During a visit, I had the privilege of meeting Pastor X who serves in a trade and industry fellowship in south China. His unique way of sharing the gospel is to pass the gospel to the guests through the way of tea gathering and preaching.
X conceived this idea last year, as he found that almost everyone had a Kung Fu tea set in the office during his visit with some of his business friends, and they had tea together while talking about general business, meetings, and communicating.
Therefore, the pastor edited a pamphlet for internal communication, hoping to share the secrets of the "tea gospel" with more people. He found that everyone knows about tea, but to explain the tea ceremony clearly, he needed to find a way to link tea with Christianity to share the gospel, in addition to the basic tea ceremony.
There are 18 topics in the book, which integrates some basic theological themes, spirituality, praise and other themes in the Bible. "Spiritual and worldly things are merged in this book." Pastor X said, "When drinking tea, we can subtly share the gospel." Tea can warm the body, soothe the soul, close the distance between people, and share faith and life during tea drinking and chatting.
The following are some sharing of tea ceremonies integrated with the Bible by pastor X:
I. The source of tea and the genesis of everything
Shennong, a mythological Chinese ruler who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion according to Wikipedia, discovered tea, and Lu Yu, a Chinese tea master and writer, summarized the essence of tea. But they do not know where the tea comes from and who creates it. In the Bible, tea was created by God on the third day of creation day. God created light and darkness on the first day, air, water and earth on the second day, and vegetables, trees and fruits on the third day, including tea leaves and tea trees. Finally, the pastor would tell the guests that tea comes from God, and people are created by God.
II. Tea categories and the concept of numerous ethnic groups
Tea has many categories, including green tea, such as West Lake Dragon Well tea, Dongting Biluochun tea, Huangshan Mao Feng tea, Xinyang Maojian tea and so on. Green tea can further be divided into fried, baked, steamed, and sun-dried types. With the changes throughout history, tea has been classified into many categories. The same is true of people. Originally, the world consisted of only one man, one family and one race. However, due to the development throughout history and the influence of sin, the original one race has evolved into the present numerous ethnic groups. When humans gathered in the Tower of Babel, God confused them with languages, so that different ethnic groups spoke different languages, and the people with the same language were gathered together. Finally, there were 70 ethnic groups with different languages. The list of these 70 groups is recorded in Genesis 10, which were called families and nations. This is the origin of the human race.
III. The tea protection function of tea and the effect of God’s words (say something good to the use of edifying)
Tea has the effect of protecting teeth, mainly because of the interaction of various substances contained in tea, such as fluorine, tea polyphenols and tea tannin fluorine. As we all know, fluoride toothpaste can make teeth stronger and more acid-resistant. In fact, tea also contains fluorine, a substance that protects our teeth. It comes from tea leaves and water brewed with them. An appropriate amount of fluorine is important to prevent the occurrence of dental cavities and can protect the enamel on each tooth from being harmed.
IV. The anti-inflammatory and sterilizing function of tea and the purification of God’s words
Tea is anti-inflammatory and has sterilizing function mainly because it contains catechins, flavonols, and polyphenols. Catechins in tea have obvious preventative effects on many pathogenic bacteria such as typhoid bacillus, paratyphoid bacillus, yellow hemolytic staphylococcus, staphylococcus aureus and dysentery. Flavanols can promote the activity of the adrenal gland like hormone drugs, and have a direct anti-inflammatory effect.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
笔者在一次探访中，有幸遇到一位在南方的工商团契的X牧者，他分享福音的方式独特之处在于：通过以茶会友，以茶载道的方式把福音传给客人。
他是在去年开始萌生这个想法的，因为他在与不少工商界朋友交往时，发现几乎人人办公室都有一套功夫茶茶具，谈生意或者见面交流都难免会有一起喝茶的时候。
于是，这位牧者也为此编辑了一本内部交流的小书，希望透过喝茶的机会与更多的人分享茶与福音的奥妙。因为他发现人人都会喝茶，但是如何把茶道讲解明白，而除了基本的茶道，如何又把“茶”与基督教所讲的“道”链接起来，藉此机会分享“道”——把茶道和神的道融合在一起,其实是需要想办法的。
这本书有18个专题，把圣经中的一些有关神学的基本主题、灵修、赞美等主题都融进去了。“属灵和属世界的在这本书的融起来。”X牧师说，“喝茶的时候，潜移默化的把福音融出去。”“茶”能温暖身体，抚慰心灵，自然地拉近人与人之间的距离，藉着饮茶和聊天，也可以分享信仰和人生。
以下是X牧师关于茶道的一些和圣经结合的分享：
一，茶之源与万物源：
神农发现了茶，陆羽总结了茶的精华。但他们却都不知茶从何来？被谁所造？在经典〈圣经〉一书中提到茶的具体来源应该是上帝在创造日的第三日所创造而出的。 上帝第一日创造的光和暗，第二日创造的是空气，水和大地，第三日便是菜蔬，树木与水果，其中也包括了茶叶（茶树)。最后，这位牧者会向喝茶的客人引申到：茶来于神，人也是神所造。
二，茶之类与万族观
