In the third decade of the 21st century, China's urbanization process has entered a stage of steady development, while more and more migrants have started to live in large and medium-sized cities. How to attract more Christians from other parts of the country to the local church and how to make them commit themselves to becoming faithful believers with the help of more heart-warming follow-up pastoral care have increasingly become a practical problem that many urban pastors need to face.
"It's hard to make migrant believers stay," a pastor in a southern city of China told the Gospel Times, an online Christian newspaper in China. He talked about his church's sense of powerlessness in the face of making believers from other cities stay.
"We think of many ways to sit down and talk with these newcomers, but they always leave in a hurry." However, located in R City in southern China, the church has not only overcome the barriers of customs and dialects and skillfully solved the problem of foreign believers merging into the local church but also become the spiritual "second hometown" of many Christians. At the same time, it is constantly attracting more and more visitors to join the church.
The Gospel Times recently interviewed local pastors about their experiences with the care of migrant believers. Since the 1980s, R City, a coastal city, has experienced rapid urbanization, and newcomers, many of them Christians, have flocked to the city to find work and establish families.
"We provide all that is needed for these migrant believers," said Pastor H, who is in charge of the local CC&TSPM. In the urban churches of R City, in addition to pastoral care, migrant believers can also get all kinds of support from the church, such as funds, manpower, and sites. "For those who do not have a gathering site, our church helps them establish one. For those who are unable to find a meeting place, our church will provide one. For those who have no pastor, our church would dispatch pastors for them. If their offering is not enough, we will provide them with offerings."
In addition to providing support for non-native believers with tangible resources, the local churches invite non-native believers into their church committees and provide them with a channel to express their needs.
"In our urban churches here, we reserve one or two positions for migrant members at each church board election, giving them the opportunity to participate in the decision-making of the church," said another pastor who serves at the local CC&TSPM.
In his view, one of the reasons why it is often difficult for migrant believers to take root in churches in other cities is that churches ignore their needs. "If the church can give them a channel to express their needs and be truly attuned to their feelings through pastoral care, they will naturally regard the church as their home."
In addition, the church particularly values experienced members among the migrant believers. Believers who have served in the churches of their hometowns are encouraged to serve as core members of the local churches.
The church also embraces more laity with the attitude of "going out" by starting with pastoral and visitation ministry systems. The pastors at the local CC&TSPM said that in the local urban areas, any church with a certain scale of migrant believers will inevitably set up a special church committee for them, which is specially responsible for ministry, visiting, management, cultivation, and other aspects. A pastor said, "If you just hire a volunteer as a part-time worker, it will be difficult for him or her to be enthusiastic and faithful in caring for the migrant believers."
In terms of specific appointments, local churches give preference to fellow pastors who have the gift of preaching. "Preachers who often appear in the pulpit are more likely to be trusted and recognized by migrant believers than the laity."
In this church, the community of non-native believers has its own team of fellow workers and even chooses several young members to advance in seminaries.
"Migrant believers can be roughly divided into three kinds: those who settle down with their families, those who work here for a long time, and those who are temporary migrants." The pastor added that for the first two groups, local churches can continue to build and strengthen their sense of commitment and closeness with the help of their existing ministry, while for migrant workers with strong mobility and weak connections with the church, more extensive and detailed visits should be made to care for them.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
进入21世纪第二个十年，中国城市化进程已经进入平稳发展阶段，而在越来越多外来人口成为大中城市的一分子的同时。如何吸引更多身在他乡的基督徒走进当地教堂，怎样借助更细致的跟进牧养，进而让他们委身成为其中一员，这也愈发成为许多城市教会牧者需要面对与思考的现实问题。
”想留留不住。”南方某城市教会的一位牧者向一中国网络基督教报纸福音时报讲述了自己教会面对外来信徒群体的无力感。
“我们接待同工想过很多方法，希望能与这些新面孔坐下来多聊聊，但他们却总是匆匆离开。”
然而，在位于华南沿海的R市中，这里的教会不但跨越了风俗与方言阻隔，巧妙化解了外来信徒的融入难题，甚至还成为其中许多弟兄姊妹的属灵“第二故乡”，同时也在不断吸引着越来越多“异乡客”走进教堂。
近日，福音时报采访了当地牧者，了解到他们在外来信徒牧养方面的经验。
上世纪八十年代以来，地处沿海的R市迎来了快速城市化的进程，许多外地人涌入当地打拼并成家立业，而这其中自然也不乏许多基督徒。
“为外来信徒提供所需要的一切”——两会负责牧者H牧师介绍道。在R市的城区教堂中，除了牧养关怀以外，外来信徒还能够享受到来自教会在资金、人力、场地等各个层面的扶持。“外来弟兄姊妹没有建立聚会组织的，我们教会帮他们建立组织；找不到聚会场地，我们教会来提供；没有讲道同工，教会来派遣；奉献不够，我们来支持。”
在有形的资源上为外来信徒提供扶持之外，当地教会邀请外来信徒进入堂委班子，为其提供发声渠道。
“在我们这里的城区教堂，每次堂委选举时会特别为外来信徒留一两个名额，让他们有机会参与到教会决策层的工作。”另一位同在两会服侍的牧者说。
