The threefold Chinese model of church
Friends at another church alerted me to this interesting feature of Chinese Christianity. And you may have found that this is at the root of some of your church conflicts…
Division – the Chinese model of church
Many Chinese people who became Christians overseas will have adopted a threefold model of church life. This teaches that a Christian should engage in the worship of God, Bible study and Christian fellowship. But essential to this model is that there is a division between these three elements. And so a Christian will engage in them at seperate church activities.
A Christian will worship God at the Sunday morning church service. This time is approached with reverence and the focus is Godward. During this time they will sing to God, the choir will also sing, and they will have Holy Communion.
Bible study is done in Adult Sunday School or Bible Study Fellowship. The focus of this is the serious study of books of the Bible, not so much for application as for information. There might be others learning alongside you – but that’s not the point of it.
And they will have fellowship in their monthly Nurture Groups or Care Groups. The focus of this will be getting to know one another, sharing a meal together, sharing about their lives and caring for one another.
Integration – the Western model of church
Well, this is more correctly the Knox-Robinson model of church – and this is what most ABC Christians are used to. Here church is understood as any gathering of Christians around the word of God – whether it be at the Sunday morning service, a Bible study group, or the youth fellowship. And so whenever Christians gather around Christ, that gathering should have all the essential features of a church. It should of course be around the word of God (Bible study). It should acknowledge the presence of other Christians (fellowship). And it should always bring glory to God (worship).
And so ABCs understand that the regular church service contains all of these features. Yes, people would be worshipping God – but it is also a time for learning from God’s word, and encouraging one another. Yes, the youth fellowship would be a time of being in fellowship with other people – but is also about serious Bible study, and turning to God in worship. And yes, the weeknight Bible study is about getting into the word of God – but also about encouraging one another, and turning to God in worship.
The different gatherings are not about doing different functions of church! Each one is truly church – and is yet another joyful opportunity for Christians to come together as around Christ as he is clothed in Scripture, and worship him. And why wouldn’t you want to do that as often as you can?
Conflict – when East and West come together!
But when those used to the Chinese model of church life look at the model of ministry flowing out of a Knox-Robinson model of church, there can often be misunderstanding and conflict.
This leads to comments that “the youth fellowship is only about playing games” – and so is unnecessary. Comments that “the English service is not worshipful enough” and “the youth aren’t being taught to be reverent on a Sunday morning”. That drums are inappropriate for church. That the Sunday School should be more disciplined – like a school.
Perhaps you’ve heard comments like these at your church?
What’s actually behind all of these comments is that threefold model of church life that forces a division between worship, Bible study and fellowship. And which struggles to acknowledge that church can be anything other than worship, Sunday school anything other than rigorous Bible education, and youth groups as anything other than fellowship.
In the end it’s based on assumptions and traditions about how church life should be ordered and understood. Which then drives us to ask: how legitimate are these assumptions? How biblically and theologically sound are the models of church life we have grown up with?
[ PS: what other strange comments have you heard that come out of this threefold Chinese model of church life? ]
It certainly is an interesting take on the Chinese Church, and certainly one that has some merit to it. While this speaks only to the model of church, the departmentalised factor and separation of various aspects of life also are seen in the Chinese culture.
One aspect that I’ve experienced is the further divide of leadership. Each leader is responsible for a particular area/department/service in the church and should not concern themselves with other areas, and when they do are overstepping their boundaries as leaders.
Certainly, you’ve raised some interesting things to think about. The question here, then, is how do we build bridges between the East and West models?
the question is why are you following the gwei-lows God instead of your own. European imperialism exported their belief system to undermine the colonial peoples and to force them to think of themselves according to westen value system.