The Gospel on Campus: - China Horizon
The Gospel on Campus:
The Chinese Church and the University, 1880-1980
by Samuel Ling
Students Have always formed an important link in the Chinese church: they are filled with energy, they are in a phase of life characterized by growth and change, and when challenged with God's Word, they are eager to follow Christ and spread the Gospel at home and abroad.
As a mission field, students are a strategic group to reach: they are tomorrow's leaders in society. In the church, students comprise a significant source of manpower for ministry. Very often it is during a person's student days that he develops his discipleship lifestyle; it is when he is a student that he is likely to commit his life for the ministry. (In North America, about 300 Chinese students dedicate their lives for full-time ministry every year during the past 10 years.) And very often it is during a Christian's student days that he forms lasting friendships and even finds his lifetime partner. Indeed, what would the church be without the students in her midst?
While the potential for ministry and mission is great among students in the church, they are also a very misunderstood group. Their youthful enthusiasm is looked upon as reckless immaturity; their eagerness to bring about change, a critical affront to the leaders of the church. Their involvement in campus groups is frowned upon as taking away time and energy from serving in the church. It is regrettable, therefore, that many Chinese churches have not begun to actively support campus ministries as a missionary project.
This failure to appreciate both the present and future potential of Christians on university campuses has deeper, more serious consequences. For the university is a microcosm of the city; changes in secular society as a whole is mirrored in the thought and life patterns on the university campus. Indeed, the university very often foreshadows what changes would take place in the rest of society.
Our Lord tells His disciples that they are not of the world, but they are in the world. To be effective witnesses of Christ, we need both an ongoing union with Christ and a conscientious effort to understand the world around us -- to understand the people around us. One important group of "the people around us" are those people who live and work at the university: students, faculty, staff. Failure to support Christians on campus, therefore, makes the church susceptible to becoming out of touch with society, and even worse, out of touch with the reality of "the world out there."
What are the challenges a Christian faces when he goes to the university? Will his faith be threatened? And as we progress in the 1980's, what lies ahead for those interested in bringing the gospel to the campus? For clues to these questions, let us look back at what both the Bible and history can teach us. We shall survey the role of Chinese Christian students on the university campus in the past century, to see what impact the gospel has made in the university world, and what intricate relationships exist between the Chinese church and the intellectuals. God help us to learn what we can from hindsight; the needs to bring the Gospel to the university are so great!
When a Christian goes to the university, he needs to ask an important question: "Why am I here?" Why study at a university? Why get a college education? The answers given by most people are: so I can please my parents; so I can find a good job; so I could find out what I'm interested in; so I could get away from home; so I could find my future husband there.
Jesus tells his disciples, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33). How would a Christian respond to this challenge? Are there any biblical reasons why a Christian who is committed to the Lord Jesus Christ should go to university?
In both the Old and New Testaments, God commands His people to learn His law in order to gain wisdom and salvation. The believer's family is instructed to teach God's law in their whole environment and in everyday situations: to talk about the law when sitting down or standing up; to paint God's law on their doorposts; to inscribe it on their pieces of jewelry (Deut. 6:4-9). The psalmist promises God's blessing on the person who thinks and dreams about God's law (Psalm 1:2). Paul tells us that our lives are to be saturated with the Word of God, and this should be true especially when we sing (Colossians 3:16). The goal of such teaching and learning is not some dry "head knowledge" (see 1 Corinthians 8:1), but rather a wisdom that leads to salvation and discipleship: the Scriptures have a unique way to make us wise unto salvation (Psalm 19, Psalm 119:9-16; 2 Timothy 3:12-15). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7). Wisdom in the Bible is not merely intellectual; it is a matter of lifestyle (James 3:17). It is interesting that every description of wisdom James fives has to do with character and lifestyle; none with academics or the purely intellectual. Paul tells us that true wisdom is found in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:24-26); He is our wisdom, the wisdom of God.
A wise believer, therefore, is sensitive to what God would have him do in his situation. He is filled with the Word of God, and his heart longs to obey; at the same time he is aware of the challenges of his age (Eph. 6:12; 1 Peter 5:8) and is prepared to give an explanation for his faith to his contemporaries (1 Peter 3:15). He is both spiritual and intensely practical (Colossians 1:9-10): he understands what the will of God is (Ephesians 1:10), so that he may live in a way pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:17). And isn't this wisdom what education is all about?
Philosophers in ancient China sought wisdom through education. Renaissance humanists sought to produce eloquent and wise leaders. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). The goal of a Christian's learning, therefore, is to become conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-29), so that he may please his Lord and witness to the gospel of his grace.
The church understood the need for learning, especially in the area of developing leaders (2 Timothy 2:2). In the Middle Ages it was the clergy -- the priests and the monks -- alone who had access to Latin education. However education was not modelled after the Bible, but rather the philosophical system of Aristotle. The church soon developed doctrines of salvation by works; the schools became centers of philosophical speculation rather than training grounds of effective, godly servants of Christ. Against this background of doctrinal apostasy, and decline in practical holiness, Martin Luther and John Calvin ushered in the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
Reformation, Revival and the University
The Reformation was a return to the Bible's doctrine of salvation by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8,9), through faith (Romans 1:16,17). But it was also a movement to reform the educational system of the church, so that all that Christ commanded may be taught (Matthew 28:19,20). Calvin realized that if the church is to be led by godly ministers of the Word, able to divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), a sound system of schools must be established. In Geneva, Switzerland, Calvin organized two schools -- the public school and the private academy. The former is a training ground in Latin and liberal arts; a man of God must be able to read and write -- and to read and write well -- if he is to learn the Scriptures and teach them to the church. (This tradition of having liberal arts education as preparation for theological training is still with us today, although not yet universally accepted in the Chinese church.) The private academy (or upper school) is a theological seminary. In Geneva, public lectures on the Bible were held several times a week, and the rigorous Latin curriculum was taught not so much for "head knowledge" or "job advancement," but for the inculcation of the Word of God in the lives of children and future ministers. The catechism (a question-and-answer document on the Christian faith) was at the core of the curriculum.
