At Thriving Turtles, our mission is to facilitate culturally appropriate discipleship of Chinese returnees. What do we mean by “culturally appropriate“? It means to disciple them as a “Chinese” believer rather than an “Australian” believer. Maybe this seems a small point, but it makes all the difference when they return home to China, to live as a Chinese Christian, to worship in a Chinese Church and be a blessing to a Chinese community. We want to send home Chinese believers who know how their Christian faith answers the questions the Chinese world is asking and know how the gospel transforms a Chinese persons life so they can glorify God in a Chinese way.
This issue we highlight two articles for your perusal.
The first is a survey that we completed last year [2016] of a cross section of Chinese students involved in campus ministry across 4 Sydney universities. This survey shows why it’s so hard to get Chinese students thinking about returning home. The link may be found here: https://thrivingturtles.org/2017/02/09/survey-of-chinese-students-in-australia/
The second article is an answer to a question which many ministry workers who work with Chinese students ask “which Chinese Bible should I recommend people read?” Culturally appropriate discipleship must happen (at least some of the time) in the mother tongue (Chinese) and so it is vital that Chinese believers learn to read the Chinese Bible and be comfortable with it. Many students prefer the English Bible, but that’s not the Bible used in Chinese Churches or that they will share with the family and friends who don’t speak English. Chinese students here often need a nudge to read in Chinese and this article will help you understand some of the issues in choosing a version to recommend. The link may be found here: https://thrivingturtles.org/2016/06/20/which-chinese-bible-should-i-recommend-people-read/
We welcome your feedback on the issues raised in this or any other of our newsletters. You can email us or comment on our Facebook page.
If you know someone else who is ministering to Chinese and may find our resources and services helpful please forward this email to them. They can sign up for these newsletters via the link on our website or by following us on Facebook or Twitter.
We look forward to working with you as you minister to Chinese and prepare them to thrive back in China.
Regards
The Thriving Turtles Team