As was suggested in an article issued on CNN, "Oxford English Dictionary Couldn't Pick Just One 'Word of the Year' for 2020" on November 24, the dictionary eventually gave the job up as it still couldn’t find a keyword with the approach of the end of the year.
The reason why the keyword couldn’t be found was that this year has seen too much change. It wasn’t simply the English language that has changed greatly but it was social realities behind the language that have changed drastically. There were big events that happened almost every month this year, catching people's attention and generating a lot of hot topics. To review them: the Australian bush fire in January, the acquittal of Trump impeachment case in February, the leading topic of COVID-19 in March, the English-speaking world dominated by "black lives matter" in June, the hot discussion on American mailing ballots and the Belorussian presidential election in August, the British large-scale COVID-19 test project named "Landing the Moon" in September, the leading topic of "super-plaguebearer" in October, and the American elections in November and December.
The word ‘pandemic’ was chosen as word of the year, according to an article issued by the Guardian, "Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com Choose Same Word of the Year: pandemic".
Whether the key words of the year are selected or not, it means that this year is destined to be an extraordinary year. Not only changes have taken place in the economic field, but also the international order has also ended in ups and downs, and a new year is bound to begin in the ups and downs.
The spread of COVID-19 did not only change American society, but also directly influenced the result of the American election, which made the social development of this year accelerate the process of bringing forth the new normal. However, Christianity was also greatly impacted in this year, which also brought about changes from both macro and micro aspects.
As a result of the global economic downturn, the church's income has declined as a whole. Christianity had to reduce its support for foreign missions and daily activities because of the decrease in its economic income, which further reduced its international and domestic influence. Churches had to close because of social distancing and measures implemented by countries or regions. During the period of closing down, it did not only test the financial resources of a church but also the loyalty of believers. As a result, some churches could no longer rent meeting space because they couldn’t afford to pay for their venues. Some believers no longer went to their churches or chose other churches. Some pastors had to work in other churches as their original churches were no more. The whole internal development of the church was weak and believers' loyalty to the church had been greatly tested. Obviously, as a result of this test, the influence and strength of the church declined as a whole.
Socially, Christianity also lost favor. In the face of this huge social crisis, Christianity had nothing remarkable to do except calling for or even suing the government for closure issues (in some American States). There may have been few positive actions. Similarly, regardless of the grim situation in COVID-19 and the government's closure orders, some churches in South Korea still went out to gather in the name of freedom of belief - an incident in which a certain Christian church in South Korea became the source of virus infection because of its confrontation with the Korean government's inspection. Even some famous international priests took COVID as evidence of moral judgment, and thought that it was because they did not believe in Christianity or did not support Christianity so that the virus spread. This has hardly made the social evaluation of Christianity positive. Coupled with the incredible exaggeration of the pro-Trump Christians in the American election, the last veil of Christianity no longer exists in society. All these have made the social prestige of Christianity a milestone year in the history of Christianity.
In the micro-aspect, it is precisely the changes of every believer's attitude towards Christianity. In this year, because believers couldn't go out they listened to a lot of sermons online and watched many TV dramas. They so had more online exchanges with friends and found more life significance in family reunions or communicating electronically. Some believers were gradually disappointed with the overall performance of Christianity, some returned to their old social circle of friends, and some gave up Christianity completely. Because of the decline and marginalization of the church, some believers had to invest their efforts to gain social recognition by further distancing themselves. They had to build their sense of existence on the tension of alienation from their own environment. The more the society opposes them, the closer they seem to feel to the truth of God, so they continue these activities that are not in line with Christian characteristics in the eyes of others.
In this year, the church was in trouble, and Christians were also in some kind of hysteria.
Whether it is the plight of the church or the loss of believers and hysteria, the consequences of all these ultimately fall on the pastors in charge of the church.
In this year, in response to the survival crisis brought by COVID-19, pastors have been tenacious and demonstrated flexible survival skills.
