Brother Xiao Liu made the choice of becoming a Christian because he had been confused about various big issues to which no satisfying answers could be found, but it was not at all because he has a Christian family. All the troubling questions he had were the “great matters” in the eyes of his classmates because they had neither real-life significance nor practical value. They were the ultimate questions about the world and life.
A source of happiness was found in the interest in philosophy by Brother Liu who is intimate and quiet. When talking with his classmates, he could always get envious eyes for his simple words. This made him acknowledge that thinking was a state of life even though many ideas could not be understood, and even when some questions required more than one answer.
With such a mentality and the many questions, he was enrolled to study a liberal arts major at a university. However, these problems could not be solved by merely studying at a university. Although the materials in the library provided various possible answer resources, he was still puzzled.
It was not until his freshman year when he discovered a church adjacent to his university and the vibrant young people there, that he suddenly realized that maybe his previous questions might have their answers in religion.
After joining the church, he did not intend to become a Christian because figuring out the ultimate questions was not the same as being a religious believer.
But as time went on, he was baptized as a Christian and joined the youth fellowship of the church.
Yet, as he became a true Christian and was accepted by the church, he encountered another problem, that was, many of his questions could not be discussed in the church. For instance, questioning the Bible, different ideas about doctrines, talking about other religions is an especially forbidden topic that would be avoided immediately once it was mentioned.
Xiao Liu soon understood that the current situation in many churches in China is not about discussing the ultimate questions (precisely it is not discussions), rather it is believing, believing in a set of doctrinal beliefs, which can not be changed or challenged because everything else is wrong – anything else would be labeled as heresy.
“Heresy” is a word he hears frequently in his church - as long as the doctrines and ideas are different from that of his own church they are all heretical. Therefore, once you are branded a heretic by the church, it may mean that you will be alienated and isolated. This reminds him of the woman who suffered from bleeding in Jesus’ time.
Liu, a junior, was thinking about a way out of this dilemma when the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly struck. All in-person activities of his church were suspended and online services became the norm. As online gatherings increased, he received messages from other churches one after another. Online services as a technological breakthrough in regard to the onsite gatherings allowed him to access to various church resources.
The suspension of church meetings allowed believers to freely gather onsite or in online meetings. Liu began to find young believers with similar ideas, even believers from other churches. They formed an online gathering group. In this group, they are free to discuss issues. Unless the administrator removes you, you can speak freely. Because this group is made of all lay believers and there is no supervisor of the so-called “orthodox doctrine”, they can discuss freely, in which he regains the joy of discussion and thinking.
Liu’s experience is not an individual case, but an emerging phenomenon. The decline in megachurches caused by the normalization of the COVID-19 pandemic has given active and thinking believers opportunities to group together and think freely without the control of many churches that have turned orthodox doctrine into dogmatism.
What is the significance of this phenomenon? We must understand the concept of the orthodox doctrine and who will control the orthodoxy of doctrine.
The so-called orthodox doctrine, obviously suggested by its literal meaning, is the real continuity. In ancient times, the legitimacy of a successor to the throne depended on whether he had an orthodox position, including bloodline or the will of the last emperor; or whether he conformed to the order and thought of succession to the throne of a dynasty. The orthodox thought of a dynasty was also the ideology recognized by the kingship. For instance, many dynasties in ancient China listed Confucianism as their orthodox school of thought.
Therefore, once a stipulation was listed as orthodox, it meant that it could only be accepted but not questioned or denied. Therefore, orthodoxy is not a multiple-choice question.
Let us see that the establishment of orthodoxy is often not the result of debate and discussion, but more of the result of coercion by power. For example, the establishment of Legalism in the State of Qin (770 B.C. - 207 B.C., one of the former Warring States that ultimately conquered the other six and unified them) was orthodox. Until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (156 B.C. - 87 B.C.), purposive Taoism had been orthodox. After the Emperor, Confucianism began to rise, and then the basic Confucianism was orthodox. In the Tang Dynasty (618 A.D. - 907 A.D.), Taoism began to become orthodox because of the illegality of its regime. So orthodoxy was established but not as a result of natural selection.
At the beginning of Christianity, there was no orthodoxy mentioned in Paul’s letters. Some people belonged to Paul and some belonged to Peter. At this time, before the enlightenment of China, there were a hundred schools of thought contending in Christianity, so we can see the brilliant church fathers and theologians. After Christianity became the national religion, the emperor began to establish orthodoxy, held a grand council, and established orthodoxy by force. Everything that was different from the orthodox doctrine was regarded as heresy and was either suppressed or appeased.