An English Puritan of the 16th century said, "Theology is the science of living blessedly forever." The Puritans, not satisfied with the semi-Catholic, semi-Protestant church in England after the "Reformation" under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, built their own colleges at Cambridge University -- Emmanuel in 1584, Sidney Sussex in 1596. When the Puritans came to America, they wanted their churches to be supplied with godly ministers trained in the colonies; thus Harvard was founded in 1636. And when the church became secularized by the 18th century, the Tennet family built the Log College in Nashaminy, Pennsylvania, the counter "the dangers of an unconverted ministry." They wanted to make sure that their pastors were born again! One of the important results of the Great Awakening -- the revival which swept across America in the 1740's, led by the preaching of George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley, was the founding of colleges to train ministers -- Columbia University, Rutgers University, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania.
Throughout the history of Protestantism, students have played an important part as leaders of revival as well as of missionary outreach. Thus the revivals spawned the rise of colleges; college students heralded revivals. Count Ludwig Zinzendorf, while a student in Germany, met other Christians in "the Mustard Seed" group; in 1730's his community at Herrnhut sent out the first Protestant missionaries to the West Indies. Charles and John Wesley started the "Holy Club" at Cambridge University in 1726; later both were to become born again, and went on to become two of Protestantism's greatest theologians, preachers, missionaries and hymnwriters. In early 19th century, college students in New England petitioned the Congregational churches to form a missionary board to send out missionaries; thus the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the first sending agency in North America, was organized. A few years later, Charles Simeon opened his home for Cambridge University students to meet for Bible study and prayer; thus was born the worldwide movement known as "Inter Varsity," or the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. In the 1850's, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) organized student groups on the campuses of North America; these students experienced a revival (partly thought the preaching of Dwight L. Moody) and organized the Student Volunteer Movement in 1888. By 1945, the SVM sent out 20,000 missionaries from the shores of North America; and the largest mission field was China! Today, the tradition of student enlistment for missions lives on through Inter Varsity's Urbana missionary conventions (held every three years at the University of Illinois), and other similar student missionary movements around the world.
At the same time, it is also at the university that liberal theology first made its headway, first in Europe and later in America. And as the young nation, the United States, learned how to be a democratic society in the 19th century, the university became too identified with the culture of the society, so that the Christian distinctive of many colleges were lost. Many excellent liberal arts colleges and universities in North America today trace their roots back to a founding pastor, or a denominational interest in education. But today these very same colleges are promoting pagan philosophies hostile to the Bible and the gospel.
As we survey the relationship between the university and the church throughout history, wa are challenged by the vision to produce godly ministers of the Word who are also learned in the arts and letters. We are encouraged by the initiative taken by students for missions. We are blessed with the fruits of revival
-- new schools, new missionaries. Indeed many of the seminaries (or more appropriately called "Bible colleges") in Asia which produced so many Chinese pastors, are patterned after those schools which arose after the revival of the 1860's and 1870's. Alarmed by the rise of liberal theology int he church, evangelicals developed their own Bible-centered curriculum to train pastors and missionaries.
We are children of revival, we need to pray in the songwriter's words, "Come, Holy Spirit, revive the church today!" Most of all, we cannot afford to neglect the important work of campus witness; students were the forerunner of missions in ages past, and they will continue to challenge the church to newer, greater areas of obedience and service.
China's Modernization and the University, 1880-1919
The thousands of missionaries who went to China late last century largely had one purpose in mind: to convert individual heathen Chinese souls from darkness to the kingdom of light. Their methods were simple: passing out Christian literature on the streets of China's towns; preaching in the chapels or on the street; traveling to nearby villages to preach the gospel. At first the work was hard, and attracted only poor and illiterate people to the Christian faith. Only after 1900 did large numbers of educated Chinese embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. This kind of approach characterized the conservative, or "fundamentalist" missionaries.
Some of the earlier evangelical missionaries stuck to this approach; when the idea of building Christian colleges and schools in China was first discussed, Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission was opposed to it. Gradually, however, two trends emerged: missionaries were frustrated with the apparent failure in personal and street evangelism; and many became aware of China's vast social needs. They came to see a China, proud of her ancient Confucian-Taoist tradition, but humiliated after the two Opium Wars. Burdened with revolts and natural disasters from within, and foreign aggression from without, China was like a sleeping giant about to wake up. If China "wakes up," would she become Christian and modern like the west? Many missionaries certainly hoped so, and began works in China such as medicine, social work, education, charities and publishing. This approach was aimed at regenerating Chinese society as a whole according to Christian ideals of equality, justice and love, and characterized the "socializing wing" among the missionaries.
Many of China's Christian colleges were founded in the 1880's; at first they were poorly staffed, and the facilities were meager. Gradually a few respectable institutions emerged, such as Yenching University in Peking, a merger school formed in 1916 out of existing colleges in North China; St. John's University, an Anglican school in Shanghai; and Lingnan University in Canton. A total of 16 Protestant colleges produced modern, middle-class graduates through the first half of the 20th century.
Along with the Christian colleges, and working closely with them, the YMCA sought to reach the youths of China's cities and the students on the college campuses. The founders of YMCA believed that man was basically educable, and propagated the ideal of a Christian gentleman, well educated morally, intellectually, physically and socially. The YMCA operated centers in the cities (the "City Y's"), aiming to reach the working youths of the cities, teaching them to read, providing recreational facilities, and giving them a "place to go" away from home. The college chapters of the YMCA conducted Bible study and discussion meetings, and sought to channel students into social service.
The Manchu Court wrestled with the challenge to modernize China's society during the T'ung-chih Restoration (1862-1874). Yung Wing, the first Chinese student to graduate from a North American university (graduated from Yale in 1854), persuaded the court to send a team of young men to America every year to study. Some of the military leaders and governors in China's provinces (such as Li Hung-chang and Chang Chih-tung) began to advocate reform and modernization. The government established arsenals to build a modern army, and started foreign language schools in conjunction with these arsenals. Some missionaries became teachers (and principals) in these schools. Within this context of modernization, the Christian universities and the YMCA in China introduced to Chinese society elements necessary for modern living; liberal arts education for both men and women, physical education and sports, the study of sociology, social work, journalism, modern hygiene and community medicine. The campus and the city were China's "modernizing edge": the college and the Y were in touch with the very sectors of Chinese society most open to change. The missionaries were very optimistic.