The crisis of the church, big or small, is ultimately an economic crisis. The direct manifestation of the crisis may be doctrinal disputes, personnel disputes, theological disputes, etc., but the reasons are all related to the economy, and whoever has a strong economic foundation will eventually have the upper hand. Of course, there are some believers who insist on principles, but such believers or pastors are not in the mainstream. Because such a pastor must have one condition, that is, he or she has their own independent and free source of income. For those preachers who have no source of income and rely entirely on the church, it is obviously unrealistic to stick to their stand.
Therefore, this scene has become common this year. The preacher who claimed to only be in a certain Protestant denomination suddenly became a charismatic this year. The preacher who was sworn to be a charismatic suddenly became keen on another denomination. The pastors, who once believed in the theory of a Chinese priest, suddenly organized people to write articles to curse the priest. They didn't suddenly wake up and change their belief position, but someone helped them to. In the economic crisis, pastors showed both their loyalty of Christian faith and the instability of their position. In the sense of loyalty it is because they haven't been converted to other religions that they once called paganism. Of course, if other religions pay a lot of money, the pastor may not be able to hold on. In the sense of their unstable position it is because, in this year, they may have changed their position more than once.
The evangelists are fickle without stand, which gives Christianity its own social image, but is also given a negative connotation. In the eyes of society and believers, the performance of preachers who treat money like dirt in front of money really cannot stand the temptation. Of course, when people are in crisis, it seems a bit harsh not to let people change themselves to get through the crisis. But we must distinguish that today's Christian crisis has no pressure to lose one's head during the Roman Empire or the Reformation.
In this year, the pressure of preachers came from their inability to leave the church and return to society. In the face of crisis, they can only survive the economic crisis by changing their positions frequently.
In this year, with constant changes of preachers and Christianity, we saw the fact that the church is no longer the church of believers, but the economic entity on which preachers depend for survival. The preacher's control over and dependence on the church will inevitably make the church lose its independence thus losing its motivation and opportunity to change itself. Because no one will take their jobs and take the risk of change. Besides, the church is like meat - if you don't step up your care, you may have it on other preachers' eating boards at any time.
This year, for those large churches with strong economic strength, became an opportunity for them to expand at low cost.
For this year, we can use the word "change" to describe the state of the church. The church is constantly changing, changing in its position, denominations, doctrines and theology. Pastors changed the bottom line and attitude. Believers changed churches and beliefs. Society was constantly disappointed and even rejected Christianity.
In this year, Christianity was more on the defense than trying to deliver its ideas and services.
In this year, under the impact of COVID, Christianity will become a milestone in the historical development in the final result of the American election!
