Pastor Says Sinicization of Christianity Breaks Concept of West-Centered Church History
