The China Ministry International plans to hold the seminar titled "Urbanization and the China Church" in March 5, 2005. From 6am to 9pm, five speakers will give lectures on five different aspects of current urban missions in China.
Those leading the China Ministry International have expressed disires to promote the mission growth in China. Since 2003, the mission group held seminars two to three times a year. The group often discusses the most crucial topics regarding China missions .
According to Alice Chan, the functionary of the "Urbanization and the China Church" seminar, great changes have started to take place in China since the 1980s.
For example, Ms. Chan explained, 80% of the Chinese population lived in country. However, as China experience more economic reforms, more and more rural Chinese moved to the cities seeking economic opportunities.
"Thus, the focus and strategy of Chinese mission should change as well." Ms. Chan said.
"Twenty years ago, you only had to give Chinese people Bibles and other Christian books, and they would be very happy and satisfied. But today, there are ample supplies of Bible in China already. What they need is much more than that," she said.
Ms. Chan said that many Chinese lack proper biblical foundations. "They need some one to explain the Bible verses concretely, they need to realize clearly what 'salvation' is - in other words, they need advanced faith education," she added.
"This is our first focus," she explained. "And second, we should guide the Chinese Christians to combine their life and faith, that is, when they are at work, at home, in the society, how they should act as a true Christian."
The first Chinese urban mission seminar by the China Ministry International was held last year. The seminary that year only addressed current trends and and situations in the rise of urbanization in China.
This year, however, CMI plans to discuss this topic in further detail. Five sub-topics will be addressed -- "Urban Mission and Spiritual Warfare" given by Dr. William Edgar, "Urban Ministries with Rural Migrant Workers" by Dr. Ronald Yu, "Urban Ministries with College Students" by Rev. Ben Chen, "Urban Ministries with Professionals & Intellectuals" by Mrs. Esther Yu, and "Specific Issues on Urban China" by Dr. Joshua Han.
CMI predicts that this seminar, which will be held in Pennsylvania, will draw around 100 participants from areas including the states of New Jersey, Maryland, and New York. Ms. Chan said, "As Chinese churches are paying more and more attention to missions, and the number of overseas Chinese, even Americans who want to help Chinese mission is increasing, we hope that our seminar can provide them with necessary updated information, so as to advance Chinese mission as much as possible."