|
April 17, 2000
Greetings Friends:
We are trying to be a little better this year about staying
in touch with all of you, so rather than letting a year or more
go by between letters we thought we would try to get a letter
out within 12 months of the previous one. If this dramatic increase
in output doesn't overwhelm you and/or us, we might even hope
for three letters a year in the future!
As you no doubt all know, the goal of the program with which
I (Don) work, the Amity Teachers Project, is most definitely not
to bring foreign Christians to China for the purpose of evangelism.
Instead, the Project emphasizes service, in particular providing
small teacher training colleges and their students with much-needed
support. Amity shares the China Christian Council's view that
propagation of the Christian faith in China is most appropriately
the task of Chinese rather than foreign Christians. Sometimes
Amity's position on this issue causes Christians in the United
States and other countries to conclude that if the Teachers Project
is not involved in evangelism, it is therefore not a program that
Christians who believe in evangelism should support. However,
as a Christian who does believe in
evangelism, this is a conclusion I would challenge. Perhaps my
view can best be illustrated with a story.
No matter what division they work with, Amity staff tend to
spend a lot of time on the road visiting Amity projects throughout
China. The education division is no exception—at least once
a year we visit every school where we have teachers, almost always
traveling as a pair consisting of one Chinese staff member and
one foreign staff member from the Hong Kong office. On one occasion
I was visiting a school with Mr. Yan, a staff member from Amity's
administrative division. As often happened, we were asked to do
a presentation for the English department students and faculty,
I talking about language learning and Mr. Yan talking about the
work of Amity. My little
lecture was received politely, but when Mr. Yan started telling
the students and teachers about Amity's work, their level of interest
increased perceptibly. As soon as he finished his talk, a small
forest of hands shot up to begin an interrogation that went on
far beyond the pre-allotted time for the program. Most of the
questions concerned what kinds of projects Amity supports and
how they are carried out, but there were also questions about
why Amity was set up and by whom, so Mr. Yan told the story of
how a group of Chinese
Christian leaders felt the need for the church to be involved
more in helping Chinese society and established Amity for that
purpose. At that point, one of the teachers asked Mr. Yan if he
was Christian himself. He said that he was not, pointed out that
Amity is an NGO rather than a church organization, and explained
that Amity staff are hired for their professional credentials.
(Some Amity staff are Christians, some are not.) He then went
on to tell how he had met the church leaders who set Amity up,
and was so impressed with
what they were doing that he quit his previous job to join Amity.
I found myself in the privileged position of listening to a self-described
non-Christian describe how Christians demonstrated their concern
for others through their deeds.
I am reminded of a point Rodney Stark makes in his recent book,
The Rise of Christianity. Stark is a sociologist who has spent
his career investigating the factors that cause religious groups
to grow. One point he makes is that testimony from disinterested
observers is often especially credible and powerful in shaping
what people believe about Christians or any other religious group
(or, for that matter, anything else). In other words, what Christians
say about how good their faith is often sways the opinions of
non-Christians less than what other non-Christians say about Christians.
My sense is that the words of my non-Christian colleague had
far more impact than mine would have had. I also know that scenarios
like this are enacted throughout China on a regular basis whenever
Amity staff members—both Christian and non-Christian—are
asked to explain what this organization is and how it came to
be. This is not only Christian witness, but an especially powerful
and compelling form of it, and it does much to create more openness
toward the Christian faith among Chinese people.
Amity teachers do not come to China as evangelists. But one
of the stated goals of the Amity foundation is to "make Christian
involvement and participation in society more widely known to
the Chinese people," and the Teachers Project is no less
a part of that work than any other Amity project. Because of the
presence of Amity teachers, many more in China are aware of the
concern that Christians—both inside and outside China—have
for the people of China.
As Matthew (5:16) puts it: "Like the lamp, you must shed
light among your fellows, so that, when they see the good you
do, they may give praise to your Father in heaven."
Sincerely,
Don and Wei Hong Snow
|