However, we believe that God is in charge of everything. No matter how it changes, God must reserve his own church and believers in the world!
- Translated by Charlie Li
年终反思丨 2020年基督教的关键词：“变”
据CNN网站，11月23日发布的《Oxford English Dictionary couldn't pick just one 'word of the year' for 2020》 ，《牛津英语词典》今年就选择年度关键词的问题陷入困境，最终，临近年终的时候也没有成功选出，因此今年不得不宣布放弃。
选不出关键词原因，是因为今年变化太大，不仅是英语语言的变化大，更是因为语言背后的社会事实变化过于剧烈。因为这一年几乎每个月都有大事情发生，吸引着人们的眼光，主导者讨论的话题。一月份澳大利亚丛林火灾，二月份川普弹劾案的无罪判决，三月份开始新冠肺炎主导话题，到了六月“黑人命也是命”开始主导英语世界，八月份开始热议美国邮寄选票和白俄罗斯总统大选，九月份是命名为“登月”的英国大规模新冠测试项目，十月份被“超级传播者”主导话题，十一月份和十二月份显然是美国大选。
据英国卫报网站，《Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com choose same word of the year: pandemic》报道：韦氏词典和Dictionary.com则把pandemic选为今年的年度单词。
不论是选出还是没有选出年度关键词，都意味着今年注定成为非同寻常的一年，不仅经济领域发生着变化，国际秩序同样在跌宕起伏中结束，也必然在跌宕起伏中开始新的一年。
新冠病毒的传播不仅宏观方面改变了国家社会，甚至直接影响了美国大选的结果，让这一年社会发展加快了它推陈出新的进程。然而，基督教在这一年中同样受到巨大的冲击，也同样从宏观和微观方面带来改变。
全球经济的下行，带来的结果是教会奉献的整体下滑，基督教因为经济收入的降低，不得不减少对外宣教以及日常活动的支持，让基督教的国际和国内影响力进一步下降。因为社交距离和国家或者地区实行封闭措施，从而教堂或者教会不得不停止开放，在关门的这一段时间，不仅考验的是一个教会或者教堂的财力，同样考验着信徒的忠诚度，这造成的结果是，有些教会因为付不出房租不得不退掉房子，有些信徒不再去教会或者选择了别的教会，有些教会没有了信徒，传道人而不得不去其它教会工作。教会的内部整体发展乏力，信徒对教会忠诚度都遇到了巨大的考验。显然，这一考验的结果是教会影响力和实力整体下滑的。
在社会方面，对基督教的好感也同样下坡。因为在这场巨大的社会危机面前，基督教并没有什么可圈可点的行为，除了呼吁甚至起诉政府要求开放教堂之外（美国某一些州），可能并没有太多的积极行为出来。同样不顾新冠的严峻形势和政府封闭法令，而以信仰自由为名出门聚会——韩国基督教某一宗派教会，因为对抗韩国政府的检查，而成为病毒感染之源的事件；甚至有些著名的国际牧师，还拿新冠病毒作为道德审判的证据，认为正是因为不信基督教或者没有支持基督教，才导致了病毒的泛滥。这让社会对基督教的评价几乎无法正面。加上美国大选中川粉基督徒让人匪夷所思的夸张表现，在社会看，基督教最后的一块遮羞布也不复存在。这些让基督教的社会威信度，成为基督教历史上具有里程碑意义的一年。
微观方面，则具体到每个信徒对基督教的认同态度的变化。这一年，因为不能出门，在屏幕前听了很多牧师的讲道，同样也追了很多的剧，也与朋友有了更多的隔空交流，在家人的团聚或者云交流中发现了更多的生活意义。对基督教的整体表现，有些信徒逐渐失望了，有些信徒重新回归社会朋友圈，有些信徒则彻底放弃基督教。有些信徒因为教会的衰落以及越来越边缘化，不得不将自己获取社会承认的努力投向大洋彼岸，不得不将自己的存在感建立在与自身环境疏离的张力上，社会越是反对自己，自己觉得越是接近上帝的真理，于是他们在旁人不断惊异的眼神中，继续着这些不符合基督教特质的活动。
这一年，让教会陷入困境，让基督徒同样陷入某种歇斯底里的疯狂。
不论是教会的困境，还是信徒的流失与歇斯底里的疯狂，最终这一切的后果都落在掌管教会的传道人身上。
这一年，在应对新冠带来的生存危机中，传道人表现出了他们顽强的生命，和灵活的生存技巧。
教会的危机不论大小，最终都是经济的危机。危机的直接表现可能是教义之争、人事之争、神学争论等等，但究其原因无不与经济有关，谁经济基础雄厚最终都会占据上风。当然这其中不乏有一些坚持原则的信徒出现，但这样的信徒或传道人并不是主流。因为这样的传道人要有一个条件，那就是他有自己独立且自由的经济来源。对于那些没有自己经济来源，完全依赖教会的传道人来说，坚持立场显然并不现实。
于是今年这样的场景成为普遍，曾经对改革宗信誓旦旦的传道人，今年突然变成了灵恩派；昔日对灵恩派不共戴天的传道人，今年突然热衷于方言；曾经对某华人牧师的理论笃信不疑的传道人，突然组织人写文章，对这个牧师大骂不止。他们不是突然觉醒改变了信仰立场，而是有人给他们雪中送炭。在经济危机中，传道人既表现了基督教信仰的忠贞，也表现了自己立场的不稳定性。忠贞是因为他们还没有改信他们曾经眼里称为异教的其它宗教，当然如果其他宗教花大价钱，传道人也可能把持不住。说他们立场不稳定，是因为在这一年中，他们可能改变了不止一次立场。
传道人没有立场的善变，给予基督教自身的社会形象，又刷了一层负面的色彩。在社会和信徒看来，视金钱如粪土的传道人在金钱面前的表现，实在是经不起试探。当然，人在危机中，不让人改变自己度过危机这显得有点苛刻。但我们必须分清，今天基督教的危机已经没有罗马帝国或者宗教改革时期掉脑袋的压力。
这一年，传道人的压力来源于他们不能离开教会，不能回到社会，在危机面前他们只能通过频繁改变立场，来度过经济危机。
这一年，在传道人不断变化，在基督教不断变化的过程中，我们看到教会已经不是信徒的教会这一事实，而是传道人赖以生存的经济实体。传道人对教会的控制，以及对教会的依赖，必然使教会丧失独立性，从而也丧失改变自己的动力和机遇。因为没有人会拿着自己的饭碗承担改变的风险。况且，教会就如鱼肉，不加紧看护，随时可能跑到其它传道人的菜板上。
而这一年，对于那些经济实力雄厚的大集团教会来说，成为他们低成本大收益地攻城略地的机会。
这一年，我们可以用“变”这个词来形容教会的状态。教会不断在变，改变立场，改变宗派，改变教义和神学；传道人改变底线，改变态度；信徒改变教会，改变信仰；社会对基督教不断失望甚至排斥。
这一年，基督教更多处于防守，而不是不是尝试输出自己的理念和服务。
这一年，基督教必然在新冠病毒的冲击下，在美国大选一锤定音的结果中，成为历史发展中，里程碑的一年！
但我们相信，一切都在上帝的掌管着，不论怎样改变，上帝在人间一定预留了祂自己的教会和信徒！
年终反思丨 2020年基督教的关键词：“变”
As was suggested in an article issued on CNN, "Oxford English Dictionary Couldn't Pick Just One 'Word of the Year' for 2020" on November 24, the dictionary eventually gave the job up as it still couldn’t find a keyword with the approach of the end of the year.
