For a long time, many people regarded the focus of traditional churches only as gatherings while disregarding outreach and mission. There are few newcomers to the church in the course of a year, and the church is totally different from society. For many reasons, the church is reluctant to step out into the world, for it often resembles an ivory tower.
Pastor X, who was raised as a Christian in a traditional church, is aware of this phenomenon. Therefore, after working in a secular job for many years, he suddenly felt a call from God. He then quit his place of work and began to devote himself to service in the church.
At the beginning of his service, he hoped to be an "explorer". He did not resort to the traditional church model he had been familiar with when growing up but started afresh. On the basis of the excellent traditions of the ancient church, he studied the current trends and experiences of a church-planting church, combining them with current changes while exploring new modes of church development.
He saw that several decades ago, due to social and other environmental causes, rural churches were mostly easily revived. Believers demonstrated a penchant for "including many older people and women of much lower cultural quality". But now, due to the process of urbanization, the population of believers gradually includes an increasing number of urbanized residents. Therefore, he realized that more attention should be paid to the characteristics of urban churches. Especially in view of the fact that urban professionals (the middle class, college graduates, business people) now form a large part of all believers, great spiritual need is evident among them. Their size makes them a target group for the church.
When he started this reform more than a decade ago, most urban churches were still operating as traditional churches. Pastor X's innovations were met with a great deal of misunderstanding and opposition, and there were initially few supporters.
Pastor X seemed to have anticipated this situation, and he spent much time explaining to his fellow workers why they should mainly target the urban middle class. He emphasized two things at the beginning: first, the characteristics of cities, second, the characteristics of the workplace.
"If, like many traditional churches, we only talk about the cultivation of believers, it will be difficult to meet the rational needs of these people. It will be difficult to guide them towards meeting the practical needs of life and spiritually. They basically can't fit in the traditional church and the end result is that they can't stay." As a result, he says, churches often struggle to attract urban people. "It's not that they don't want to believe, it's just that they can't find a church that fits their faith and commitment."
He especially mentioned his own experience, noting the rapid modernization of Chinese society over the past two decades. In the process involving the modernization and urbanization of China, the middle and the working classes have become the most important groups. Their primary needs include employment, marriage, parenthood and psychological issues.
"It’s been proven over the years that the younger generation can make a big difference in the church. Their talents, gifts and energy can be put to good use. In our church, serving is not just the work of the church staff. Everyone can and needs to be involved in serving."
With the large middle class being a major target of the church, preaching about their lives should be a major consideration. Sermons should include much content on life and careers so that the young and the middle class will listen carefully and be interested. And there should be little instructive content in the shape of the sermons of the traditional church.
Over the past ten years, Pastor X has been gratified by the fact that during the process of urbanization, more and more churches of his type keep appearing. Due to the changes within society, the church cannot stick to its traditional mode. It needs to continue to explore and change according to the evolving situation of society.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
长期以来，很多人对传统教会的印象都是注重聚会，但不注重外展和宣教，一年到头教会也没有几个新人进来，并且与社会之间可谓泾渭分明。出于很多原因，教会不愿意越雷池一步进入社会，仿佛自己成了一个“象牙塔”一般不问世事。
对此现象，从小出身就是基督徒家庭的孩子、在传统教会氛围中长大的X牧师深有所感。因此，他长大和工作多年后突然感受到上帝对他的一种感动和呼召，他于是从职场出来，开始投身到服事中。
而在服事之始，他就希望自己是一种“探索者”的姿态：不是进入到曾经自己成长过程中就十分熟悉的传统教会的模式，而是再度出发，在原有教会美好的传统积累的基础上，再学习当下的植堂趋势和经验，结合当下的时代变迁，探索出一条新的教会发展模式。
他看到，几十年前因为社会等各种环境的原因，大多是农村教会的复兴，以及信徒呈现“老人多、妇女多、文化素质低的多”的特点，但当下因为城市化的进程，人群已逐渐成为城镇化居民增多的情况，因此他认为更多需要着眼于城市教会的特点，尤其是面对城市中各行各业的专业人士作为中产的一大组成部分，有很大的属灵需要，比如大学毕业后的职场人士、工商人群等。这成为他们教会的目标群体。
他在开始这番尝试时，是在十多年前，当时大部分城市教会仍旧以传统教会的方式运作，因为X牧师的革新遭遇地更多是不理解和反对的意见，支持者寥寥无几。
X牧师似乎已经提前预料到了这样的局面，他花了很多力气给同工解释为什么要以这些城市的中产群体作为他们主要的服事对象。他在教会初建时强调两点：第一，突出城市的形态；第二，突出职场的形态。