Many of China's leaders came into contact with Christianity through the "socializing wing" missionaries. Welsh missionary publisher Timothy Richard hired a Chinese secretary in 1895 named Liang Ch'i-ch'ao. The Commercial Press of China were started by men training in the American Presbyterian Mission Press in Shanghai. Businessmen sent their children to Christian colleges to learn English and modern business techniques, so they could carry on trade with the foreigners. Sun Yat-sen almost became a Christian while a student in an Anglican school in Hawaii. Some of the government's top leaders during the early days of the Republic (1911-1919) were avid supporters of the YMCA. Later Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Mei-ling, went to Wellesley, Massachusetts for her college education; the Chiangs had a Christian wedding ceremony.
From 1900 to 1920, there was a great increase in the number of missionaries sent to China, and in the number of Chinese conversions. The following figures tell the remarkable story of this growth:
| | 1900 | 1920 |
| Protestant missionaries in China (1899) | 1,296 | 6,204 |
| Mission societies having work in China | 61 | 130 |
| Mission stations in China | 356 | 693 |
| Protestant Chinese communicant members | 95,943 | 366,527 |
The work of Christian colleges and schools grew during this period. In 1922, there were 7,382 Protestant schools in China with 214,254 students enrolled. During these two decades, the students' interest in Christianity grew. Membership in the YMCA's increased. Students were attracted to the modern west, and turned to Christianity to introduce western civilization to them. After China eliminated the Confucian civil service examination system in 1905, intellectuals and students in China lost their identity in society. Through a system of modern colleges and schools, a new generation of students grew up.
Some of the graduates of China's Christian colleges (and from the secular universities in China as well) went abroad for further study. During the early years of the 20th century many of them went to Japan, France and the United States. They were to return to China later to become influential leaders in society. Ironically it was also because of these "returned graduates" that the missionaries in the "socializing wing" of the church lost the uniqueness of their mission: they were no longer the only ambassadors of western civilization of the Chinese people.
On the whole, during this period missionaries in China were very optimistic about the future of Christianity in China. China had overthrown the Manchu emperor in 1911, and the leader of the revolution -- Sun Yat-sen -- was perceived to be a westernized Christian, open to help from the western powers. China, with a democratic constitution (written by an American professor), was thought to be on her way to become a new, modern society, and Christianity had a great contribution to make in the days ahead.
The University as Hotbed of Revolution, 1919-1927
All this growth in missionary work, and optimistic spirit, were drastically affected by the events which followed the May Fourth Movement of 1919. Chinese students were intellectually and politically awakened by the May Fourth Movement. "May Fourth" refers to a demonstration by college students on the streets of Peking on May 4, 1919, in protest against the secret deals England, Japan and Germany made to turn over Shantung to Japanese control, and against the compromising posture taken by the U.S. and the Chinese delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference. What followed was a period of intellectual searching and political organizing. This movement had a tremendous impact upon Christianity, although missionaries and Chinese Christians were largely unaware of the significance of the events happening around them at the time.
The May Fourth era begun in 1915 when Ch'en Tu-hsiu started New Youth Magazine. It became the most influential periodical read by the young people at that time. New Youth was published from 1915 to 1926. In its pages were appeals to China's youth to awaken their role in China's history: to be conscious of themselves as China's "new youth," who were to build a new China. Ch'en attacked Confucianism as an outdated mode of thought of life. He advocated science and democracy as solutions to China's problems. Hu Shih advocated the "literary revolution", i.e. the use of vernacular Chinese for literature, in the pages of New Youth in 1917. Later on, around April 1920, Ch'en began to espouse socialism, and New Youth became an official organ of the Chinese Communist Party after 1923.
The Chinese Communist Party was organized in 1921. Ch'en Tu-hsiu and Li Ta-Chao were two of its more important founders. Li was the librarian at Peking University, and held a Marxism study group in his office beginning in 1918. Among the members of the group was a young college graduate who worked part-time as Li's assistant, his name was Mao Tse-tung. One year after the Chinese Communist Party was formed, they staged an Anti-Christian Movement, which aimed particularly at the Christian colleges and the YMCA as targets of criticism. The Anti-Christian Movement (1922-1927) saw these institutions as tools of foreign imperialism. For the first time, therefore, Chinese Christians were put on the defensive with this challenge: "I am a Christian. Does that make me un-Chinese? Am I a traitor of my people, a running dog of the imperialists?"
The Anti-Christian Movement was part of an overall anti-imperialist, patriotic and revolutionary movement in the 1920's, and the leader of this movement was the Kuomintang. The Nationalist Party was re-organized by Sun Yat-sen in 1924, to allow Communists to join it as individual members. Sun in turn accepted advice and help from the Russians. The Nationalists and Communists formed a short-lived coalition between 1924 and 1927 to fight the warlords in China's north, and to "fight the imperialists." Students staged "storms" (hsueh-ch'ao) in protest against their college administration's policies, or against Japanese humiliation of the Chinese people. This fervor came to a climax in the May 30th incident in 1925, when several students were killed by British troops while protesting against Japanese factory owners in Shanghai. There were strikes, boycotts everywhere all over the country in 1925. Chiang Kai-shek took over the leadership of the Kuomintang after Sun yat-sen's death (in March 1925), and led the army in the Northern Expedition to fight the warlords in 1926 and 1927. Where the Nationalist troops went, students and communists helped "fan the fire" with anti-imperialist, and anti-missionary acts of violence. In Nanking there was much looting and destruction of mission properties, and several missionaries were killed. Thousands of missionaries left China in 1927 -- never to return again. The missionary force in China was permanently dwindled.
What was the response of Chinese Christian students to this intellectual and political transformation which was taking place?
There were two types of response. On the part of the "Social Gospel", or theologically liberal wing of the church, there was a conscious effort to face the issues of the day head-on. In 1919 a group of Christian leaders in Peking formed the Peking Apologetic Group (later re-named Life Fellowship) for the purpose of bringing about a "Christian Renaissance." They were convince that Christianity was getting a growing audience in China, and that the Christian faith had a unique contribution to make in China's social reconstruction. Christianity offers to the Chinese people the religious consciousness of Jesus,which is the highest form of human consciousness. Building on this "Christ-consciousness" (which can be translated into the Confucian concept of jen), Christianity can offer to China a group of patriotic citizens and leader for the new, coming society. Christianity has been misunderstood by intellectuals in China in the past, and the Life Fellowship sought to answer some of the questions and objections of their contemporaries. They sought to make theology "indigenous," i.e., compatible with the native Chinese culture. And in offering an indigenous Christian faith and program for China's social reconstruction, the Life Fellowship believes that Christians would be forging an alternative to the May Fourth Movement.