The reason why the keyword couldn’t be found was that this year has seen too much change. It wasn’t simply the English language that has changed greatly but it was social realities behind the language that have changed drastically. There were big events that happened almost every month this year, catching people's attention and generating a lot of hot topics. To review them: the Australian bush fire in January, the acquittal of Trump impeachment case in February, the leading topic of COVID-19 in March, the English-speaking world dominated by "black lives matter" in June, the hot discussion on American mailing ballots and the Belorussian presidential election in August, the British large-scale COVID-19 test project named "Landing the Moon" in September, the leading topic of "super-plaguebearer" in October, and the American elections in November and December.
The word ‘pandemic’ was chosen as word of the year, according to an article issued by the Guardian, "Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com Choose Same Word of the Year: pandemic".
Whether the key words of the year are selected or not, it means that this year is destined to be an extraordinary year. Not only changes have taken place in the economic field, but also the international order has also ended in ups and downs, and a new year is bound to begin in the ups and downs.
The spread of COVID-19 did not only change American society, but also directly influenced the result of the American election, which made the social development of this year accelerate the process of bringing forth the new normal. However, Christianity was also greatly impacted in this year, which also brought about changes from both macro and micro aspects.
As a result of the global economic downturn, the church's income has declined as a whole. Christianity had to reduce its support for foreign missions and daily activities because of the decrease in its economic income, which further reduced its international and domestic influence. Churches had to close because of social distancing and measures implemented by countries or regions. During the period of closing down, it did not only test the financial resources of a church but also the loyalty of believers. As a result, some churches could no longer rent meeting space because they couldn’t afford to pay for their venues. Some believers no longer went to their churches or chose other churches. Some pastors had to work in other churches as their original churches were no more. The whole internal development of the church was weak and believers' loyalty to the church had been greatly tested. Obviously, as a result of this test, the influence and strength of the church declined as a whole.
Socially, Christianity also lost favor. In the face of this huge social crisis, Christianity had nothing remarkable to do except calling for or even suing the government for closure issues (in some American States). There may have been few positive actions. Similarly, regardless of the grim situation in COVID-19 and the government's closure orders, some churches in South Korea still went out to gather in the name of freedom of belief - an incident in which a certain Christian church in South Korea became the source of virus infection because of its confrontation with the Korean government's inspection. Even some famous international priests took COVID as evidence of moral judgment, and thought that it was because they did not believe in Christianity or did not support Christianity so that the virus spread. This has hardly made the social evaluation of Christianity positive. Coupled with the incredible exaggeration of the pro-Trump Christians in the American election, the last veil of Christianity no longer exists in society. All these have made the social prestige of Christianity a milestone year in the history of Christianity.
