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Two new churches are going to be completed by the end of this year in Chaoyang District, Beijing. This is only one of the many examples to show how churches have been developing at high speed in China in recent years. In sharp contrast to the explosion of the number of Christian places of worship, however, is the lack of trained and competent pastors, especially in rural areas where there is a quick development of Protestant churches. This is now the main challenge facing the nation's Christian leaders, who are making unprecedented efforts to advocate theological education.
The number of Christians in China has grown rapidly since the end of the 1980s. Statistics show that the number of believers on the Chinese mainland, who are either baptized or attend services regularly, has surpassed 16 million, with rural followers accounting for over 70 percent, and approximately 50,000 churches now open to the public around the country, 70 percent of them being built in recent years.
However, international groups operating outside China tend to have much higher estimates. Despite the disparate statistics, one thing is for sure: There is a substantial group of Christians in China who yearn for trained and educated pastors.
"Presently, many grass-roots churches do not have a theological foundation and they are far from meeting the demands of the truth of the Gospel. The basic problem is that many evangelists do not appreciate the idea of theology," said Wang Aiming, Vice President of the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary (NUTS), referring to the primacy of theory at his school. The 20 or so theological institutions, plus a number of schools led by lay persons scattered across the country, cannot meet Wang's demand for ministers educated through formal channels.
Experts estimate that about 1,400 students are enrolled in national, regional or provincial Christian schools, while over 5,000 students have graduated in the past 25 years. The bulk of the staff is homegrown. Among the 250 current instructors, 80 percent are graduates of the past two decades.
Some of the graduates remain in the seminaries as instructors, while some stay on as researchers. Others devote themselves to social ministries and preaching the gospel.
Seminar training equips graduates with the knowledge and skills to continue their ministries after leaving school. But many of the faithful, especially in rural China, simply do not have access to formal theological education.
In cities, with more thoroughly organized Christian leaders, parishioners have access to courses, upon completion of which, local urban churches tend to get supplied with trained pastors. In large cities like Nanjing and Beijing, where national or regional seminaries are present, there are more trained preachers and opportunities to receive theological degrees.
Although the number of adherents is growing rapidly, rural Christian groups are far from being as organized as their counterparts in towns and cities. Rural Christians often form around a charismatic lay leader, despite the fact many have not formally studied the Bible.
Rural worshippers in the country's interior who seek established institutions have to go to the prosperous east. NUTS, the only national seminary on China's mainland, serves this purpose, though it is in central Jiangsu.
One evening last April, the seminary had an unexpected guest from Anhui, China's heartland. The middle-aged woman kneeled at the gate, crying, praying and asking for a short visit to the solemn campus. "I only want to listen to the bells of the evening service and pray with sisters and brothers, even if I can't stay in the same room with them," she told passersby.
"We see the same thing almost every week. Most of the visitors are from the countryside and ask for either a stay or a study opportunity," said the guard at the gate.
This issue of the lack of formally trained pastors in rural areas was addressed in a report drafted at the Seventh National Conference of the China Christian Council in 2002. "At present, these incidents mainly occur in rural areas and small towns because the level of rural Christians' education is lower and they lack a correct understanding of Christian truth. There is also a serious lack of pastors with theological training in rural villages. These serious facts tell us that if we do not pay attention to rural churches and strive to raise the quality of believers there, the future of all Christianity in China will be affected," said the report.
Christians in China have enhanced the communication with international Christian community in recent years. There are frequent scholar exchange programs and theological institutions are starting to recruit theologians and professors from abroad as educators.
Carolyn Higginbotham, a member of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and her husband, James, who is a minister in that sect as well, are American teachers that NUTS has invited as live-in tutors.
What is being taught is evolving, too. In the wake of greater economic and social freedoms of the past quarter century, Christianity and theology in China cannot remain in a vacuum. Bishop K. H. Ting, a prominent Christian leader in China, had called for reform of the theological education as early as in 1984.
In an article titled "About China's Theological Education," Bishop Ting said a theology should be faithful to the Bible, loyal to the historical teachings of the church and suit China's contemporary context. "As for the old things in theological education, we should not reform them for the sake of reform, but we shouldn't worship them as untouchable either."
In fields like history of Christianity and Biblical languages, the results of foreign research can be made use of, Ting continued, while in fields like exegetics, Chinese church history, ecclesiology and ethics, the organized church in China has to "find its own way."
NUTS Vice President Wang Aiming stressed his respect for diversity of theological opinion. "We welcome lecturers with different denominational backgrounds," he said. "We provide an environment where our students are able to hear different voices; and where they can distinguish right from wrong by themselves."
Students are reacting positively to the tolerant and interactive environment. "We can discuss different opinions with our Chinese and foreign teachers. Even if we end up with different conclusions, it is still OK," said Wang Jungang, a graduate student at NUTS.
Many students and educators believe that through such discussion they can realize the ultimate aim of theological education, which, NUTS minister Ji Jianhong believes, is the "wholesome formation of the person involved."
The emerging church leaders are engaging in a more open, diversified religious mood, which can provide more space for the growing number of Christian adherents in China.
(Beijing Review September 13, 2004)
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