China Ministries International (CMI) will be holding the third seminar of the Urbanization and the Chinese Church titled, "Gospel Ministry in Urban China: Contextualize without Compromise," on September 24th. The seminar will discuss on how to learn from the west and combine it with the characters of Chinese culture to establish gospel ministries, thus blending into the eastern culture while un-compromised in keeping to following the traditions taught by the scriptures.
CMI coordinator for the event Alice pointed out that the most important aspect the seminar would address will be how to equip the returning overseas Chinese graduates. "Now more and more people study overseas and then returns to their country. We need to think about how to equip them and to provide them with more training so that they would not be swayed by the change of environment and stop going to Christian gatherings upon their return."
Alice said that due to the difference in culture, unfamiliarity with churches of China, and absence of fellowship of similar faith in their return, many overseas graduates would feel lonely and would their faith would sway, eventually they would stop attending Christian activities. Therefore, this seminar will search into how North American churches would train these believers prior to returning to China, especially for those who wishes to evangelize upon returning, so they would have an understanding of the state of Chinese society and situation of the church. "This is not merely the problem of individual churches, rather this is the problem of all North American churches and what they must face," Alice said.
Beginning last year, CMI has held three seminars on the topic of Gospel Ministries in Urban China consecutively. Each time, over hundreds attend the seminar, and about half of them participate in China mission ministries. This September will be the last for this topic. Next year, CMI plans to use Spiritual Warfare as the topic for its seminar and search into the causes and solutions in the escalation of cults in China. Returning overseas Chinese graduates will also be another important topic to be addressed. Alice said that currently China is facing a time of rapid change, and that we should take hold of the changing environment and provide the necessary guidance and training for China ministries.