This group published the Life Journal in 1919; it was later re-named Truth and Life. The editors and writers for this periodical were mostly professors at Yenching University and staff members of the Peking YMCA. Since they did not start with a conviction in the Bible as the Word of God (they believed in a "cultural assessment of the Bible"), they took their cues mostly from the latest development in western though and science, e.g. social Darwinism. They have departed far from Calvin's ideal of godly ministers grounded in liberal arts and in the Bible; they were champions of free, liberal arts education rather than the Christian gospel. What they offered to China, therefore, was an optimistic faith in the educability and reformability of man. They offered free thinking and liberal arts education as the answer to building a new generation of Chinese citizens.
These church leaders were products of liberal missionaries in China, and were educated both in China's Christian colleges and abroad. Chao Tzu-ch'en graduated from Soochow University and Vanderbilt University (B.D., M.A. sociology). T.T. Lew (Liu T'ing-fang) graduated from Columbia University with a Ph.D. in education, and from Union Theological Seminary. Hsu Pao-ch'ien, the founder of Life Fellowship, graduated from Columbia and Union also. As an exception, Wu Lei-ch'uan never studied abroad and could not read English. These men were leaders in the movement to indigenize the Christian church and theology. T.C. Chao's books, for example, were classics in this regard: A life of Jesus (1935), and An Interpretation of Christianity (1948). T.T. Lew edited the hymnbook, Hymns of Universal Praise (1936), still widely used in Chinese churches today. Wu Lei-ch'uan wrote Christianity and Chinese Culture in 1936, portraying Jesus as a champion of violent revolution. Wu Yao-tsung, a few years younger, was later to espouse socialism and lead the Chinese church under Communist rule to submit to the Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
There was no unified ideology among members of the Life Fellowship; some veered toward socialism in the 1930's, others like Chao stuck to their liberal beliefs. They were among the very few of Chinese Christians who were concerned enough about the May Fourth challenge to give serious thought and effort to make a response. Wu and Hsu literally lost sleep over the issues posed by their non-Christian critics, sometimes for months. Apart from few other like-minded Christians (e.g. the editors of the Nanking Seminary Review and True Light Review, and the YMCA executives), there was very little response from the Chinese church to the May Fourth Movement. Students on the campuses of Christian colleges, more influenced by their professors' belief in western thought, and by their parents' belief in English and technology as the paths to career success, challenged imperialism and often marched on the streets. They would ask their professors for support of the "student storms." However these protests were often short-lived and ill-organized. And after the Nationalist Party forced the Communists underground with the Massacre of 1927, students began to withdraw from political involvement.
Most evangelicals, or fundamentalists, ignored the issues of the day. Watchman Nee, for example, was a student in Foochow's Trinity College in 1919. He experienced his conversion that year, and in the midst of the turmoil on campus, withdrew to Shanghai to attend a Bible school for several months. Later on, in 1923, he began editing Revival, a magazine for new Christians. Nee graduated in 1925, and after a few years began a public ministry of preaching and writing based in Hardoon Road, Shanghai. Nee's theology was centered on the pursuit of spirituality. Andrew Gih experienced a personal revival in 1925; he was later to organize the Bethel Evangelistic Band in 1931, which made evangelistic tours all over China in the 1930's. John Sung, with a Ph.D. in chemistry from Ohio State University and a brief stay in Union Seminary, returned to China in 1927 and began to preach. He joined the Bethel Evangelistic Band briefly. Wang Ming-tao preached in Peking in 1930's to a congregation filled with high school and college students. His messages were filled with attack against liberal theology, exhortations to righteous living and preparation for the second coming of Christ.
Evangelicals undertook the tasks of evangelism and discipleship (or p'ei-ling) with little attention given to the integration of the Christian faith with a person's life in the secular world. And that secular world in China was in a turmoil in the 1920's. Unfortunately both the liberals and the evangelicals held to a truncated view of the gospel, and both failed to appreciate the Lordship of Christ in all areas of life and thought. In a real sense, both missed their chance to influence the course of China's history at a critical juncture.
The May Fourth era is important to us today, because the questions asked by May Fourth intellectuals are still with us today: (a) What is China? What does it mean to be a Chinese? Is the identity of being Chinese a cultural one, or a political one? Is China to be perceived as a tradition, or a political entity? and (b) Wherein lies China's national salvation, in order for it to survive? The problem of identity on the part of many Chinese today, e.g. Hong Kong students and American-born Chinese, points to the first set of questions, and China's "Four Modernizations" and the popularity of engineering, the sciences and computer technology among Chinese students point to the second question. In the 1970's students in Hong Kong awakened to social concern and action; they had very little to guide them from the history of the Chinese church. Will Chinese Christians continue to offer their countrymen a truncated gospel? Will we offer the message of Jesus Christ, Lord of all? And dare we live out the gospel in the socio-political context today? Or will we miss our turn to shape the course of Chinese history this time around, again?
The Students Turn Inward, 1927-1949
The Kuomintang, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, successfully completed the Northern Expedition (1926-1927). By the beginning of 1928, China was a politically unified country. Nanking was made the new capital, and thus the center of attention shifted from Peking in the north to Nanking, "the southern capital." Chiang faced many challenges and obstacles: pacifying the warlords in the north; building a viable economy; coping with the Communist, whom he routed out from Kiangsi in 1935 to the northwest; and facing Japanese aggression, first in Manchuria (1931) and then in China proper (1937). Time was short, resources were limited, and the demands were great.
In 1928, the government ordered the students to "return to studies." All student political activities were banned; only social groups were allowed on campus. This means that the Christian groups on university campuses were among those organizations allowed to exist. Because of the unequal treaties imposed on China in the 19th century, foreigners in China were not subject to Chinese laws. This means that the campuses of Christian colleges in China often became a sanctuary for those who might have problems with the authorities. (For example, the December 9, 1935 movement, calling for Kuomintang-Communist unity in fighting the Japanese, while not a Christian movement, had its headquarters at Yenching University, in the home of journalist/professor Edgar Snow.) The Kuomintang took steps to "partyize education" (tang-hua chiao-yu): the "Three Peoples Principles" of Sun Yat-sen were made part of the curriculum; memorial ceremonies to Sun were held every Monday morning in universities and schools; and every school was required to have a Chinese president or principal. (This rule was flagrantly violated by Yenching University, whose president, John Leighton Stuart, was very close to Nanking authorities. Stuart later became American ambassador to China in 1946; at that point a Chinese, Luh Chih-wei, took over the presidency of Yenching.)