Church orthodoxy is maintained by secular power, that is, secular regime. After the Reformation, Protestantism had no papal state, but it did not mean there was no orthodox doctrine. They still had orthodoxy, and this orthodoxy was maintained by the church. Of course, not the small churches, but the megachurches maintained this. Once a small church was branded as heretical, it would be rejected by the big church. Therefore, in general, small churches should look like big churches.
Then, at present, in Chinese churches, orthodoxy is also easily controlled by megachurches. Because large churches have a great influence among believers, they have the coercive power of public opinion to the small church. Now, the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the reduction of social activities, and various international backgrounds have led to the reduction of the economic and social space of megachurches thus leading to their corresponding decline.
The decline of big churches means that the maintenance of orthodox doctrine tends to be loose, and small churches are separated from the right to speak held by the big church in orthodox doctrine. The small churches begin to have their own free space.
Similarly, the normalization of the pandemic as well as the international environment not only make big churches decline, but also the whole church community tends to decline, and its influence and control decline with the subsequent decrease of economic income. This allows space for individual believers to freely group together and think. As a matter of fact, more and more active and thoughtful young believers are organizing their own small groups. These groups are different from the hierarchical structure of the church but more inclined to the equal relationship between Jesus and his disciples.
Throughout the history of Christianity, the era of brilliant ideas and culture is mostly in the period of the decline of large churches, the church fathers' dominance, the Augustine era, the Caroline Renaissance, and the 16th century Renaissance, etc. All those eras came into being under the background of the decline of megachurches.
In today’s era, for Chinese Christianity, crisis and opportunity coexist, which is both the worst and the best, because when the new wine is brewing and the new wineskin is being made!
- Translated by Charlie Li
小刘弟兄信主并不是出于家庭原因，而是自己对很多问题困惑思考而不得解的选择。这些问题在他的那些同学看来皆是“屠龙问题”，因为这些问题既没有现实生活的意义，也没有实用的价值。这些问题就是关于世界、人生的终极问题。
对哲学的爱好，让性格喜欢安静的小刘弟兄从中找到了快乐之源。与同学谈论的时候，他的深入浅出总能获得羡慕的眼光。这让他觉得思考就是一种人生的状态，尽管很多问题想不明白，甚至有些问题不止一个答案。
带着这种思考习惯与对很多问题的困惑，他考入了一所综合性大学的文科专业。但是并不是考了大学，这些问题就能解决。虽然图书馆里的资料提供各种可能的答案资源，但是他依然困惑不解。
直到他在大一发现了与学校一墙之隔的教堂，以及教堂里朝气蓬勃的年轻人，他才突然发现自己以前思考的问题也许在宗教里会有答案。
加入教会之后，他并没有打算成为基督徒，因为思考终极问题与成为一个宗教的信徒并不是一回事。
但是随着时间的深入，他还是受洗成为一名基督徒，并加入了教会的青年团契。
但是真正成为基督徒、被教会接纳之后，他发现了另一个问题，那就是很多问题在这里不能谈论。比如对圣经的质疑、对教义的不同想法，尤其是谈论其它宗教更是禁区，一旦涉及马上就被制止。
小刘很快就明白，当下在国内不少教会里面的现状是基督本身教尽管是讨论终极问题，但是准确地说不是讨论，而是信奉，既信奉一套教义系统，这套系统不能更改或质疑，因为除此之外都是错的，都被打上异端的名分。
“异端”这是他在教会中听到频率很高的词——只要与自己教会不同的教义思想，都是异端。因此，一旦被教会打上异端，那可能就意味着：会被疏远和隔离。这让他想起耶稣时代那个患血漏的妇女。
大三的小刘，在这种困境中正在思考出路的时候，一场疫情突然袭来，教会一切活动暂停，开始线上聚会。但是随着线上聚会的增加，他也陆续收到其它教会聚会的视频。网络聚会对物理空间的突破，让他可以接触到更多的教会资源。
教会聚会的暂停，让信徒开始自由组合实地或者线上聚会。小刘开始找到和他有类似想法的青年信徒，甚至包括了其它教会的信徒，他们组成了一个线上聚会的群，在这个群里他们讨论问题比较自由，因为除非有人把你删除，否则你都可以自由发言。因为这个群都是平信徒，也没有所谓“正统教义”的监督者，因此他们可以自由讨论，这让他重新找到了讨论和思考的快乐。
小刘的经历，并不是一个个例，而是正在出现的一个现象。在教会中活跃的和喜欢思考的信徒，在新冠疫情常态化之后带来的教会衰落中，他们开始脱离当下不少教会把正统教义变成思想教条化的控制，而自由组合和思考。
