Since Christianity entered China in the modern era, there have been two prosperous stages.
The first stage was in the late Qing Dynasty (1840 - 1912) and the Republic of China. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, because the foreign missionaries were backed by the imperial powers, so in front of the weak Qing government not only missionaries enjoyed various privileges but also the believers. It was the advantage of this privilege that brought a large number of believers to the Lord hence the prosperity of Christianity in that era.
Christianity was once again brilliant was after the reform and opening up of China with the strict policies from the past being altered. By that time, the number of Christians was already growing rapidly. After China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, with the rise of urbanization in China, Christianity began to move with migrant workers from rural areas to cities.
The tide of migrant workers under urbanization made the countryside rich, and at the same time, the economic situation of individual believers also changed one after another. Therefore, Christianity set out its glorious journey.
However, we can see that the glory of Christianity now is quite different from the glory made by missionaries relying on imperial backings 200 years ago and that of the second prosperity stage.
The first glory was the missionary’s cultural superiority to backward China and the introduction of science, technology, and culture into the country. Of course, this input took culture as a missionary tool.
In the second brilliance, Christian believers and pastors were not cultured at all, but they remained religious. After all previous movements, folk religion and culture were relatively poor, and people needed Christianity to provide salvation and entertainment.
Although there are many differences between the two glorious stages, for example, the educational level of pastors, they have something in common, that is, they are relatively vain. Especially this time, the performance of Christianity in the past 30 years was even more so.
The reason for describing them as vain is because they had a pleasing external appearance, but they had no substantial inner quality. In the development of Christianity in the past three decades, they have spent much money and energy contributing, not to the internal improvement, but to the massive eternal appearance.
The “massiveness” that the Christian church pays attention to includes “large” church buildings, “famous” ministers, “big influence” and “multitude” believers.
What is a “big” church? The “church” here generally refers to the meeting place. Obviously, this not only refers to the floor area and building area of the church but also includes whether the decoration of the church is luxurious and whether the height of the cross overshadows the surrounding buildings. It doesn’t necessarily matter how many people can be seated in such a big building.
The “fame” of “famous” ministers obviously refers to their great reputation. In the past 30 years, there have been many famous pastors, who often have had brilliant academic backgrounds, brilliant ministry resumes, and write many books. However, in order to become a “big” pastor, some people do not hesitate to falsify their resumes. For example, some people say that they are private pastors of a high-ranking official or mayor, and even some pastors specialize in baptizing professors or associate professors to then use as something to boast about.
Although in the past 30 years, Christianity has made great progress in the number of believers, the social influence of Christianity has not changed accordingly. Therefore, we can see that the “big” influence that the church often pursues now is obviously not social influence, but the influence in the church circle. The great influence in the church circle will not spill over into society.
The size of the church, the reputation of the minister and the influence of the church circle are the criteria to evaluate whether a church is a “big” church.
However, behind this “bigness”, there is no corresponding social influence or its own cultural foundation.
Yet, under the sudden strike of the pandemic, the appearance of “bigness” suddenly declined. Generally speaking, the economic downturn, the changes in the international environment, especially the spillover effects brought about by the American election. All these elements indirectly led to the church losing its economic foundation, and obviously, it did not have the ability to create its “greatness”.
The real development of the gospel is not superficial effort, but inner growth. Christianity in Europe, which has experienced two thousand years of ups and downs, is still the mainstream belief in Europe. Just because of their solid cultural and social foundation, the enlightenment that they experienced was just a religious rectification movement, which hit the vanity of religion and made the belief culture gain more room.
After the decline of Christianity’s vanity, is it possible that the future development of Christianity is still a flashy mode of pursuing “grandeur”? We can only hope for the rise of a new generation of believers.
- Translated by Charlie Li
基督教自近代进入中国后，可谓出现了两次繁华阶段。
第一次是清末民国时代。在清末，因为基督教传教士的背后，是帝国的力量做后盾，因此在柔弱的清政府面前，不仅传教士享有种种特权，那些信教的信徒也同样享有特权。正是这种特权的好处，带了大量信徒信主，带来了那个时代基督教的繁荣。
基督教再次辉煌，是改革开放之后，过去严格的政策也随之改变，这个时候基督教人数的增长是飞快的。到了入世之后，随着中国城市化的兴起，基督教开始从农村跟随着打工者群体来到了城市。
城市化之下的打工潮，让乡村富裕起来的同时，信徒们的经济状况也相继改变。于是，基督教开启他的辉煌之旅。
然而，我们看到这次基督教的辉煌与200年前、上一次宣教士依靠帝国后盾制造的辉煌截然不同。
上一次辉煌是传教士对落后中国在文化上的优势地位，对中国进行科技文化输入，当然这种输入是以文化为传教工具。
而这一次基督教辉煌，基督教信徒和传道人，本没有文化可言，他们更是以宗教为宗教。在经过历次运动之后，民间宗教和文化相对贫乏，人们需要基督教来提供救赎和娱乐的功能。
两次基督教的辉煌，尽管有很多差异，比如在信教人群上，在传道人教育程度上等，但是他们有共同的地方，那就是相对浮华。尤其是这一次基督教在过去三十年的表现更是如此。
所谓浮华，也就是空有漂亮的外表，而无实质的内在。基督教在过去三十年的发展，他们所花费大量的经济金钱精力，所贡献的不是为了内在的提升，而是为了“大”的外表。
基督教会注重的“大”，包括“大”教堂、“大”牧师、“大”影响、“大”教会。
何为“大”教堂？（这里的教堂泛指聚会场所）显然这不仅仅指教堂的占地面积、建筑面积，还包括教堂的装修是否豪华，十字架的高度是否盖过周边建筑。如此大的建筑，至于里面坐多少人，那并不重要。。
