Bill Brown ... Xiamen University"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season." 2 Timothy 4:2
"Neither do men light a candle and put it under a basket." Matthew 5:15
In "China and Formosa (1898, p. 102), Johnston wrote about an incident in the Amoy Mission that now seems amusing, but at the time must have terrified the young, uneducated Chinese who was caught by a mob and told to either "preach or be beaten!" Johnston wrote,
"One of the Peh-chuia converts was caught by the villagers who were at feud with it. He was too poor to be fined and was sentenced to be beaten. He pleaded that as a Christian he never took part in these feuds. The plea was admitted as valid, but
how were they to know that he was a real Christian? This was solved by the test of preaching. The poor man pled inability, as he was only a common Christian and not a preacher, but the plea was set aside by the axiom, "All Christians can preach," and "You must either preach or be beaten.""Driven to this alternative, the poor man got up and preached to his very hostile audience. Whether he saved the souls of his hearers we know not, but we know that he saved his own back from the bamboo, which was no small mercy: he was allowed to go free.
"It were well that our Christians at home had this reputation for preaching, though there is happily no fear of its being put to such a test.
"Another trait in the genuine converts is their regard for truth..."
The Amoy Mission not only produced China's first church but also the strongest mission in China for three main reasons:
1. Unity. The missionaries of different denominations overcame their differences and cooperated instead of competing (in Shanghai, missionaries made the headlines of the newspaper even in their arguments over how to use an empty bedroom!).
2. Propagate, not Transplant. Early Xiamen missionaries were careful to not just transplant a Western church to China but propagate a truly indigenous Chinese church (Christianity, after all, did not originate in the West but in Asia). By the end of the 1840s, the Amoy Mission had already begun what eventually became the "3 self" movement that Beijing now follows today: self-administration, self-support, self-propagation. This helped create a strong church, and strong Christians.
3. Strong Chinese Christians. Just from Johnston's story above we see that Chinese Christians in Xiamen had:
a. reputations for preaching
b. reputations for being truthful
c. respect of nonChristians
The "Rice Christian" myth. Some critics of Chinese missions claimed that many Chinese were "rice Christians" who converted to receive benefits from foreigners. I'm sure this did happen (Gutzlaff's fiasco, for instance), but it must have been rare, because Chinese who converted were, in fact, bitterly persecuted by family and fellow villagers. This happened even in the late 1980s to Lixi, our helper (click here for "Half the Sky"). I doubt many become "rice Christians" if it means losing family and land.
But those who stuck to their faith won the grudging admiration and respect of those around them for 1) their humility, 2) their patience, 3) their truthfulness. And because they were respected, they propensity for preaching was accepted and respected. But it was the sermon from their lives, not their lips, that first earned them the respect that opened others' ears, as well as hearts.
Instant Lives and Lips? Like Xiamen's early Christians, we should apply Paul's "be instant in and out of season" to our lives as well as our lips. Daily we have countless opportunities to "preach" by tackling obstacles and difficulties with integrity and patience, or accepting opportunities with humility, thankfulness, and a servant's heart.
160 Years! It was 160 years ago that China's first church was opened here in Xiamen. If those 160 years have flown, how much faster will our threescore and ten pass us by. Seize the day. Be instant in season and out, with lives first, and then lips.
http://www.amoymagic.com/Amoymission1.htm
www.amoymagic.com
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nice post, bro
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