对于这种现象的出现意义何在，我们必须明白正统教义的概念，以及谁来控制正统教义的正统性。
所谓正统教义，显然按照字面的理解，那就是真正的统续。在古代一个皇位继承者是不是具备合法性就看他是不是具备正统地位，包括血统、上一任皇帝的意愿、是否符合王朝皇位继承的顺序和思想等，一个朝代的正统思想，也是被王权所认可的意识形态，比如在中国古代很多朝代都把儒家列为正统思想。
因此一个东西一旦被列为正统，那么就意味着这个东西只能接受，不能质疑和否定。因此，正统不是一个选择题。
这让我们看到，正统的确立常常并不是辩论和商讨的结果，而更多是强权强制的结果。比如，秦国确立法家是正统，到了汉代汉武帝之前，黄老是正统，汉武帝之后儒家开始抬头，之后基本儒家都是正统。到了唐朝，由于其政权的不合法性，因此道家开始成为正统。因此正统是确立的，不是自然选择的结果。
基督教在开始的时候，没有正统，这就是保罗书信中所提到的，有人属保罗，有人属彼得，这个时候直到国教化之前，基督教都是百家争鸣的，因此我们可以看到那些辉煌的教父以及神学家。到了国教化之后，皇帝开始确立正统，召开大公会议，以武力的方式确立正统教义。凡是与正统教义不同的皆被定为异端，而被镇压或者招安。
教会正统教义是靠世俗力量维护的，那就是世俗政权。到了宗教改革之后，新教没有教皇国，那么不代表没有正统教义。他们依然有正统之说，而这个正统则由教会维护。当然不是小教会，而是大教会来维护。一旦一个小教会被打上异端，那么这个小教会就会遭到大教会的排斥。因此，一般小教会要向大教会看齐。
那么在中国教会的当下，往往正统同样容易被大教会控制。因为大教会在信徒中影响大，因此对小教会有舆论的强制力。现在新冠疫情导致的经济下行，社会活动窗口的缩小，以及各种国际背景，导致大教会在经济和社会空间的缩小，从而带来大教会相应地衰落。
大教会的衰落，意味着正统教义的维护趋于松散，小教会的以脱离在正统教义上被大教会把持的话语权。小教会开始拥有自己的自由空间。
同样，疫情常态化和国际环境不仅让大教会衰落，同样整体教会都趋于衰落，其影响力和控制力，随着经济奉献收入的降低，而不断衰减。这样就为个体信徒的自由组合和思考带来空间。而事实是，越来越多活跃的有想法的年轻信徒，正在自己组合自己的小团体，这些团体不同于教会的层级结构，而是更加趋向于耶稣与门徒之间那样的平等关系。
纵观基督教历史上，思想和文化辉煌的时代，大都是在大教会衰落的时期，教父时代、奥古斯丁时代、卡洛琳文艺复兴、16世纪文艺复兴等，这些时代，都是在大教会衰落的背景下产生的。
今天这个时代，对于中国基督教来说，危机与机遇并存，既是最差的年代也是最好的年代，因为新酒正在酿造，新皮袋正在缝制！
后疫情时代大教会衰落，给中国教会带来的是利还是弊？
Brother Xiao Liu made the choice of becoming a Christian because he had been confused about various big issues to which no satisfying answers could be found, but it was not at all because he has a Christian family. All the troubling questions he had were the “great matters” in the eyes of his classmates because they had neither real-life significance nor practical value. They were the ultimate questions about the world and life.
A source of happiness was found in the interest in philosophy by Brother Liu who is intimate and quiet. When talking with his classmates, he could always get envious eyes for his simple words. This made him acknowledge that thinking was a state of life even though many ideas could not be understood, and even when some questions required more than one answer.
With such a mentality and the many questions, he was enrolled to study a liberal arts major at a university. However, these problems could not be solved by merely studying at a university. Although the materials in the library provided various possible answer resources, he was still puzzled.
It was not until his freshman year when he discovered a church adjacent to his university and the vibrant young people there, that he suddenly realized that maybe his previous questions might have their answers in religion.
After joining the church, he did not intend to become a Christian because figuring out the ultimate questions was not the same as being a religious believer.
But as time went on, he was baptized as a Christian and joined the youth fellowship of the church.
Yet, as he became a true Christian and was accepted by the church, he encountered another problem, that was, many of his questions could not be discussed in the church. For instance, questioning the Bible, different ideas about doctrines, talking about other religions is an especially forbidden topic that would be avoided immediately once it was mentioned.
Xiao Liu soon understood that the current situation in many churches in China is not about discussing the ultimate questions (precisely it is not discussions), rather it is believing, believing in a set of doctrinal beliefs, which can not be changed or challenged because everything else is wrong – anything else would be labeled as heresy.