The 1930's was characterized by a civil, a-political mood among the students. However beneath the surface a leftward movement was taking place in some of the students' minds. The Alliance of Leftist Writers was organized in 1931, and Mao established the "Chinese Soviet Republic" in Kiangsi in 1931. In 1935, running from the Nationalists, Mao set out on the Long March to the Northwest. Some students followed him and lived "among the people" in the northwest in the 30's and 40's. Some became avowed Marxists.
This dual-pronged development -- an a-political mood with a leftist undercurrent -- is exemplified by trends in the YMCA. One group within the Association was developing close ties with the businessmen and the government. This group emphasized work among the city youth. The other group composed of those who worked among the students, and the students within the YMCA was increasingly moving toward the left. America YMCA staff members did not discourage this trend. A separate movement, called the Chinese Student Christian Movement, was organized in 1927. It sought to become independent from YMCA, though loosely related to it. This group became active in anti-Japanese political activities, in 1931 and 1935. After 1935, because of the secular nature of the Student Christian Movement, it practically merged with the student movement in general, and ceased to function as a distinct movement. Meanwhile many of the leaders in the SCM were becoming Marxists.
During this period, there were also two trends within Life Fellowship: a turning inward, and a turning leftward. T.T. Lew went to Nanking and worked in the Legislative Yuan, much to the chagrin of T.C. Chao. Truth and Life continued to be published, espousing the liberal message on a time of national crisis. The message, however, became increasingly hollow: it amounted to a personal search for meaning and maturity, within reference either to the authority of the Bible, or to China's increasingly indifferent attitude toward Christianity. After 1922, those who could seek to influence the masses must cope with the problem of organizing the people: the Communists saw that , and made several successive attempts. They organized labor unions in the early 20's; sought to stage urban uprisings in the late 20's; and Mao organized the peasants in the mid-20's and established his Soviet Republic in 1931. The liberal Christians, however, stuck to their liberal arts education and gradually lost touch with the masses.
The students wanted a political and social program. The liberals tried hard to engage in social reform. Hsu Pao-ch'ien went to Li-ch'uan, a rural experiment sponsored by Madame Chiang Kai-shek, in an attempt to do land and rural reform in the area vacated by the Communists after the Nationalist pursued them out. Hsu, however, lasted less than two-years -- there was insufficient help, and a general lack of interest in both Christian and academic-professional circles in "going to the people." Jimmy Yen was active in his mass literacy movement. But the university campus was failing to answer to the challenges of the Anti-Christian Movement. T.C. Chao was wavering between capitalism and socialism in the 30's; the pages of Truth and Life were filled with advice on dating and courtship, psychological problems, and other personal issues faced by students.
Meanwhile Wu Lei-ch'uan was becoming dissatisfied with the Kuomintang by 1929; he first wrote Mo ti and Jesus in the early 30's, then the radical Christianity and the Chinese Culture in 1936, in which he endorsed violent revolution for Chinese society. During this period Wu Yao-tsung (later the leader of the Three Self Patriotic Movement in China in the 50's) was heading up the publication department of the YMCA, and by 1940 he was endorsing the Chinese Communist Party's program.
Among the evangelicals, the 1930's saw a widespread revival movement. The Bethel Evangelistic Band, organized by Andrew Gih, toured China preaching the gospel. John Sung was with the group shortly, and later left and preached on his own. He traveled far and wide, all over China and into Southeast Asia. Many Chinese pastors and evangelists owe their conversion or revival to a John Sung Revival meeting. Churches and seminaries in Southeast Asia owe their origin to John Sung's ministry there. Wang Min-tao began in 1928 to edit his magazine, Spiritual Food. Wang preached a practical, moral Christian lifestyle, and like the Kuomintang's New Life Movement (1934), attracted many high school students to his preaching. Many of Peking's Christian University students attended Wang's church. Watchman Nee moved to Shanghai and began preaching on Hardoon Road in the 30's. He wrote his most important work, Spiritual Man, from 1926 to 1928 while recovering from illness.
Nee's preaching and writing promoted a view of man which was three-fold: body, soul and spirit. This trichotomy contributed to a generally anti-intellectual and anti-theological stance which became widespread among Chinese evangelicals, even today. Nee also taught that any connection with any church denomination was sinful. This has led his followers to become a separate movement, in effect another denomination. Nee's emphasis on spirituality, the "dying of self," had a profound influence upon both the lives of Chinese Christians, and profile of evangelical spirituality among the Chinese church leaders. Nee's influence is extended to westerners today.
Japan occupied China in 1937. Many Chinese universities moved to southwest China. During this period both the liberals and the evangelicals sought to work among the university students. Two men with the last name "Chao" were active: T.C. Chao, who took off for one year from his teaching duties at Yenching University to do student work in Southwest China, and Calvin Chao, who in 1945 helped organize the China Inter-Varsity Fellowship. (Chao Tzu-ch'en, after many years, finally joined the Anglican church as a member, and was ordained a priest during the war.) Calvin Chao later came to the U.S. in the 1950's and founded Chinese For Christ, Inc. The refugee universities in southwest China, composed mainly of students and faculty from the coastal cities, had an unintended effect of bringing coastal lifestyles into the rural southwest. Christians, moving from coastal cities, brought the gospel inward (which they might not have done had not the Japanese occupied the coast.)
Inter-Varsity had a few years of remarkable revival and growth. After World War II, student summer conferences witnessed many decisions for Christ. But China's students were rapidly moving leftward ideologically, and evangelicals faced criticism both from the liberal Christian students and from the Communists. In 1949 mainland China became a Communist nation. Many evangelical students (as well as the liberals, e.g. Chao Tzu-ch'en) faced arrest, trial and imprisonment because of their beliefs.