“如果像很多的传统教会一样，只是讲一些对信徒成长造就的话语，那就很难满足这些人群的理性的需要，也很难引导到他们实际生活的需要，从而无法有效地牧养他们。他们在传统教会也基本上融入不进去，最终的结果就是待不住。”他说到正是因此，所以教会常常很难吸引到城市里面的中坚人群.“他们并不是不愿意信仰，而是找不到适合他们信仰和委身的教会。”
他特别提到自己的经验，过去近二十多年的时间，中国社会在迅速走向现代化。在现代化、城市化的过程当中，最重要的就是这些中产人群还有职场群体，他们最重要的需求基本上就是就业、婚姻、亲子以及各人的心理需求。
“这么多年的事实证明，年轻一代在我们教会有很大的用武之地，他们的才华、恩赐和活力在我们教会都能够很好的得到施展。在我们教会，服事不止是教会同工的事情，而是人人都可以且需要参与服事。”
因为教会的主要目标人群是很多的中产人群，因此，是以生活化的讲道作为主要的讲道方式，讲道信息中会有很多生活和职场方面的内容，让年轻一些的人和中产人群们能够听得下去并且听得进心里去，而极少会像传统教会的讲道一样有很多简单的教导式的内容。
十多年走过来，X牧师很感恩的说，他看到伴随着各地城市化的进程，陆续他这种类型的教会也越来越多。而伴随着时代和环境的变化，教会仍然不能固守于传统的模式，仍然需要继续探索和改变。
访谈|南方一牧者回顾十多年教会从传统到城市教会转型路：抓住城市和职场人群的特点和需要
For a long time, many people regarded the focus of traditional churches only as gatherings while disregarding outreach and mission. There are few newcomers to the church in the course of a year, and the church is totally different from society. For many reasons, the church is reluctant to step out into the world, for it often resembles an ivory tower.
Pastor X, who was raised as a Christian in a traditional church, is aware of this phenomenon. Therefore, after working in a secular job for many years, he suddenly felt a call from God. He then quit his place of work and began to devote himself to service in the church.
At the beginning of his service, he hoped to be an "explorer". He did not resort to the traditional church model he had been familiar with when growing up but started afresh. On the basis of the excellent traditions of the ancient church, he studied the current trends and experiences of a church-planting church, combining them with current changes while exploring new modes of church development.
He saw that several decades ago, due to social and other environmental causes, rural churches were mostly easily revived. Believers demonstrated a penchant for "including many older people and women of much lower cultural quality". But now, due to the process of urbanization, the population of believers gradually includes an increasing number of urbanized residents. Therefore, he realized that more attention should be paid to the characteristics of urban churches. Especially in view of the fact that urban professionals (the middle class, college graduates, business people) now form a large part of all believers, great spiritual need is evident among them. Their size makes them a target group for the church.
When he started this reform more than a decade ago, most urban churches were still operating as traditional churches. Pastor X's innovations were met with a great deal of misunderstanding and opposition, and there were initially few supporters.
Pastor X seemed to have anticipated this situation, and he spent much time explaining to his fellow workers why they should mainly target the urban middle class. He emphasized two things at the beginning: first, the characteristics of cities, second, the characteristics of the workplace.
"If, like many traditional churches, we only talk about the cultivation of believers, it will be difficult to meet the rational needs of these people. It will be difficult to guide them towards meeting the practical needs of life and spiritually. They basically can't fit in the traditional church and the end result is that they can't stay." As a result, he says, churches often struggle to attract urban people. "It's not that they don't want to believe, it's just that they can't find a church that fits their faith and commitment."
He especially mentioned his own experience, noting the rapid modernization of Chinese society over the past two decades. In the process involving the modernization and urbanization of China, the middle and the working classes have become the most important groups. Their primary needs include employment, marriage, parenthood and psychological issues.
"It’s been proven over the years that the younger generation can make a big difference in the church. Their talents, gifts and energy can be put to good use. In our church, serving is not just the work of the church staff. Everyone can and needs to be involved in serving."
With the large middle class being a major target of the church, preaching about their lives should be a major consideration. Sermons should include much content on life and careers so that the young and the middle class will listen carefully and be interested. And there should be little instructive content in the shape of the sermons of the traditional church.
Over the past ten years, Pastor X has been gratified by the fact that during the process of urbanization, more and more churches of his type keep appearing. Due to the changes within society, the church cannot stick to its traditional mode. It needs to continue to explore and change according to the evolving situation of society.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Interview: Traditional Church Can Target the Characteristics, Needs of Urban People
