China Overture II: 7-16th April 2010
China is the world’s most populous country and also the most rapidly urbanizing nation on earth. That’s why I was eager to participate in the Spring 2010 Bakke Graduate University tour of China. The focus of the BGU China Overture was on urbanization and the challenges of Christian mission in China following the Cultural Revolution. The religious policies of the Peoples Republic of China, along with exposure to registered churches and non-registered churches, seminaries and NGOs were analyzed through face to face contact and firsthand experience.
Hong Kong, Macau, and Shanghai were visited. Hong Kong was a former British colony. Under the British rule, Hong Kong developed into a world class city. Since the change of sovereignty back to China, the churches are reorientating themselves in the light of the new challenges and opportunities. Macau was a colony of Portugal, a Catholic enclave where Robert Morrison first landed and then began the modern missionary era in China. Shanghai is the largest commercial centre in China, adopting with great enthusiasm, the free market economy in a communist country. Shanghai is also the power centre of the Christian Church in China.
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