“大”牧师之“大”显然指的是名声之大。在过去三十年中，产生了很多名牧，他们往往拥有或辉煌的学历背景，或光鲜的事奉履历，也不乏著作等身者。但是为了成为“大”牧者，有些人不惜造假自己的履历，比如有人说自己是某高官或者市长的私人牧者，甚至有的牧者把自己为教授或者副教授信徒施洗当做自己的名片。
尽管，过去三十年，基督教在人数规模上有了巨大的发展，但是基督教的社会影响力却并未有相应的变化。因此，可以看到现在往往教会所追求的“大”影响显然不是社会影响，而是教会圈子里的影响。在教会圈子里的大影响，并不会外溢到社会。
而教堂之大、牧者名气、教会圈子的影响力，这些被作为评价一个教会是否是“大”教会的标准。
然而，这些“大”的背后，却没有产生相应的社会影响，同样也没有自己的文化根基。
但是，在突然的疫情之下，这种外表的“大”却突然衰落。大环境上来说，经济下行，国际环境变化，尤其是美国大选带来效应外溢.....这些都间接导致教会失去经济根基，显然在制造“大”的方面也就没有了那个能力。
福音的真正发展，不是表面的功夫，而是内在的成长。在经历两千年风霜的欧洲基督教，依然是欧洲的主流信仰，就因为他们在文化和社会方面的扎实功底，让其经历的启蒙运动，不过是一场宗教的纠偏运动，打击了宗教的虚荣，让信仰文化获得更大空间。
这次基督教浮华衰落之后，会不会之后的基督教发展依然是追求“大”的浮华模式，我们只能寄希望于新一代信徒的崛起。
角声| 从200年中国教会浮华衰落思考未来发展之关键：洗尽铅华呈素姿
Since Christianity entered China in the modern era, there have been two prosperous stages.
The first stage was in the late Qing Dynasty (1840 - 1912) and the Republic of China. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, because the foreign missionaries were backed by the imperial powers, so in front of the weak Qing government not only missionaries enjoyed various privileges but also the believers. It was the advantage of this privilege that brought a large number of believers to the Lord hence the prosperity of Christianity in that era.
Christianity was once again brilliant was after the reform and opening up of China with the strict policies from the past being altered. By that time, the number of Christians was already growing rapidly. After China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, with the rise of urbanization in China, Christianity began to move with migrant workers from rural areas to cities.
The tide of migrant workers under urbanization made the countryside rich, and at the same time, the economic situation of individual believers also changed one after another. Therefore, Christianity set out its glorious journey.
However, we can see that the glory of Christianity now is quite different from the glory made by missionaries relying on imperial backings 200 years ago and that of the second prosperity stage.
The first glory was the missionary’s cultural superiority to backward China and the introduction of science, technology, and culture into the country. Of course, this input took culture as a missionary tool.
In the second brilliance, Christian believers and pastors were not cultured at all, but they remained religious. After all previous movements, folk religion and culture were relatively poor, and people needed Christianity to provide salvation and entertainment.
Although there are many differences between the two glorious stages, for example, the educational level of pastors, they have something in common, that is, they are relatively vain. Especially this time, the performance of Christianity in the past 30 years was even more so.
The reason for describing them as vain is because they had a pleasing external appearance, but they had no substantial inner quality. In the development of Christianity in the past three decades, they have spent much money and energy contributing, not to the internal improvement, but to the massive eternal appearance.
The “massiveness” that the Christian church pays attention to includes “large” church buildings, “famous” ministers, “big influence” and “multitude” believers.
What is a “big” church? The “church” here generally refers to the meeting place. Obviously, this not only refers to the floor area and building area of the church but also includes whether the decoration of the church is luxurious and whether the height of the cross overshadows the surrounding buildings. It doesn’t necessarily matter how many people can be seated in such a big building.
The “fame” of “famous” ministers obviously refers to their great reputation. In the past 30 years, there have been many famous pastors, who often have had brilliant academic backgrounds, brilliant ministry resumes, and write many books. However, in order to become a “big” pastor, some people do not hesitate to falsify their resumes. For example, some people say that they are private pastors of a high-ranking official or mayor, and even some pastors specialize in baptizing professors or associate professors to then use as something to boast about.
Although in the past 30 years, Christianity has made great progress in the number of believers, the social influence of Christianity has not changed accordingly. Therefore, we can see that the “big” influence that the church often pursues now is obviously not social influence, but the influence in the church circle. The great influence in the church circle will not spill over into society.
The size of the church, the reputation of the minister and the influence of the church circle are the criteria to evaluate whether a church is a “big” church.
However, behind this “bigness”, there is no corresponding social influence or its own cultural foundation.
Yet, under the sudden strike of the pandemic, the appearance of “bigness” suddenly declined. Generally speaking, the economic downturn, the changes in the international environment, especially the spillover effects brought about by the American election. All these elements indirectly led to the church losing its economic foundation, and obviously, it did not have the ability to create its “greatness”.
The real development of the gospel is not superficial effort, but inner growth. Christianity in Europe, which has experienced two thousand years of ups and downs, is still the mainstream belief in Europe. Just because of their solid cultural and social foundation, the enlightenment that they experienced was just a religious rectification movement, which hit the vanity of religion and made the belief culture gain more room.
After the decline of Christianity’s vanity, is it possible that the future development of Christianity is still a flashy mode of pursuing “grandeur”? We can only hope for the rise of a new generation of believers.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Voice: 'Remove Camouflage Appearance' - A Consideration of Chinese Church’s Future From Its 200 Years of Ups and Downs
