More than 100 years ago, missionaries from different countries, regions, and missions, came to serve in China. On the one hand, they brought the gospel into the great land. On the other hand, because of their different denominations and theological backgrounds, they also had far-reaching impacts on the Chinese church which continue to this day.
"When these missionaries with different theological thoughts went to preach, they further spread their own theological thoughts to the vast number of believers. As a result, over time, it is remarkable that different churches and believers hold different theological thoughts," said Pastor L (pseudonym) who has been serving in East China for many years in an interview with the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper.
L said, "When I was young, I tried various methods in pastoral care and church planting. At that time, the main focus was on 'pastoral methodology'. But the more I served, the more I realized that the key issue was not how to provide pastoral care, but that many domestic churches had not concentrated on the core part of orthodox theology, which was to inherit the confession of faith of orthodox Christianity. Otherwise, our beliefs will be very confusing.”
The pastor believed that the establishment of a holistic theological education system deserved the attention of all churches and believers. Without a unified arrangement in theological education, the church would face a serious loss of believers. Because of the lack of discernment, which always accompanied a deficiency in biblical knowledge and Christianity, many believers had "only passion, but no knowledge". In this case, they could be easily converted by heretical cults or religious extremist organizations. Therefore, this was a very worthy question for the current Chinese church to consider.
L further claimed that, especially in the current post-pandemic environment, many churches that had been open to the public once again went underground and into families to gather in small groups, which was imperative. "It is necessary to do so, or it will be impossible to survive." But L also expressed concern that there was also a problem with pastoring through families and small groups, that is, the centripetal force between believers and the church would be weakened, whereas, the tension would extend. Under such circumstances, cults would continue to promote heresies.
"So, while there is still some time and opportunity, we need to hurry up to establish a holistic theological education system. Each church focuses on unifying the basic theological thoughts of the leaders and staff of their own teams. Let’s speed up and unify everyone's theological thoughts. If we cannot be unified in theology, whilst the church stays divided for a long time, believers will fall away and be lost.”
"Because different churches have different theological beliefs, it is impossible to organize an alliance. Now that each church has a tendency to rule its own religious kingdom, which shows that we have actually eaten the bitter fruit," he added.
Talking about his over 30-year engagement in the ministries, from pastoral methods to theological education, step by step, L found that in the end, the church and pastors must lay a comprehensive foundation of orthodox theology which was the basis of the theological education system.
The connotation of the theological education system L referred to was the agreement of the essential doctrines of Christianity in church history. These were mature fundamentals of Christian theology that had been formed in church history of nearly 2,000 years, which was the core content of orthodoxy, as well as the theological foundation inherited by the Chinese church.
He explained:=, "Christianity emphasizes history that brings inheritance. We need to inherit the four creeds (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Chalcedon's Creed) and the Heidelberg Catechism, in addition to the Belgian Creed and the Dort Creed, etc. which are the most fundamental parts that everyone needs to agree on. Otherwise, after pastoral care goes underground, believers nurture themselves and develop their own church, all kinds of unorthodox teachings and beliefs will spread out when church gatherings are allowed again."
"Unifying believers with orthodox teachings is more important than anything else. First, the church needs to quickly unify the major principles of faith. Other matters, such as how to provide pastoral care, are secondary. With major principles, we can do whatever under the framework. Or else, it is very likely that there will be no hope for the Chinese church," said L at last.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
100多年前，来自不同国家和地区的传教士、以及不同差会的传教士来到中国服事，一方面把福音带来，一方面因为他们不同的宗派和神学背景，对中国教会也造成深远的影响，这种影响直至今天。
近日，基督时报同工在与华东某地一名牧养多年的L牧师交流时，谈到此点。他说：“这些神学思想各异的传教士去传教的时候，就进一步的把各自的神学思想传播给了广大的信徒。如此，久而久之，就形成了不同教会、不同信徒之间神学思想方面区别显著的情况。”
L牧师说：“我也年轻过，之前各种牧会植堂的方式也都尝试过，当时主要聚焦在‘牧会方法论’上面，但是越走他越发现，其实关键问题不在如何牧会这里，关键问题是很多国内的教会没有抓住正统神学最核心的部分，最重要的事情是传承基督教的正统信仰告白。否则大家所信的就会非常混乱。” （==此句当summary）
L牧师认为，建立整全的神学教育体系这件事情是当下所有教会和信徒都需要重视起来的。如果教会在神学教育方面没有统一布局的话，就必定会出现严重的信徒流失现象。因为很多信徒缺乏分辨力，并且对圣经和基督教的认识也很薄弱，“只有热心，而无知识“，这样的话信徒很容易就被异端邪教或者极端信仰组织给拉走。因此，这是非常值得当下的中国教会来思考的问题。
L牧师表示，尤其是在当前后疫情时代的大环境下，不少之前公开化的教会再度走入地下、走入家庭，以小组的方式聚会，这是势在必行的事情。“肯定会这么做，不然无法生存。”但是L牧师同时表示，这样做的话也有问题，那就是家庭化和小组化常常带来的是信徒跟教会之间的向心力减弱，张力扩大。这样的情况下，异端邪教一定会不断兴风作浪。
“所以趁着现在还有一些时间和机会，需要抓紧时间建立一个整全的神学教育体系。各个教会集中把自己团队的领袖们、工人们统一基本的神学思想。抓紧时间，统一大家的神学思想，如果神学上不能够统一，教会又不断分开的话，时间久了以后大家就会成为一盘散沙。”
