Faithful Disobedience

Writings on Church and State from a Chinese House Church Movement

by Wang Yi
Foreword by Ian Johnson
Edited by Hannah Nation and J. D. Tseng

Theology

Paperback

$29.99

Length: 288 pages
Dimensions: 6 × 9 in
Published: December 06, 2022
Imprint: IVP Academic
ISBN: 9781514004135

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Christianity Today Book Award Finalist—Missions/Global Church

Reader's Choice Award Winner

Throughout China's rapidly growing cities, a new wave of unregistered house churches is growing. They are developing rich theological perspectives that are both uniquely Chinese and rooted in the historical doctrines of the faith. To understand how they have endured despite government pressure and cultural marginalization, we must understand both their history and their theology.

In this volume, key writings from the house church have been compiled, translated, and made accessible to English speakers. Featured here is a manifesto by well-known pastor Wang Yi and his church, Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, to clarify their theological stance on the house church and its relationship to the Chinese government. There are also works by prominent voices such as Jin Tianming, Jin Mingri, and Sun Yi. The editors haveprovided introductions, notes, and a glossary to give context to each selection.

These writings are an important body of theology historically and spiritually. Though defined by a specific set of circumstances, they have universal applicationsin a world where the relationship between church and state is more complicated than ever. This unique resource will be valuable to practical and political theologians as well as readers interested in international relations, political philosophy, history, and intercultural studies.

REVIEWS

"All Christians live as exiles in this world. For those of us in a post-Christian environment, we must ask ourselves again what it means for the church to be salt and light in a society that is hostile to the Christian faith. Faithful Disobedience documents the price the house churches in China have paid for following Christ. Wang Yi and others also set forth a clear theological framework for why they have done so. While not all house churches are in agreement about how to engage the political authorities, their commitment to Scripture and the world to come is a witness to Chinese society and an encouragement to all global Christians."Timothy Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan

"The single, most important feature of global Christianity is the conversation that Christians from a thousand different cultures have with each other. This compelling book brings one of the world's most dynamic Christian movements into the living rooms of Christians around the world. Pastor Wang Yi's theological reflections are essential reading for global Christians who want to understand the future of their faith."Todd M. Johnson, codirector of Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

"Reverend Wang Yi is a Chinese theologian in pastoral ministry and a public intellectual in social engagement. He is sharp, eloquent, and fearless. Under his leadership, the Early Rain Church expanded the wide reach of the 'house churches,' that is the jiating churches, in multiple spheres of Chinese society. This collection of writings clearly shows the deepening of Chinese Christian thinking and articulation of biblical, historical, systematic, and practical theology. It is a must-read for anyone interested in Chinese Christianity, society, and culture. It is relevant for all Christians facing restriction, repression, and persecution in the contemporary world."Fenggang Yang, founding director of the Center on Religionand the Global East at Purdue University

"For the first time in the English language, we are given access to some of the leading figures in China's unregistered churches. We hear of lives shaped by the tumultuous history of Christianity in China, wrestling with the church's relationship with the state and with the society, and pointed toward an eschatological vision that reorients Christians today. This window into the Chinese church is thought provoking and challenges us—whether in China or beyond—in our understanding of faithful Christian living."Alexander Chow, University of Edinburgh, author of Chinese Public Theology

"Wang Yi's faithfulness under persecution highlights the gospel by shining a light on injustice and the depth of human depravity. More important is how his example as a suffering faithful servant of God archetypes the ultimate example of the suffering servant of Christ. By the grace of God, how the truthfulness of the gospel—through the suffering servant ministry of Jesus Christ—shines against the dark and hopeless world has been shown in another faithful disobedient servant of God in China.David Ro, regional director for the Lausanne Movement East Asia and chair of the Asia 2022 Congress

"The things that contribute to our understanding of the relations between church and state are not only narrowly exegetical but emerge as well from our experiences as Christians. What the Bible says about such matters is likely to be configured inour minds a little differently by Christians in nineteenth-century Netherlands, tribal peoples in Papua New Guinea, and Han people in China, even though all of us want to live our lives under Christ's providential ordering of all things in this broken world. Wang Yi and his fellow contributors to this thought-provoking volume write in the full knowledge that theirs is not the only Christian voice in China, let alone elsewhere, but they argue their corner in defense of unregistered churches with exegetical skill, theological rigor, and pastoral insight. Churches in the West have much to learn from them."D. A. Carson, emeritus professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

"This important compendium of house-church writings offers English-language readers and scholars an inside view of the house-church narrative of the arc of Chinese church history. By combining academic essays with church sermons and interviews, the volume draws attention to two key elements in Wang Yi's writings that have guided his thought and ministry: church-state relations and a theology of martyrdom within an eschatological dimension."Chloë Starr, professor of Asian theology and Christianity at Yale Divinity School