The Chinese church after 1952 took two forms: first, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, government-sponsored and controlled by the Party's United Front department, and second, the underground, spontaneous house churches which exist even today. The remarkable work of the Holy Spirit increased the number of believers from under a million in 1950 to somewhere between 30 and 50 million in the early 80's.
In summing up the period between the Kuomintang's victory in 1928 and the Communists' victory in 1949, we see that the liberal Christians capitulated in two ways: they turned inward to a personal search for religious meaning, or they followed the secular trend toward socialism. In either case, they lost the uniqueness of their mission, which was to regenerate Chinese society according to Christian principles.
The evangelicals had their heyday in the 30's and 40's, but because the gospel they preached was largely personal and pietistic, they did not influence the mainstream of Chinese thought and society. Evangelicals did appeal to the lack of certainty and inner peace of the people, on the eve of the Communist Revolution. Today, search for peace and assurance continues to be the hallmark of the evangelical's preaching. And like in the 40's, evangelical students today are facing the challenge: is my Christian faith relevant to the many social needs of the society around me? How can I serve my country and my people?
Finally, it is important to note that during this period from 1927 to 1949, many pastors and evangelists who served actively in the 1970's and 1980's grew up and received their training. While we lament the lack of academic caliber and theological rigor among the Bible colleges in China, we must appreciate the situation in which Chinese pastors grew up. During a person's youth and student days, he is most likely to absorb new ideas and skills -- in the case of a Chinese pastor, the needed training would include theology, English and liberal arts. These were not available easily in the 30's; Christian young people had to flee from the warlords and the Japanese. Often the schooling they received was in makeshift quarters, with very little reading material and daily challenges for survival. They had their share of hardship and suffering; the gospel they preach today reflect the depth of personal experience, and evasion of more academic issues.
Student Movements among the Diaspora, 1949-1970
While the Christians in China were being persecuted and the outward form of Christianity was systematically being eliminated from the scene, Chinese Christians who fled to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia were experiencing a revival. The 1950's saw real growth in Taiwan and Hong Kong's Churches -- and among the believer were many young students. Fleeing from the Communists bred a sense of uncertainty. In the new life which they found outside mainland China, these "refugees" responded to mass evangelistic crusades and revival meetings. Many made decisions for Christ.
Meanwhile, in the United States those who came as students could not return to China because of the Korean War. They remained, prolonged their studies (aided with government scholarships), and eventually settled down as doctors, diplomats and professionals. Today they are in important positions in society, and their children are moving into successful career paths as well. The Christians among them were largely secularized; a few still active in the church.
Student work in Taiwan and Hong Kong began in the 50's and 60's. David Adeney worked among students in Hong Kong, and Chan Hay-Him became the first general secretary of Hong Kong's Fellowship of Evangelical Students. In Taiwan college students organized fellowship groups, and the island-wide Campus Evangelical Fellowship was organized. Similar movements arose in Singapore and Malaysia. A Singaporean Chinese, Chua Wee Hian, eventually became the general secretary of the worldwide movement of Christian students, the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, with offices in London, England.
The 1960's brought a very different reality. Because of the loosening of immigration laws, masses of Chinese came to the U.S. and Canada. Immigration became the pattern of life-manpower shifted from Asia, across the Pacific, to North America. People immigrated because of their search for peace and career advancement; Christians followed their non-Christian kinsmen in this tide, and pastors and evangelists followed their laymen. Thousands came -- few understood why. Among them were many Christian students.
The students came to North America -- first on student visas, and then also on immigrant visas with their family. Many of these students brought with them the profile of evangelical spirituality which was widespread in Taiwan and Hong Kong as a result of the revivals of the 1950's. Typical are formats of fellowship meetings and the favorite hymns students sang. This profile of the spiritual life can be traced in turn to the 1930's, to the ministries of men like John Sung, Wang Ming-tao and Watchman Nee. A handful of other evangelical leaders were making their influence felt also: Timothy Dzao of the Ling Liang Worldwide Evangelistic Association (based in Hong Kong); Calvin Chao of Chinese For Christ, Inc. (based in Los Angeles); and Andrew Gih of Evangelize China Fellowship (also in Los Angeles). Witness Lee, claiming to follow the theology of Watchman Nee, became leader of a new movement, the Local Church Movement (based in California).
In the 1960's, Chinese Christian students spontaneously organized Bible study groups on campuses; over 100 of these groups sprang up by 1980. These groups were usually started by Christian students from the Far East. They meet weekly for prayer and Bible study; their favorite songbooks were Youth Hymns (Hong Kong) or Campus Hymns (Taiwan). These songs emphasized a private, personal relationship with Jesus Christ rather than the church's corporate of the Triune God. On the whole, the Chinese Bible study groups were conscientious (and in some cases very effective) in personal evangelism. Most avoided involvement with their secular Chinese students.
A few large groups came into existence, and many regional conferences were held. The first was probably what came to be known later as the "Pinebrook Conference," the Christian Chinese Summer Conference. It was first held in 1957 near York, Pennsylvania. From that first conference Ambassadors magazine was born. Later on different regions held their own conferences, e.g. the west coast, southern states, New England, midwest, eastern Canada, and western Canada.
Several Chinese Christian organizations were born in the 1960's: Chinese Christian Mission, in Detroit in 1962, and Ambassadors For Christ, in Washington, D.C. in 1963. CCM, begun by Rev. Thomas Wang, at first worked with students (especially in the summers). It became a leader in mass media evangelism, missions, and a service agency to the Chinese churches. Today it still conducts Summer Internship Programs for students and young people. AFC was begun by Mr. Ted Choy and Rev. Moses Chow, and sought to work with Chinese Bible study groups as its primary ministry. Today, Ambassadors, edited by Edwin Su (formerly editor for Campus Evangelical Fellowship of Taiwan), serves a unique function as a periodical among Chinese university students and graduates in North America.
This was the pattern of the 1960's after a decade of revival in the Far East, there arose a widespread movement to organize student groups, and significant headway among students in the form of conferences and para-church organizations such as AFC. During this period, also, many new Chinese churches were organized in North America, some from university graduates who settled down and raised families in North America.
China went through the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, and its impact was felt in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Riots in the streets of Hong Kong further deepened the sense of insecurity among the people; in North America, young people were protesting against the Vietnam War. All this impact was felt by a minority of Chinese Christian students -- and the most conscious response to the social and intellectual issues was probably made by students in the two universities in Hong Kong.
