In my letter of February, 2017, on “Old Strategies for New Realities,” I said that we should use “the Internet, which still reaches millions of Chinese.”
We publish articles on our three websites (see below) as well as on www.academia.edu.
The Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity (BDCC)
WHAT?
Our major platform is the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, an online repository of stories about Chinese Christians and Western missionaries.
We have just launched an entirely new and re-designed site that we know you will like: www.bdcconline.net
The Chinese page, edited by Dr. Yading Li, features more than 250 original stories. The English page, which I edit, has more than 400 entries, some of them taken from previously published resources (with permission). In recent years, however, we have added more than three dozen longer articles.
WHY?
Why have we chosen this way to communicate the gospel? For several reasons:
Like most people, Chinese love stories, especially stories about people.
For 150 years, anti-Christian propaganda has perpetrated the myths that Western missionaries served as advance agents of imperialist powers and were therefore enemies of China, and that Chinese Christians were traitors to their country and their culture.
The stories in the BDCC, while not silent about faults of both missionaries and Chinese believers, show these charges to be false. With very few exceptions, the missionaries sought only to bring the benefits of Christianity to China, and Chinese Christians have braved much opposition and endured much hardship to demonstrate the truth and love of Christ to their people.
Furthermore, the citizens are largely ignorant of the history of the spread of Christianity in China. They simply don’t have access to this information.
The Chinese church today is composed mostly of young believers. They lack role models for serving Christ. These brief biographies offer a rich variety of examples of people who sought to serve Christ faithfully.
The stories thus not only build up believers but provide a resource for training church leaders.
WHO?
In these pages, you will meet a fascinating array of people. Yes, they had flaws, but they were faithful in serving God, and most of their lives will inspire you.
You will read of pioneer missionaries who sowed the seeds for what has become a huge Chinese church, people like Matteo Ricci, Robert Morrison, and J. Hudson Taylor.
Later missionaries built on that foundation: Jonathan Goforth, Nelson Bell, David Adeney, and many more.
From the start, Chinese Christians played the central role: Liang A-fa, China’s first evangelist; Pastor Hsi (Xi Shengmo – “Overcomer of Devils”) in the 19th century, and John Sung and Watchman Nee in the 20th century, for example.
God has used fearless and faith-filled women in abundance, heroines like Jennie Faulding, Hudson Taylor’s second wife; Lottie Moon; Gladys Aylward; and Pauline Hamilton, to name only a few.
You’ll also encounter complex, controversial public figures like Sun Yat-sen, first president of the Republic of China; Chiang Kai-shek, his successor; and Madame Chiang Kai-shek (Song Meiling).
HOW?
How can you participate in this growing library, which since 2005 received more than one million unique visitors?
Pray for God (1) to enable us to write more stories, and (2) to raise up more writers.