"Pastor Wang Yi's sermons carry the heart of the New Testament Epistles that still echoes down history's halls. As he covers a wide range of historical, political, cultural, and spiritual topics for his own Early Rain congregation, Pastor Yi warns, prepares, exhorts, and ultimately lives the New Testament reality of costly proclamation. Just as our prayers will strengthen Pastor Yi in his prison cell, this sermon collection will strengthen saints worldwide to endure hardship and scorn for the sake of the kingdom—even amid our own fragile freedom."K. A. Ellis, director of the Edmiston Center for the Study of the Bible and Ethnicity

"The dynamism of the house church movement in China in the face of difficulty is one of the most compelling and inspiring stories in contemporary history. While the movement as a whole is composed mostly of smaller, low-profile churches, Pastor Wang Yi is a major voice coming from larger, higher-profile church circles. The sobering reality of his current imprisonment calls us all the more to pray for him (and other imprisoned Christians)—and to engage his ideas seriously."Kevin S. Chen, associate professor of Old Testament at Christian Witness Theological Seminary in San Jose, California, and author of The Messianic Vision of the Pentateuch

"Faithful Disobedience is must-read for anyone who wishes to understand the vitality, scholarship, ethics, and dissident witness of the urban Chinese Christian scholar-leaders in China today. These works by Wang Yi and others carefully weave the spiritual and theological roots of the suffering and witness of early house church leaders such as Wang Mingdao to produce their own unique, informed, and trenchant public witness of truth to power in China today. One simply cannot understand the current relationship between Christianity and the state in China apart from the works represented in this timely collection of essays."Thomas Harvey, academic dean of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and author of Acquainted with Grief: Wang Mingdao's Stand for the Persecuted Church of China

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Foreword by Ian Johnson
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Hannah Nation
Abbreviations
Timeline of Important Dates

Part I: Our House Church Manifesto
1. Why We Are a House Church, Wang Yi
2. The Spiritual Legacy of the House Church, Jin Tianming
3. Tradition of the House Church in China: Nonconformist, Wang Yi
4. Rise of House Churches and Urban Churches, Jin Mingri
5. Why Didn't We Join the National TSPM?Sun Yi
6. Christian Rightists of 1957, Wang Yi
7. Raising Our Voices to End Sixty Years of Religious Persecution, Wang Yi
8. Ninety-Five Theses: The Reaffirmation of Our Stance on the House Church, Wang Yi and Early Rain Covenant Church

Part II: The Eschatological Church and the City
9. The Mission and Labor Camp of the Gospel, Wang Yi
10. The City of God on Earth, Wang Yi
11. The Way of the Cross, the Life of the Martyrs, Wang Yi
12. The Cross and the Landfill, Wang Yi
13. Twenty Ways Persecution Is God's Way to Shepherd Us, Wang Yi
14. History Is Christ Written Large, Wang Yi
15. An Opportunity for Churches to Walk the Way of the Cross, Wang Yi
16. "Christ Is Lord. Grace Is King. Bear the Cross. Keep the Faith." Wang Yi

Part III: Arrest and the Way of the Cross
17. A Joint Statement by Pastors: A Declaration for the Sake of the Christian Faith, The Leadership of Early Rain Covenant Church
18. In the Face of Persecution, What Will I Do? Wang Yi
19. My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience, Wang Yi
20. How Should theChurch Face Persecution? Li Yingqiang
21. This Is Also Where I Stand! Jin Tianming
22. Letter for All Christian Churches to Pray, Western China Presbytery
Conclusion by Hannah Nation

Glossary
Further Reading
General Index
Scripture Index

The Barnabas Factor

The Pastor as Midwife

God and Molecules

Disability and Evangelism

The Way Back to One Another

Sabbath Gospel

Becoming a Person of Welcome

Naming the Spirit

The Journey of God

Global Christianity and Islam

ABOUT Wang Yi

Wang Yi is a leader of a Chinese house church. He is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for refusing to comply with PRC regulations regarding church registration.

ABOUT Hannah Nation

Hannah Nation is the managing director of the Center for House Church Theology. A writer and student of missions history and World Christianity, she is inspired by this historical moment and the privilege of witnessing a new chapter in church history unfold across China.

ABOUT J. D. Tseng

J. D. Tseng (pseudonym) is a prolific writer and editor who has worked in Chinese Christian journals and publications for many years.

Faithful Disobedience

Writings on Church and State from a Chinese House Church Movement