The Greening of Chinese Students, 1970-1980
The world changed much in the 1970's. We lived through the Vietnam War and Watergate; the People's Republic of China entered the United Nations in 1971, and normalized her relations with the U.S. in 1978. Islam and the Middle East became an important factor in the world. Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-shek died. Energy and the economy became issues of the day. And Chinese Christians became increasingly affluent, both in Asia and in the West.
In the 1970's, Chinese immigration to North America was heavy and steady. There rose up a whole new "Chinese community" in U.S. and Canada. Today there are one million Chinese in North America. This included many Chinese Christians and pastors. However, Christians account for only five percent (or less) of the total Chinese community in North America.
The Chinese churches and Bible study groups experienced an awakening in the 1970's. Not the revival of the 1930's or 1950's, but an awakening akin to the 1920's in some way. Chinese Christians in the past 10 years experienced a "raising of consciousness," an "expanding of the horizon" to several realities and needs.
1. Bible Study. Most student groups studied the Bible by informal sharing. Gradually some groups introduced the method of inductive Bible study, first developed at New York Theological Seminary, and popularized among the Chinese by Mr. Peter Yuen and the Berkeley Chinese Christian Fellowship. From an individualistic concept of spirituality, Chinese students gradually incorporated a more systematic understanding of their faith. This new stance is Bible-centered; theology and doctrine remain suspect in many circles. But today, Chinese Christian students are much more likely to speak their faith as an intellectual system of teachings.
2. Media and Technology. The Berkeley Chinese Christian Fellowship produced "Metamorphosis II" and "Eureka," two evangelistic slide-sound presentations. The world of audio-visual media became acceptable to Chinese Christians. In Hong Kong, Breakthrough magazine was launched in 1973 by a group of "returned graduates" from North America, under the auspices of the Fellowship of Evangelical Students. This literature ministry sought to do pre-evangelism among Hong Kong's youth of age 15-24. The magazine became widely distributed among the non-Christian youth of Hong Kong. In Winnipeg, Canada, Christian students edited Fountain, a mimeographed bulletin of testimonies and articles. And in Hong Kong, radio and TV programs were produced by Christians, aired in secular stations. Today, Breakthrough's magazines and radio programs reach 500,000 people every month, or 10 percent of Hong Kong's population.
3. Missions. Chinese students began to see their role in world evangelism. At every "Urbana," the Inter Varsity student missionary convention held at the University of Illinois every three years, several hundred Chinese Christian students would attend. AFC sponsored Chinese student interest groups and rallies. Mission seminars are gradually becoming commonplace.
Two needs remain unfilled: one is the need for missionaries, especially those engaged in cross-cultural evangelism. Chinese Christian students graduate and become active in Chinese churches in North America; they give funds to missions, but few give their lives as career missionaries.
The second need is to see missions as more than evangelizing the Chinese people. Among those Christian students who asked crucial questions (e.g. where is the Chinese Christian student movement going?) were those who formed the Pray For Asia Fellowship in the 1970's. Foreign students from Hong Kong saw the challenge of returning to Asia to serve in the churches and Christian organizations there. Many students could not obtain immigrant visas to remain in North America after graduation, and so must return to Asia to live. This wave of "returned graduates" makes a significant impact upon the profile of churches in Hong Kong. However not too many churches are prepared both to receive graduates or to mobilize them to serve with their gifts. CCCOWE thus sponsored the OCGO program: Overseas Christian Graduates Orientation. These graduates brought with them ideas, skills and evangelistic strategies from the West, and contributed to the "modernization" of the churches in Asia.
However the challenge of reaching non-Chinese people is understood, but hardly felt. Today, less than 100 Chinese missionaries are serving non-Chinese peoples. Will we have to wait another generation before we see a significant wave of cross-cultural evangelism?
4. Theological Education. Every year about 300 Chinese Christian students in North America dedicate their lives for the full-time ministry; similar statistics can be gathered for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. In 1982, 1,000 decisions for full-time ministry were made in North America. This is most encouraging, and the acute need before us is the development and training of future pastors and evangelists.
An awareness that an urbanized, industrialized society needs highly trained ministers and evangelist, brought into being schools like China Evangelical Seminary (Taipei) in 1970, and the China Graduate School of Theology (Hong Kong) in 1975. In 1967 several Chinese seminary students in Philadelphia dedicated their lives together for theological education for the Chinese church. Their concerted prayers and plans led to the formation of CGST. In North America, there were 236 Chinese seminary and Bible college students in 1974-75 (according to my count), and approximately 400 by the early 1980's. Many of these seminary graduates return to Asia to teach in Bible colleges, e.g. Evangel Theological College and Alliance Bible Seminary of Hong Kong. Several Chinese became faculty members in North American schools, e.g. James Mo-oi Cheung (at Canadian Theological College before he moved to Hong Kong to head up Alliance Seminary), Joseph Wang (Asbury Theological Seminary), Timothy Lin (Bob Jones University in the 1950's), Samuel Tang (Golden Gate Theological Seminary), and Mildred Young (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, before she taught at CGST). More recently, Enoch Wan joined the Canadian Theological College faculty; Che-Bin Tan of CGST is heading up the Chinese Studies and Evangelism program at Fuller Theological Seminary; Derek Chung at Wheaton College's Institute of Chinese Studies, and David Tam at Gordon College, to name a few.
A new generation of Christian workers, trained in graduate-level seminaries and universities, is rising on the horizon. Some of them are becoming first-rate scholars recognized world-wide. Others have joined various para-church organizations, e.g. radio, publishing, student work. A minority of them are pastoring churches, both in Asia and in North America. In my 1974-75 survey, about 30 percent of all seminary students in North America were enrolled in M. Div. or similar curricula leading to the pastoral ministry.
5. The Order of the Church. Students graduate and become professionals; students in the church become church leaders. Many graduates have started new Chinese churches in North America. Most of these churches are independent of any denominational connection, and have inherited very little from the insight of the centuries of the Christian church. Therefore when it comes to the organization of the church, Chinese Christians have very little guidance. Partially due to influences from the Brethren movement and Watchman Nee's theology, Chinese churches are struggling with church order without a clear, biblical doctrine of the church and her ministry. It is encouraging that in recent years more pastors and writers are paying attention to this whole area, e.g. the books and articles by Stephen Chan and Samuel Tang call for a wholesome structure for Chinese churches.