在这位牧者看来，很多时候，外来信徒难以扎根融入他乡教会的原因之一就是教会没有看到外来信徒的需要。“如果教会能够给予外来信徒一个发声的渠道，并借助牧养关怀真实关顾到他们的感受时，他们自然就会把教会当作自己的家。”
不仅如此，教会还尤为看重外来信徒群体之中的“有经验者”。曾在家乡教会做过侍奉同工的弟兄姊妹，教会会鼓励其担任侍奉队伍的核心同工。
除此之外，教堂还从教会牧养与探访制度着手，以“走出去”的姿态去拥抱更多平信徒。两会牧者说，在当地城区，凡是外来信徒达到一定规模的教堂，必然会在堂内设立一位外地信徒专项关怀的堂委，专门负责这一群体的牧养、探访、管理、栽培等各方面工作。牧师说，“如果只是随便找一个义工兼职负责的话，其很难在对外地信徒的关怀上有热心和忠心。”
在具体人员任用方面，当地教会优先选择有讲道恩赐的牧者同工进行担任。“相较于平信徒，常常出现于讲台之上的传道人是更能被外来弟兄姊妹信任并认可的。”
外地信徒群体不仅培养出了自己的侍奉同工队伍，甚至还输送了好几位年轻的神学生。
“外来的信徒大致可以分为三大层次——举家落户的、长期工作的，还有就是临时务工的流动群体。”他表示，对于前两部分群体而言，当地教会可以继续借助已有的关怀进行委身感与亲近感的建立与坚固，而对于流动性更强，与教会的联结关系更加薄弱的流动务工群体，还是要借着更加广泛与细致的探访去做好关怀与照料。
如何做好外来信徒的牧养，不妨看看这间教会怎么做？
In the third decade of the 21st century, China's urbanization process has entered a stage of steady development, while more and more migrants have started to live in large and medium-sized cities. How to attract more Christians from other parts of the country to the local church and how to make them commit themselves to becoming faithful believers with the help of more heart-warming follow-up pastoral care have increasingly become a practical problem that many urban pastors need to face.
"It's hard to make migrant believers stay," a pastor in a southern city of China told the Gospel Times, an online Christian newspaper in China. He talked about his church's sense of powerlessness in the face of making believers from other cities stay.
"We think of many ways to sit down and talk with these newcomers, but they always leave in a hurry." However, located in R City in southern China, the church has not only overcome the barriers of customs and dialects and skillfully solved the problem of foreign believers merging into the local church but also become the spiritual "second hometown" of many Christians. At the same time, it is constantly attracting more and more visitors to join the church.
The Gospel Times recently interviewed local pastors about their experiences with the care of migrant believers. Since the 1980s, R City, a coastal city, has experienced rapid urbanization, and newcomers, many of them Christians, have flocked to the city to find work and establish families.
"We provide all that is needed for these migrant believers," said Pastor H, who is in charge of the local CC&TSPM. In the urban churches of R City, in addition to pastoral care, migrant believers can also get all kinds of support from the church, such as funds, manpower, and sites. "For those who do not have a gathering site, our church helps them establish one. For those who are unable to find a meeting place, our church will provide one. For those who have no pastor, our church would dispatch pastors for them. If their offering is not enough, we will provide them with offerings."
In addition to providing support for non-native believers with tangible resources, the local churches invite non-native believers into their church committees and provide them with a channel to express their needs.
"In our urban churches here, we reserve one or two positions for migrant members at each church board election, giving them the opportunity to participate in the decision-making of the church," said another pastor who serves at the local CC&TSPM.
In his view, one of the reasons why it is often difficult for migrant believers to take root in churches in other cities is that churches ignore their needs. "If the church can give them a channel to express their needs and be truly attuned to their feelings through pastoral care, they will naturally regard the church as their home."
In addition, the church particularly values experienced members among the migrant believers. Believers who have served in the churches of their hometowns are encouraged to serve as core members of the local churches.
The church also embraces more laity with the attitude of "going out" by starting with pastoral and visitation ministry systems. The pastors at the local CC&TSPM said that in the local urban areas, any church with a certain scale of migrant believers will inevitably set up a special church committee for them, which is specially responsible for ministry, visiting, management, cultivation, and other aspects. A pastor said, "If you just hire a volunteer as a part-time worker, it will be difficult for him or her to be enthusiastic and faithful in caring for the migrant believers."
In terms of specific appointments, local churches give preference to fellow pastors who have the gift of preaching. "Preachers who often appear in the pulpit are more likely to be trusted and recognized by migrant believers than the laity."
In this church, the community of non-native believers has its own team of fellow workers and even chooses several young members to advance in seminaries.
"Migrant believers can be roughly divided into three kinds: those who settle down with their families, those who work here for a long time, and those who are temporary migrants." The pastor added that for the first two groups, local churches can continue to build and strengthen their sense of commitment and closeness with the help of their existing ministry, while for migrant workers with strong mobility and weak connections with the church, more extensive and detailed visits should be made to care for them.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Southern Church Succeeds in Ministry to Migrant Workers
