{"id":23513,"date":"2023-05-30T18:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T18:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/robert-menzies-is-the-chinese-church-predominantly-pentecostal-authors-preface\/"},"modified":"2023-05-30T18:00:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T18:00:26","slug":"robert-menzies-is-the-chinese-church-predominantly-pentecostal-authors-preface","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/robert-menzies-is-the-chinese-church-predominantly-pentecostal-authors-preface\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Menzies: Is the Chinese Church Predominantly Pentecostal? Author\u2019s Preface"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAuthor\u2019s Preface<\/strong>: \u201cIs the Church in China Predominantly Pentecostal? An Answer from the \u2018Golden Years\u2019 of the Chinese House Church Movement\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Robert P. Menzies<\/p>\n

The essays that follow are not descriptions of the current state of the church in China.[1]<\/a> Rather, they represent a slice of Chinese church history, albeit an important slice. Dr. Kevin Xiyi Yao of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary has described 1990 through 2010 as the \u201cGolden Age\u201d of the church in China,[2]<\/a> an assessment with which I concur. This was a period of rapid growth, missionary endeavor, and, in terms of the political and social environment, relative openness. The following essays, drawn from my book, The Church in China: Persecuted, Pentecostal, and Powerful<\/em><\/a>, were written around 2000 and reflect the situation of the Chinese house church movement during this Golden Age (more specifically, in the 1990s).[3]<\/a> Thus, they are now out of date and do not describe the current state of the church in a fast-changing China. Due to urbanization, changes in leadership, fragmentation, and increasing political pressure (especially since 2018), the five house church networks that I describe is these essays either no longer exist or have significantly changed. Nevertheless, this slice of history is important for it describes a particularly vibrant and dynamic period in the history of the Church. Furthermore, the essays that follow represent an early, pioneering effort to describe an aspect of the Chinese church that was often not acknowledged, let alone described. I refer to its Pentecostal character.<\/p>\n

A number of more recent works have added important context and detail to my early study and largely support its central thesis that the Chinese house church movement of the 1990s was predominately Pentecostal. I think here especially of the writings of David Aikman, Paul Hattaway, and Dennis Balcombe.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Robert Menzies used a pen name, Luke Wesley, to write The Church in China: Persecuted, Pentecostal, and Powerful<\/a><\/em> (Baguio, The Philippines: AJPS Books, 2004).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The same may be said of more recent academic studies, with one important caveat. The strong experiential nature of Protestant Christianity in China, and particularly the emphasis in the house churches on healing, exorcism, and prophecy, has led many scholars to describe the dominant form of Protestant Christianity in China as Pentecostal. While Tony Lambert describes Chinese Christianity as \u201cbiblical supernaturalism,\u201d others, such as Gotthard Oblau, Edmond Tang, and Chen-Yang Kao speak of the specifically Pentecostal features of the church in China.[5]<\/a> Scholars do, however, disagree concerning how we should define the term, Pentecostal.[6]<\/a> The general charismatic and Pentecostal orientation of the Chinese house church movement is widely acknowledged as the key to its rapid growth over the past four decades.[7]<\/a> Nevertheless, sociologists like Oblau and Kao tend to minimize the significant role that the Bible or theological convictions play in shaping the praxis of these \u201cPentecostal\u201d Chinese Protestants.<\/p>\n

In the following essays, I presented at an early date evidence for the Pentecostal nature of the house church movement that grew so rapidly during what is now understood as the Golden Age of the church in China. While, as I have noted, some scholars downplay the role of the Bible in shaping Pentecostal practice in China, and thus they also deny that Chinese Pentecostals possess a clear theological identity, these essays challenge this assessment.[8]<\/a> Certainly, not every Christian that prays for the sick, exorcises demons, or prophesies, would affirm a baptism in the Spirit distinct from conversion that is marked by speaking in tongues. Nevertheless, there are a significant number that do.[9]<\/a> And their influence, as well as the clarity of their biblical convictions, should not be underestimated. The common thread that unites Pentecostals in China with other Pentecostals around the world is their sense of connection with the apostolic church as reflected in the book of Acts. Chinese Pentecostals pray for the sick, worship with joyful abandonment, speak in tongues, and seek the enabling of the Spirit for bold witness in the face of persecution because they find all of these experiences described in the New Testament. The message and methods of the early church are models for their lives and ministry. I sought to demonstrate this thesis through an analysis of five of the largest house church networks in China during this remarkable period. I will leave it to others to assess the extent to which these earlier networks have influenced contemporary house church groups; but, from my vantage point, the impact is evident.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PR<\/strong><\/p>\nPart 1: Introduction<\/a>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Image: Christian Lue<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

