ChinaSource

06/23/2026

🌏 Why does ChinaSource exist?

At our recent ChinaSource Connect event, Andrea Lee, ChinaSource's Content Manager, shared a glimpse into the heart behind our work: listening well, telling faithful stories, and helping the global church better understand Chinese Christianity.

Every article we publish is an invitation—not just to learn about the Chinese church, but to listen to the voices, experiences, and wisdom emerging from it.

🎥 Watch Andrea's short reflection and discover why this work matters.
https://youtube.com/shorts/RUYTKxYz-Mk?feature=share

💬 What has been one story that has changed the way you think about the global church? We'd love to hear in the comments.

06/22/2026

A dangerous sidewalk can say more about a society than we might expect.

While helping her mother navigate an uneven Beijing sidewalk, Joann Pittman once heard a simple question: “Why are Chinese sidewalks so dangerous?”

Her answer was equally simple: “Not enough lawyers.”

That small exchange stayed with her as she read Dan Wang’s 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬: 𝘊ℎ𝘪𝘯𝘢’𝘴 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘵ℎ𝘦 𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, a book that contrasts a Chinese technocratic class shaped by engineers with an American elite shaped largely by lawyers.

The comparison is not simply about which country builds faster or regulates better. It raises deeper questions about what each society values, what it protects, what it obstructs, and what it may need to learn from the other.

On August 5, ERRC will host an online book club discussion of 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬, moderated by Joann Pittman. Readers are invited to come ready not just with opinions, but with observations, surprises, “aha” moments, and lingering questions.

Read Joann’s invitation and learn how to join the discussion:
https://www.chinasource.org/articles/china-america-engineers-and-lawyers/

On Wednesday, August 5, ERRChina will host an online book club discussion.

06/21/2026

🌏 What can Chinese Christianity teach the global church today?

This week's ChinaSource Weekly explores history, theology, identity, and today's most pressing questions facing Chinese Christians. From the ancient Tang Dynasty to the enduring legacy of Watchman Nee, these stories invite us to see the Chinese church with fresh eyes.

📬 ZGBriefs | June 11, 2026
Stay informed with the latest news and developments shaping China and the Chinese church. What stories are influencing ministry and life in China this week?
🔗 https://chinasource.org/newsletters/zgbriefs/zgbriefs-june-11-2026/

📖 Watchman Nee, Chinese Christianity, and the Life of the Spirit
By Eliannah Yeo
Was Watchman Nee simply a mystic—or one of the most influential Chinese theologians of the twentieth century? This fascinating interview explores his enduring legacy and why his thought still matters today.
🔗 https://chinasource.org/articles/watchman-nee-chinese-christianity-and-the-life-of-the-spirit/

✝️ How Tang Christians Translated the Trinity
By Dingjian Xie
Long before modern missions arrived in China, Christians wrestled with how to express the mystery of the Trinity in Chinese. What can their remarkable translations teach us about faith, language, and culture?
🔗 https://chinasource.org/articles/how-tang-christians-translated-the-trinity/

🌱 The Displaced Minority
By Sam Ren
How do you understand your place in society when your community is rarely seen or accurately represented? Explore how China's Christians navigate an "informational famine" and what it means for the global church's understanding of Chinese Christianity.
🔗 https://chinasource.org/articles/the-displaced-minority/

Which article are you most excited to read? Let us know in the comments! 👇📚

06/18/2026

Watchman Nee is often remembered through labels: mystical, anti-intellectual, anti-denominational, controversial.

But labels can flatten a person—especially someone whose writings have shaped generations of Chinese Christians and traveled far beyond China.

In this interview, Eliannah Yeo speaks with Paul H. B. Chang about his forthcoming book, *The Spiritual Person: An Intellectual Biography of Watchman Nee*. Chang does not present Nee as a flawless figure beyond criticism. Instead, he invites readers to return to the source: to Nee’s writings, his Chinese context, his global influence, and his central concern with the life of the spirit.

One detail from the interview is especially worth noting: Chang himself grew up in the local church tradition, with three or four generations of his family connected to it. His work is not only scholarly distance, but also careful re-reading from within a lived inheritance.

For readers interested in Chinese Christianity, theology, and world Christianity, this conversation raises an important question: What becomes visible when a Chinese Christian thinker is read on his own terms, rather than only through inherited controversies?

Read the full interview and reflect with us:
https://www.chinasource.org/articles/watchman-nee-chinese-christianity-and-the-life-of-the-spirit/

I hope this book introduces Nee to a new generation of readers—not as a perfect figure, and not as a saint beyond criticism, but as a serious Christian thinker whose work deserves careful attention.

06/17/2026

What happens when a community can only learn about itself through someone else’s categories?

In this essay, Sam Ren examines the information dilemmas facing Chinese Christians: a community of tens of millions, yet often unable to see its own ordinary life, struggles, questions, and theological reflection publicly reported or interpreted from within China.

Between domestic silence and Western media narratives that often focus on pressure or persecution, much of the “middle ground” of Chinese Christian life remains unseen.