6. Unity and Direction. Evangelicals around the world joined to discuss evangelism at the consultations held in Berlin in 1966, and Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974. Chinese leaders attended these consultations. They also were at the many Urbana missionary conventions. As a result of participating in these worldwide movements, Chinese church leaders saw the need to organize joint conferences and organizations which would bring together Chinese evangelicals. The North American Congress of Chinese Evangelicals was conceived at Urbana '70, and held its first congress in California in 1972. (The West Coast Chinese Christian Student Winter Conference cancelled its 1972 conference in order to work with NACOCE.) NACOCE has been subsequently held in 1974, 1978, 1980 and 1983. The Chinese Congress on World Evangelization (CCOWE) was conceived at Lausanne 1974, and today CCCOWE, with office in Hong Kong, serves evangelical Chinese Christians and churches worldwide.
Students took part in these movements. Many students worked for the planning and hosting of NACOCE conferences and CCCOWE gatherings. At the many regional student conferences, they sought to come together and cooperate with student groups in different cities. Some of them ask the question: Where is the Chinese Christian student movement going?
7. Social and Political Consciousness. Although most Chinese evangelicals avoided social and political issues, a small group of students began to search for an intelligent response to contemporary problems. Olive, a magazine edited by students at the Hong Kong University Christian Association, explored ways to involve Christians in society. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Christian Students Fellowship published a three-part series in Ming Pao Monthly in 1974, giving an evangelical position on issues such as identifying with China; social concern; Christianity and Marxism; and Christianity and Chinese culture. This series was jointly authored by several Christian students. Throughout the 70's, "identifying with the mother country" and "concern for society" (kuan she jen chu) were slogans common among secular students, but also among a small group of Christian students. This movement has not spread to North America to any great extent, but un Hong Kong, today there are several "generations" of university graduates who seek to involve themselves in the secular world. Some are working in government agencies; may are teachers, social workers, nurses and in other people-helping professions. As the Chinese church moves into the late 1980's, these students and graduates will be at the forefront of responding to new social and political realities.
Students involved themselves in mass movement, e.g. opposing the raising of bus fares in Hong Kong, and helping victims of natural disasters. Students worked in the Industrial Evangelical Fellowship, seeking to evangelize the thousands of factory workers in Hong Kong. Today, students, both graduates of Hong Kong's universities and returnees from North America, are involved in churches and organizations which see to bring the gospel (understood as a holistic message to the whole person) to the masses.
As the Chinese church enters the 80's, we see a new generation of students and graduates equipped with new tools, concepts and strategies. These intellectuals and professionals bring the Chinese church into a modern, industrialized period of ministry. It is my hope that some of these graduates will invest their lives in the ministry of the church itself, and others would become cross-cultural missionaries. But the potential of this graduated group is tremendous.
What Does the Future Hold, 1980-?
Chinese Christians in the 1980's have inherited a rich tradition from the earlier generations. We have the "old time gospel" as well as new tools for ministry. As a group, we are more affluent than our predecessors. The opportunities to study at universities and colleges are great; in selected schools Christian students comprise a significant percentage (10-20 percent). And increasingly, Chinese church leaders are paying attention to the needs of campus ministry. Will the students be effective witnesses on campus in the 1980's? What does the future hold?
First of all, it seems that youth in the 1980's -- Chinese as well as American -- have declined in their academic caliber. As we progress into the Computer Age, we are not as keen (as former generations) in the basics of reading, writing and thinking. In 1983, four reports came out in the U.S. indicting the American system of education as a failure. And Chinese students are educated in such a system! Students want easy access to high-paying jobs, instant solutions to life's problems, and immediate gratification of the senses. Among the students, such a "practical bent" is common also. Few are willing to make the effort to think through basic issues of faith and life. Does this affect how we approach the Bible? I think the implications are tremendous, and need to be explored by the Chinese church.
The issue is: how do we promote rigorous, systematic thinking, reading and studying among Christian students?
Secondly, the issue of real fellowship is a timely concern. Whether Christians live in a free of socialist society, non-Christians need to see a community of believers relating to each other in trust, love and openness. Yet very often student and youth fellowships are formalized in their content, so that there is very little opening up of self to other brothers and sisters. This issue needs to be addressed.
How can we learn to take a more realistic, human look at ourselves, and relate to others in the same open, human way?
Thirdly, we need to help Christian graduates integrate their faith into their post-university life. Sometimes Christians who have gone through youth group in the church, and Christian fellowship on campus, feel that they have "graduated." Is there life beyond the youth/student group? They are not certain whether they have a role to play in the church's ministry. In some circles, couple's fellowships, and young adult (professionals) fellowships are new concepts and not easily accepted.
Graduates need to be challenged to develop their Christian character, professional ethics in society, intimate relationships at home and at the church. the transition from student to a professional committed to Christ is crucial.
Fourth, a full-orbed ministry of the church needs to be explored, which would incorporate the gifts and potentials of students and graduates. Students and graduates, in turn, need to commit themselves to the ministry of the local church, for it is there that we fulfill the Great Commission and its is there that God's purpose for the world is accomplished. Efforts to delineate the organizational structure of the church will help Christians better exercise their gifts.
Fifth, the need for a social and political understanding of the gospel is never as urgent as now. Will evangelical, students and graduates in particular, be willing to risk differing opinions on this matter, and venture forth to involve themselves (in thinking and action) in secular society for the gospel's sake?
On the local level, Christian students at each university need to see the purpose of their fellowship group as primarily evangelism. To confuse the picture with efforts at discipleship and educating Christians, will dilute this evangelistic focus. How to equip students so that they can become effective witnesses on campus now, is the question. And there is much we can learn from previous experience, and from western evangelicals engaged in student work.
Scripture and experience are intended to make us wise. Let us keep the gospel in clear focus, and draw upon all the resources God had given us to accomplish the Great Commission in our generation!
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related download
- old testament readings
- filename chlarge with text
- country s first family schoolinsites
- the gospel truth about the negro spiritual
- series the riches of salvation
- the gospel on campus china horizon
- a comprehensive index of hymns and hymnals
- music is an important aspect of every society
- our mission
- favorite hymns in the episcopal church