Wisely working within creative access nations

I have previously written elsewhere to encourage churches to jointly form a non-profit organization to reach out to the public for sharing the love of Christ through community service. In China, this kind of social service unit is classified as a Private Non-Enterprise Unit (民办非企业). In the West, a charity is sometimes called a non-government organization, which implies independence from the government.¹ However, the counterpart in China is denoted as “non-enterprise” instead of “non-government” because its operation must have a close tie with the government. Christians forming any sort of community service center must be well prepared to get along with government bodies.

In the first place, a community service operation must register at the Civil Affairs department or bureau. Depending on the nature of the service, the operation will also be monitored by the relevant government department. For example, if you provide education or training for teachers, the Education Department will be the competent body to scrutinize your teaching service content.² For general mercy and compassion service, the Civil Affairs Department is usually the supervising body. The unit should submit an annual operation report to the supervising government office.

The prophet Daniel cared about a cruel governor

Church members with a heightened sense of self protection may find it difficult to adapt to the idea of working under a government. I fully understand the apparent incompatibility between an independent church ministry versus a social service operation, which must comply with the supervision of the government. However, the prophet Daniel provides an example to demonstrate the dexterity necessary for handling a relationship with government officials and rulers in order to fulfill our mission of glorifying God.

In chapter 4 of Daniel, after the king described his horribly inauspicious dream, Daniel was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him (Daniel 4:19). Daniel worried about the king’s upcoming suffering to the extent of being appalled. He cared about the doom of the king. On noticing Daniel’s countenance, the king replied to Daniel with some comforting words, telling him not to let his dream or its meaning alarm him (Daniel 4:20). You can easily feel their concern about each other in this short dialogue. They shared a heart-to-heart concern with each other.

Talking to Daniel was a brutal governor who had ruined Daniel's home country and turned him into a refugee. Yet he served the king with wholehearted sincerity. Perhaps that was why the king could identify the holiness in him (Daniel 4:8). Purity and piety from the inside out distinguished Daniel among all other officials in the court. As a non-profit organization, serving a government who imposes restriction to our religious freedom to worship God can arouse a lot of emotional struggles. But there can also be opportunities to let the officials detect the purity of Christ’s love in our hearts.

Different approaches for a common aim

Reaching out and preaching the good news is a common pursuit for all Christians who serve either in churches or a non-profit. However, the approaches for developing related ministries can be very different. To achieve their missional aims, churches may follow Western evangelistic strategies, which have proven effective in open access nations in the past. However, when we serve the community in a creative access nation, methods need to be redefined due to many contextual differences.

Our strategy should be able to adapt to the needs of multiple stakeholders including government officials, the community we serve, our volunteers, and partners supporting the initiative. The following is an example, showing the contrast between the strategies of a church in Hong Kong versus a non-profit in mainland China.

In Hong Kong, the government holds an open-minded and tolerant attitude towards different religions. Christianity has earned a high respect due to its many positive social contributions in the past. Local clergy and overseas missionaries are free to preach, establish churches, develop ministries, teach theology, and train disciples.

Historically, missionaries came to build up churches and contributed to the affluence of Hong Kong in many respects. Naturally, churches in Hong Kong use the same model for their ongoing strategies, like conducting evangelistic events, planting new churches, and applying harvest theology for reaping. Church development usually focuses on the following metrics:

• The number of non-believers converted
•  The number of churches planted
• The number of Sunday School teachers and students
• The number of discipleship trainers and trainees
• How many evangelistic events held
• How many church members take courses in seminary, and
• How many members take part in short-term and long-term mission.

When church members in Hong Kong take part in China ministry, they retain these indicators in their assessment of the effectiveness of their mission. But this is not the right measurement, because Western methodologies for church growth do not address key concerns of outreach missions in China. Advancing Christianity there faces another set of critical issues specific to its religiously prohibitive environment.

In China, officials, community leaders, and institute principals keep a skeptical eye on community activities mobilized by a body with a Christian affiliation or heritage.³ You have to convince the government officials of your sincerity to serve all, in compliance with the law and regulations. But once you get the green light from them, the public can then rest assured that they will not get into trouble by joining your activities, receiving your service, or participating in volunteer work. They will even spread favorable opinion of you. In such contexts, the following are better things to track, rather than the tangible growth of a church:⁴

• How to resolve the misunderstanding about Christianity in society carried down from a history of missions associated with Western colonialism
• How to collaborate with different stakeholders in a socialistic system
• How to build a trust relationship with the government officials so that they are willing to connect you with the leaders of communities and institutions
• How to create opportunities for an encounter with truth in which the officials and the leaders find your message enlightening
• How to transform the culture to cherish lovingkindness, righteousness, and integrity as soil well prepared for God’s words
• How to make the service recipients perceive your organization as a channel of blessing, and
• How deep are the friendships you have built in the community.

Missional or evangelistic aims common to any outreach will flow better from tracking these elements within a creative access context.

Dos and don’ts in the public domain

Matthew 9:35 reveals a few things Jesus did as a strategy to reach out to the communities he encountered. Jesus taught in their synagogues; he proclaimed the coming of the kingdom; and he healed diseases. These three actions were key to open the hearts and minds of the people. Practically, proclamation cannot be done openly in a restrictive milieu like China. Yet there is still ample space for us to spread the truth and to bless the community, as long as you know how to appropriately manage your actions in a public domain.

We never forget our determination to proclaim the good news. But it is important to do it prudently and sustainably, one step at a time. We first must create an entry point for reaching out to the community so that opportunities for gospel encounters can be arranged without surveillance at a future time. Like the cases of Nicodemus (John 3:1-3), and the woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11), Jesus talked with potential believers individually and privately. This is most appropriate for many contexts, especially religiously restrictive ones.

Summary

China is what we call a creative access nation. We need to employ innovative and adaptive approaches to overcome the obstacles in sharing the faith in such a challenging environment. This means we should not simply rely on traditional evangelistic means to reach out non-believers. Rather, we need to establish a creative new interface to convey our message, deriving it from the Bible and adapting to restrictive, controlled, and high-surveillance societies through our loving actions and words.

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Endnotes

1. George Kaloudis, Non-Governmental Organizations in the Global System (London: Lexington Books, 2021), pp. xvii – xix.
2. The Interim Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Private Non-enterprise Units, People’s Republic of China. Find an English translation at China Law Translate, https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/min-fei-civil-society-organizations/.
3. 段德智，境外宗教渗透研究，（北京，人民出版社，2018），37-42页.
4. 高雅真，延福万族的使命：从重整真理的基础到重整实践的行动，于蔡元云编，神的使命：启动新步伐。（印度尼西亚, 世界华人福音事工联络中心，2011），52-53页.

Originally published by ChinaSource. Republished with permission.