In the micro-aspect, it is precisely the changes of every believer's attitude towards Christianity. In this year, because believers couldn't go out they listened to a lot of sermons online and watched many TV dramas. They so had more online exchanges with friends and found more life significance in family reunions or communicating electronically. Some believers were gradually disappointed with the overall performance of Christianity, some returned to their old social circle of friends, and some gave up Christianity completely. Because of the decline and marginalization of the church, some believers had to invest their efforts to gain social recognition by further distancing themselves. They had to build their sense of existence on the tension of alienation from their own environment. The more the society opposes them, the closer they seem to feel to the truth of God, so they continue these activities that are not in line with Christian characteristics in the eyes of others.
In this year, the church was in trouble, and Christians were also in some kind of hysteria.
Whether it is the plight of the church or the loss of believers and hysteria, the consequences of all these ultimately fall on the pastors in charge of the church.
In this year, in response to the survival crisis brought by COVID-19, pastors have been tenacious and demonstrated flexible survival skills.
The crisis of the church, big or small, is ultimately an economic crisis. The direct manifestation of the crisis may be doctrinal disputes, personnel disputes, theological disputes, etc., but the reasons are all related to the economy, and whoever has a strong economic foundation will eventually have the upper hand. Of course, there are some believers who insist on principles, but such believers or pastors are not in the mainstream. Because such a pastor must have one condition, that is, he or she has their own independent and free source of income. For those preachers who have no source of income and rely entirely on the church, it is obviously unrealistic to stick to their stand.
Therefore, this scene has become common this year. The preacher who claimed to only be in a certain Protestant denomination suddenly became a charismatic this year. The preacher who was sworn to be a charismatic suddenly became keen on another denomination. The pastors, who once believed in the theory of a Chinese priest, suddenly organized people to write articles to curse the priest. They didn't suddenly wake up and change their belief position, but someone helped them to. In the economic crisis, pastors showed both their loyalty of Christian faith and the instability of their position. In the sense of loyalty it is because they haven't been converted to other religions that they once called paganism. Of course, if other religions pay a lot of money, the pastor may not be able to hold on. In the sense of their unstable position it is because, in this year, they may have changed their position more than once.
The evangelists are fickle without stand, which gives Christianity its own social image, but is also given a negative connotation. In the eyes of society and believers, the performance of preachers who treat money like dirt in front of money really cannot stand the temptation. Of course, when people are in crisis, it seems a bit harsh not to let people change themselves to get through the crisis. But we must distinguish that today's Christian crisis has no pressure to lose one's head during the Roman Empire or the Reformation.
In this year, the pressure of preachers came from their inability to leave the church and return to society. In the face of crisis, they can only survive the economic crisis by changing their positions frequently.
In this year, with constant changes of preachers and Christianity, we saw the fact that the church is no longer the church of believers, but the economic entity on which preachers depend for survival. The preacher's control over and dependence on the church will inevitably make the church lose its independence thus losing its motivation and opportunity to change itself. Because no one will take their jobs and take the risk of change. Besides, the church is like meat - if you don't step up your care, you may have it on other preachers' eating boards at any time.
This year, for those large churches with strong economic strength, became an opportunity for them to expand at low cost.
For this year, we can use the word "change" to describe the state of the church. The church is constantly changing, changing in its position, denominations, doctrines and theology. Pastors changed the bottom line and attitude. Believers changed churches and beliefs. Society was constantly disappointed and even rejected Christianity.
In this year, Christianity was more on the defense than trying to deliver its ideas and services.
In this year, under the impact of COVID, Christianity will become a milestone in the historical development in the final result of the American election!
However, we believe that God is in charge of everything. No matter how it changes, God must reserve his own church and believers in the world!
- Translated by Charlie Li
Key Word of Christianity in 2020: "Change"