茶之类：现有的茶分为：绿茶：如西湖龙井，洞庭碧螺春，黄山毛峰，信阳毛尖等。其中也分炒青绿茶，烘青绿茶，蒸青绿茶，晒青绿茶。万族观：茶本身是单一的，但随着历史的变化从而形成现今的不同，所以 茶有了分类。人也是如此，原本只是一个人，一个家，一个族，但由于历史的发展和罪的影响，原本的一族成为了现在的万族。当人类犯罪聚集在巴别塔敌挡上帝时，在巴别塔事件时神混乱人类的语言时，并非叫每一个人都讲不同的语言，而是将相同语言的人聚集一处，最终产生了 70个不同语言民族的群体，这 70 个群体的名单，记在创世纪十章，被称为宗族方言和邦国。这就是人类种族的起源。
三，饮茶可保护牙齿与道之效（说造就人的话）
茶之所以具有保护牙齿的功效，主要是因为茶中所含的多种物质共同作用而产生的例如茶中含有氟、茶多酚类化合物以及茶单宁氟。我们都知道，含氟牙膏可以使牙齿更加坚固更加耐酸。其实，茶中也含有这种保护我们牙齿的物质氟。它来自茶树叶和冲泡过茶叶的水，适量的氟元素是抑制龋齿发生的重要元素，它能够保护牙齿的珐琅质免遭侵噬。
四，饮茶可消炎杀菌与道之净化
茶之所以具有此类作用，主要是因为其含有的儿茶素类化合物、黄烷醇类和多酚类物。茶叶中的儿茶素类化合物对伤寒杆菌、副伤寒杆菌、黄色溶血性葡萄球菌、金黄色链球菌和痢疾等多种病原细菌具有明显的抑制作用；黄烷醇类相当于激素药物，能够促进肾上腺的活动，具有直接的消炎作用.
访谈| 基督教本色化的一种美好尝试：福音茶道——以茶会友，以茶载道
During a visit, I had the privilege of meeting Pastor X who serves in a trade and industry fellowship in south China. His unique way of sharing the gospel is to pass the gospel to the guests through the way of tea gathering and preaching.
X conceived this idea last year, as he found that almost everyone had a Kung Fu tea set in the office during his visit with some of his business friends, and they had tea together while talking about general business, meetings, and communicating.
Therefore, the pastor edited a pamphlet for internal communication, hoping to share the secrets of the "tea gospel" with more people. He found that everyone knows about tea, but to explain the tea ceremony clearly, he needed to find a way to link tea with Christianity to share the gospel, in addition to the basic tea ceremony.
There are 18 topics in the book, which integrates some basic theological themes, spirituality, praise and other themes in the Bible. "Spiritual and worldly things are merged in this book." Pastor X said, "When drinking tea, we can subtly share the gospel." Tea can warm the body, soothe the soul, close the distance between people, and share faith and life during tea drinking and chatting.
The following are some sharing of tea ceremonies integrated with the Bible by pastor X:
I. The source of tea and the genesis of everything
Shennong, a mythological Chinese ruler who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion according to Wikipedia, discovered tea, and Lu Yu, a Chinese tea master and writer, summarized the essence of tea. But they do not know where the tea comes from and who creates it. In the Bible, tea was created by God on the third day of creation day. God created light and darkness on the first day, air, water and earth on the second day, and vegetables, trees and fruits on the third day, including tea leaves and tea trees. Finally, the pastor would tell the guests that tea comes from God, and people are created by God.
II. Tea categories and the concept of numerous ethnic groups
Tea has many categories, including green tea, such as West Lake Dragon Well tea, Dongting Biluochun tea, Huangshan Mao Feng tea, Xinyang Maojian tea and so on. Green tea can further be divided into fried, baked, steamed, and sun-dried types. With the changes throughout history, tea has been classified into many categories. The same is true of people. Originally, the world consisted of only one man, one family and one race. However, due to the development throughout history and the influence of sin, the original one race has evolved into the present numerous ethnic groups. When humans gathered in the Tower of Babel, God confused them with languages, so that different ethnic groups spoke different languages, and the people with the same language were gathered together. Finally, there were 70 ethnic groups with different languages. The list of these 70 groups is recorded in Genesis 10, which were called families and nations. This is the origin of the human race.
III. The tea protection function of tea and the effect of God’s words (say something good to the use of edifying)
Tea has the effect of protecting teeth, mainly because of the interaction of various substances contained in tea, such as fluorine, tea polyphenols and tea tannin fluorine. As we all know, fluoride toothpaste can make teeth stronger and more acid-resistant. In fact, tea also contains fluorine, a substance that protects our teeth. It comes from tea leaves and water brewed with them. An appropriate amount of fluorine is important to prevent the occurrence of dental cavities and can protect the enamel on each tooth from being harmed.
IV. The anti-inflammatory and sterilizing function of tea and the purification of God’s words
Tea is anti-inflammatory and has sterilizing function mainly because it contains catechins, flavonols, and polyphenols. Catechins in tea have obvious preventative effects on many pathogenic bacteria such as typhoid bacillus, paratyphoid bacillus, yellow hemolytic staphylococcus, staphylococcus aureus and dysentery. Flavanols can promote the activity of the adrenal gland like hormone drugs, and have a direct anti-inflammatory effect.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
Interview: Pastor in Southern China Shares Gospel While Sipping Tea