“Heresy” is a word he hears frequently in his church - as long as the doctrines and ideas are different from that of his own church they are all heretical. Therefore, once you are branded a heretic by the church, it may mean that you will be alienated and isolated. This reminds him of the woman who suffered from bleeding in Jesus’ time.
Liu, a junior, was thinking about a way out of this dilemma when the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly struck. All in-person activities of his church were suspended and online services became the norm. As online gatherings increased, he received messages from other churches one after another. Online services as a technological breakthrough in regard to the onsite gatherings allowed him to access to various church resources.
The suspension of church meetings allowed believers to freely gather onsite or in online meetings. Liu began to find young believers with similar ideas, even believers from other churches. They formed an online gathering group. In this group, they are free to discuss issues. Unless the administrator removes you, you can speak freely. Because this group is made of all lay believers and there is no supervisor of the so-called “orthodox doctrine”, they can discuss freely, in which he regains the joy of discussion and thinking.
Liu’s experience is not an individual case, but an emerging phenomenon. The decline in megachurches caused by the normalization of the COVID-19 pandemic has given active and thinking believers opportunities to group together and think freely without the control of many churches that have turned orthodox doctrine into dogmatism.
What is the significance of this phenomenon? We must understand the concept of the orthodox doctrine and who will control the orthodoxy of doctrine.
The so-called orthodox doctrine, obviously suggested by its literal meaning, is the real continuity. In ancient times, the legitimacy of a successor to the throne depended on whether he had an orthodox position, including bloodline or the will of the last emperor; or whether he conformed to the order and thought of succession to the throne of a dynasty. The orthodox thought of a dynasty was also the ideology recognized by the kingship. For instance, many dynasties in ancient China listed Confucianism as their orthodox school of thought.
Therefore, once a stipulation was listed as orthodox, it meant that it could only be accepted but not questioned or denied. Therefore, orthodoxy is not a multiple-choice question.
Let us see that the establishment of orthodoxy is often not the result of debate and discussion, but more of the result of coercion by power. For example, the establishment of Legalism in the State of Qin (770 B.C. - 207 B.C., one of the former Warring States that ultimately conquered the other six and unified them) was orthodox. Until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (156 B.C. - 87 B.C.), purposive Taoism had been orthodox. After the Emperor, Confucianism began to rise, and then the basic Confucianism was orthodox. In the Tang Dynasty (618 A.D. - 907 A.D.), Taoism began to become orthodox because of the illegality of its regime. So orthodoxy was established but not as a result of natural selection.
At the beginning of Christianity, there was no orthodoxy mentioned in Paul’s letters. Some people belonged to Paul and some belonged to Peter. At this time, before the enlightenment of China, there were a hundred schools of thought contending in Christianity, so we can see the brilliant church fathers and theologians. After Christianity became the national religion, the emperor began to establish orthodoxy, held a grand council, and established orthodoxy by force. Everything that was different from the orthodox doctrine was regarded as heresy and was either suppressed or appeased.
Church orthodoxy is maintained by secular power, that is, secular regime. After the Reformation, Protestantism had no papal state, but it did not mean there was no orthodox doctrine. They still had orthodoxy, and this orthodoxy was maintained by the church. Of course, not the small churches, but the megachurches maintained this. Once a small church was branded as heretical, it would be rejected by the big church. Therefore, in general, small churches should look like big churches.
Then, at present, in Chinese churches, orthodoxy is also easily controlled by megachurches. Because large churches have a great influence among believers, they have the coercive power of public opinion to the small church. Now, the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the reduction of social activities, and various international backgrounds have led to the reduction of the economic and social space of megachurches thus leading to their corresponding decline.
The decline of big churches means that the maintenance of orthodox doctrine tends to be loose, and small churches are separated from the right to speak held by the big church in orthodox doctrine. The small churches begin to have their own free space.
Similarly, the normalization of the pandemic as well as the international environment not only make big churches decline, but also the whole church community tends to decline, and its influence and control decline with the subsequent decrease of economic income. This allows space for individual believers to freely group together and think. As a matter of fact, more and more active and thoughtful young believers are organizing their own small groups. These groups are different from the hierarchical structure of the church but more inclined to the equal relationship between Jesus and his disciples.
Throughout the history of Christianity, the era of brilliant ideas and culture is mostly in the period of the decline of large churches, the church fathers' dominance, the Augustine era, the Caroline Renaissance, and the 16th century Renaissance, etc. All those eras came into being under the background of the decline of megachurches.
In today’s era, for Chinese Christianity, crisis and opportunity coexist, which is both the worst and the best, because when the new wine is brewing and the new wineskin is being made!
- Translated by Charlie Li
Declining of Megachurch in Post-pandemic Era: A Good or Bad Sign to Chinese Churches?