[1]<\/a> For a more contemporary, but now slightly dated description, see Robert P. Menzies, \u201cPentecostals in China,\u201d in Global Renewal Christianity: Spirit-Empowered Movements Past, Present, and Future , vol. 1: Asia and Oceania<\/em><\/a>, ed. by Amos Yong & Vinson Synan (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2016). See also my blogs on ChinaSource.org: \u201cPentecostal Theology and the Chinese Church\u201d (Jan. 21, 2015); \u201cUrban Churches in China: A Pentecostal Case Study\u201d (June 26, 2015); \u201cThe Seed of the Church and the Modern Missions Movement\u201d (Feb. 21, 2022). [Editor’s note: See David Bradnick’s review of Vinson Synan and Amos Yong, eds., Global Renewal Christianity: Spirit-Empowered Movements\u2014Past, Present, and Future, Volume 1: Asia and Oceania<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> In his March 27, 2021 ChinaSource presentation.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> The essays are drawn from Chapter 3 of my book, written under the pen-name, Luke Wesley, The Church in China: Persecuted, Pentecostal, and Powerful<\/em><\/a> (Baguio, The Philippines: AJPS Books, 2004).<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> David Aikman, Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power<\/em><\/a> (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2003) [Editor’s note: see Tony Richie’s review<\/a>]; Paul Hattaway, The Heavenly Man<\/em> (Oxford: Monarch Books, 2003), and The China Chronicle Series [Editor’s note: see Paul Hattaway’s author page<\/a> and reviews of books from The China Chronicle series including Guizhou<\/a>, Zheijiang<\/a>, and Tibet<\/a>]; Dennis Balcombe, One Journey One Nation<\/em> (Chambersburg, PA: eGen Co, 2011) and China\u2019s Opening Door<\/em> (Lake Mary, Fl: Charisma House, 2014).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Tony Lambert, China\u2019s Christian Millions<\/em><\/a> (London: OMF\/Monarch Books, 1999), 112; Gotthard Oblau, \u201cPentecostals by Default? Contemporary Christianity in China\u201d in Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang, eds., Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia<\/em><\/a> (Costa Mesa: Regnum, 2005), 411-36; Edmond Tang, \u201c\u2018Yellers\u2019 and Healers: Pentecostalism and the Study of Grassroots Christianity in China\u201d in Asian and Pentecostal<\/em><\/a>, 467-86; Chen-yang Kao, The Cultural Revolution and the Post-Missionary Transformation of Protestantism in China<\/em> (PhD thesis, University of Lancaster, 2009).<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> I agree with Simon Chan, \u201can adequate definition of Pentecostalism cannot be restricted to phenomenological description\u201d (Chan, \u201cWither Pentecostalism\u201d in Asian and Pentecostal<\/em><\/a>, 578).<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Kao, Cultural Revolution<\/em>, 99.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> This is true of my earlier book, The Church in China<\/em><\/a> (2004), from which these essays are drawn, but also of my more recent study, \u201cPentecostals in China,\u201d in Global Renewal Christianity <\/em><\/a>(2016).<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> I define Pentecostals, then, as those who believe that: the book of Acts serves as a model for contemporary Christian life and ministry; the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) is a post-conversion enabling for ministry; and speaking in tongues marks this experience. Neo-Pentecostals affirm all of the above except they reject the notion that tongues serve as a normative sign of baptism in the Spirit. For more on Pentecostal identity and related definitions, see Robert Menzies, Pentecost: This Story is Our Story<\/em> <\/a>(Springfield, MO: GPH, 2013), 11-20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author\u2019s Preface: \u201cIs the Church in China Predominantly Pentecostal? An Answer from the \u2018Golden Years\u2019 of the Chinese House Church Movement\u201d By Robert P. Menzies The essays that follow are not descriptions of the current state of the church in China.[1] Rather, they represent a slice of Chinese church history, albeit an important slice. Dr….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3070,"featured_media":23514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6838],"tags":[3052,2871,3289,2680,4342,2818,3292,5044,6349],"ppma_author":[4716],"class_list":["post-23513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-history-2","category-summer-2022","tag-asia","tag-china","tag-chinese","tag-church","tag-house-churches","tag-pentecostal","tag-persecuted","tag-preface","tag-robert-menzies","author-robertpmenzies"],"authors":[{"term_id":4716,"user_id":3070,"is_guest":0,"slug":"robertpmenzies","display_name":"Robert Menzies","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/RobertMenzies-198x198-150x150.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/RobertMenzies-198x198-150x150.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3070"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23513"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=23513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}