Ren does not dismiss the reality of suffering or constraint. But he asks a deeper question: What happens when Chinese Christians lack trusted, indigenous sources that can help them interpret their own environment with theological depth, historical memory, and discernment?

For pastors, scholars, mission workers, and readers who care about China and the church, this is a careful and challenging essay on information, identity, imported narratives, and the long work of telling the truth without reducing the church in China to a single story.

Read and reflect with us: https://www.chinasource.org/articles/the-displaced-minority

If Chinese Christians can develop robust local sources of information and reflection, they can move away from a “nervous” existence and learn to navigate risks, mitigate pressures, and live out their…

06/17/2026

🌍 What if some of the most important voices shaping the future of Christianity are the ones we've been least likely to hear?

In this short video, ChinaSource president, Kerry Schottelkorb, reflects on James H. Taylor IV's thought-provoking article, "Listening to the Voices of Majority World Theology," and why the global church needs the insights of believers from Asia, Africa, and Latin America now more than ever.

🎥 Watch Kerry's reflections, then dive deeper into the article.

📖 "Listening to the Voices of Majority World Theology"
✍️ James H. Taylor IV
🔗 https://chinasource.org/articles/listening-to-the-voices-of-majority-world-theology/

As Christianity's center of gravity continues to shift around the world, what might we learn when we listen to how believers in different cultures understand and live out the gospel? 🌏

06/15/2026

Long before Chinese Christians used the now-familiar phrase sanwei yiti (三位一體) for the Trinity, Tang-era Christians were already searching for words to confess Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Their phrase was striking: sanshen yiti (三身一體)—“three bodies, one essence.”

In this article, Dingjian Xie explores how Jingjiao Christians in Tang China drew from Chinese and Buddhist language to express a faith rooted in the Nicene tradition. Their translation was careful, creative, and not without risk. It helped make Christian doctrine intelligible in a Chinese intellectual world, while also raising important questions about how much a borrowed term can carry.

The story of “three bodies, one essence” reminds us that Christian translation has never been merely linguistic. It is theological, cultural, and spiritual work—shaped by worship, doctrine, and the real challenge of speaking faithfully in a new context.

Read the article and reflect with us on what Tang Christianity can teach us about translation, theology, and faithful engagement across cultures: https://www.chinasource.org/articles/how-tang-christians-translated-the-trinity/

Long before the word “Trinity” was rendered into Chinese as sanwei yiti (三位一體), Christians in Tang China were already searching for language to express the mystery of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

06/12/2026

📬 This Week at ChinaSource

How do we faithfully engage a changing world while listening to voices beyond our own experience? This week’s featured articles invite us to consider leadership, theology, and the future of the global church. 🌏✨

🔹 ZGBriefs | June 4, 2026
By Joann Pittman
Explore the latest stories, trends, and developments shaping China today.
https://chinasource.org/newsletters/zgbriefs/zgbriefs-june-4-2026/

🔹 ChinaSource Begins Presidential Transition and Search
By Jane J. Ahn
ChinaSource is entering a new season of leadership transition as it looks toward the future of its ministry and mission.
https://chinasource.org/articles/chinasource-begins-presidential-transition-and-search/

🔹 Listening to the Voices of Majority World Theology
By James H. Taylor IV
Why does the future of Christianity require listening to theologians and churches from Asia, Africa, and Latin America? This thoughtful reflection explores how Majority World voices enrich and challenge the global church.
https://chinasource.org/articles/listening-to-the-voices-of-majority-world-theology/

❓What might we discover about God, the church, and our mission when we intentionally listen to voices from different cultures, contexts, and generations?

🌏🙏📖

06/09/2026

Leadership transitions are moments for gratitude, prayer, and careful listening.

After prayerful reflection and conversation with the Board, Rev. Kerry Schottelkorb has shared his intention to retire from his role as President of ChinaSource. The ChinaSource Board has begun a thoughtful process to identify the next leader who will help guide the organization into its next chapter of ministry.

We are deeply grateful for Kerry’s faithful leadership and years of service. His care for ChinaSource’s mission, team, partners, contributors, and friends has helped strengthen the ministry in ways that will continue to bear fruit.

As this search begins, we invite the wider ChinaSource community to participate through prayer and referrals. The next President will help steward ChinaSource’s role as a trusted bridge and platform serving the church in China, the Chinese diaspora, and the global church.

Please read the full announcement, review the President Profile, and prayerfully consider whether you know someone who may be a strong fit for this role.

ChinaSource is entering a new season of leadership transition.

06/04/2026

🎥 How does God guide a life when the path ahead seems uncertain?

In this video, Brianna Pyka highlights "Providence and Vision" by Zha Changping（查常平）—a thoughtful reflection on calling, faithfulness, and the ways God works through both unexpected opportunities and long-term vision.

What happens when divine providence and human planning meet? And how can we discern God's leading in seasons of change?

Read the full article:
https://chinasource.org/articles/providence-and-vision/