“现在由于不同教会各自的神学思想不同，所以不可能有统一战线。现在我们家教各自有一个宗教王国的态势，就说明我们其实已经尝到了这个苦果。”
他谈到自己过去三十多年服事的经历，从牧会方法再做神学教育一步步他发现，他发现最终还是教会和牧者们要打下的一个整全的正统神学根基，这个是神学教育体系的基础。
L牧师提到的神学教育体系的内涵指的是基督教在已经在教会史上形成的关于核心教义上的共识的部分，这些是教会史上已经在过去近2000年前里面早已经形成的、成熟的基督教神学的基础，是正统教义的核心内容，这些也是中国教会在继承的神学基础。
他解释说：“基督教是强调历史性的宗教，历史性会带来传承性，我们需要传承留下来的包括四大信经（使徒信经、尼西亚信经、亚他那修信经、迦克顿信经）和海德堡要理问答，此外还有比利时信条和多特信经等，这些是最根本的和大家需要有共识的部分。否则如果重新步入地下后再各自为政、各自发展自己的教会，哪一天再度重新开放浮出水面后，各种乱七八糟的东西都会冒出来。”
“用正统的教义来把大家统合起来，这个比什么都重要。首先把大的信仰原则赶紧的统合起来。其他的比如怎么牧养之类的都是次要一些的事情。有了大的原则以后，怎么做都可以。不然的话，很可能中国教会就彻底没有希望了。”L牧师最后如此表示。
观点| 华东某牧者:当下中国教-会需更多看到建立整全神学教育体系的急迫性和重要性
More than 100 years ago, missionaries from different countries, regions, and missions, came to serve in China. On the one hand, they brought the gospel into the great land. On the other hand, because of their different denominations and theological backgrounds, they also had far-reaching impacts on the Chinese church which continue to this day.
"When these missionaries with different theological thoughts went to preach, they further spread their own theological thoughts to the vast number of believers. As a result, over time, it is remarkable that different churches and believers hold different theological thoughts," said Pastor L (pseudonym) who has been serving in East China for many years in an interview with the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper.
L said, "When I was young, I tried various methods in pastoral care and church planting. At that time, the main focus was on 'pastoral methodology'. But the more I served, the more I realized that the key issue was not how to provide pastoral care, but that many domestic churches had not concentrated on the core part of orthodox theology, which was to inherit the confession of faith of orthodox Christianity. Otherwise, our beliefs will be very confusing.”
The pastor believed that the establishment of a holistic theological education system deserved the attention of all churches and believers. Without a unified arrangement in theological education, the church would face a serious loss of believers. Because of the lack of discernment, which always accompanied a deficiency in biblical knowledge and Christianity, many believers had "only passion, but no knowledge". In this case, they could be easily converted by heretical cults or religious extremist organizations. Therefore, this was a very worthy question for the current Chinese church to consider.
L further claimed that, especially in the current post-pandemic environment, many churches that had been open to the public once again went underground and into families to gather in small groups, which was imperative. "It is necessary to do so, or it will be impossible to survive." But L also expressed concern that there was also a problem with pastoring through families and small groups, that is, the centripetal force between believers and the church would be weakened, whereas, the tension would extend. Under such circumstances, cults would continue to promote heresies.
"So, while there is still some time and opportunity, we need to hurry up to establish a holistic theological education system. Each church focuses on unifying the basic theological thoughts of the leaders and staff of their own teams. Let’s speed up and unify everyone's theological thoughts. If we cannot be unified in theology, whilst the church stays divided for a long time, believers will fall away and be lost.”
"Because different churches have different theological beliefs, it is impossible to organize an alliance. Now that each church has a tendency to rule its own religious kingdom, which shows that we have actually eaten the bitter fruit," he added.
Talking about his over 30-year engagement in the ministries, from pastoral methods to theological education, step by step, L found that in the end, the church and pastors must lay a comprehensive foundation of orthodox theology which was the basis of the theological education system.
The connotation of the theological education system L referred to was the agreement of the essential doctrines of Christianity in church history. These were mature fundamentals of Christian theology that had been formed in church history of nearly 2,000 years, which was the core content of orthodoxy, as well as the theological foundation inherited by the Chinese church.
He explained:=, "Christianity emphasizes history that brings inheritance. We need to inherit the four creeds (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Chalcedon's Creed) and the Heidelberg Catechism, in addition to the Belgian Creed and the Dort Creed, etc. which are the most fundamental parts that everyone needs to agree on. Otherwise, after pastoral care goes underground, believers nurture themselves and develop their own church, all kinds of unorthodox teachings and beliefs will spread out when church gatherings are allowed again."
"Unifying believers with orthodox teachings is more important than anything else. First, the church needs to quickly unify the major principles of faith. Other matters, such as how to provide pastoral care, are secondary. With major principles, we can do whatever under the framework. Or else, it is very likely that there will be no hope for the Chinese church," said L at last.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
Pastor in East China Urges the Chinese Church to Establish Holistic Theological Education System
