Do they know it’s Christmas ? It’s lunchtime on Christmas Day, we’re sitting around our dining room table about to tuck into the turkey, ham, stuffing and cranberry sauce – the traditional Christmas dinner. Sitting around the table is my husband, my mum and dad, Alison and Andrew (a boyfriend…
Returnees and the Church in China Returnees Committing to Church in China: I wonder what excites us most about the prospect of brothers and sisters returning to China: How wonderful to have this godly man heading up a hospital, refusing underhanded deals with pharmaceutical companies. How strategic to have this…
What does it take for returnees to thrive – Part 3 If isolation is a key underlying problem, then helping students to make connections that will develop into nurturing and supportive relationships in China is a critical need and the best place to find nourishing spiritual relationships should be in…
Marriage In The Middle Kingdom Marriage, like so much else in China, has undergone profound changes in recent years. In the past, tradition, social expectations and poverty all tended to oblige couples to stick together, whatever the reality of their relationship. Marriages were generally contracted at a young age, married…
The unique challenges faced by returnees Why is it so hard for returnees to continue in their faith after returning home to China? I suggest that the chief cause is a conflict of cultural values that has developed because they responded to the gospel and were discipled in a Western…
Big Brother is Watching In recent months, news articles have pointed out developments in censorship and communication in China, and I have been asked many times for advice on how to communicate with Chinese people, both here in Australia and in China. There is no easy answer to these questions,…
What does it take for returnees to thrive? In part one of this series we considered the importance of discipling Chinese students as Chinese believers who are prepared to live in a Chinese context (contextualized discipleship). In this second part we consider the need for pre-return training to prepare returnees…
In our last letter we looked at the first of three characteristics of a successful returnee: they have been discipled as a Chinese Christian to live in a Chinese context. In this newsletter we have some suggested resources. https://thrivingturtles.org/2017/05/10/what-does-it-take-for-returnees-to-thrive-part-1/ What is Discipleship? This 12 minute video clip by Tony Payne…
At Thriving Turtles, our mission is to facilitate culturally appropriate discipleship of Chinese returnees. What do we mean by “culturally appropriate“? It means to disciple them as a “Chinese” believer rather than an “Australian” believer. Maybe this seems a small point, but it makes all the difference when they return home…
