andrewhong.net

Here is an index of this quarter’s postings (September ’09 to November ’09). Clicking on the titles will take you to that post.

During this quarter the blog somehow clocked up over 14,000 page views – thanks everyone for reading! If you are on Twitter, you can follow me (hongus) to get notified when I post an article.

Last quarter I found a way to get more detailed stats from the Australian Bureau of Statistics – and this quarter features several more posts with insights into where the Chinese are, and how they may be reached (see particularly the posts in September, and the second half of November). A huge area that we have yet to do a lot of work on is the huge group of ABCs who are in schools!

However most importantly, this quarter also featured a series of posts in early November (Nov 4, 5 and 6) in which I try to demonstrate the difference between, on the one hand a Christiantiy of duty and obedience, and on the other Christianity captivated by the glory of God - and the difference is profound. These are perhaps three of the most significant posts to date. If you’re looking for something to talk through with your team of leaders, I highly recommend thinking through those three posts!

September 2009

1 Map of Sydney’s ABCs – by age groups!
3 Life stages part I – map of Sydney’s ABCs
6 Life stages part II – pie graphs of ABCs in your area
11 ABCs in Melbourne
14 Tutorial: how to make a hotmap of ABCs in your suburb
22 Chinese transitoriness in Sydney (part 1): who stays put, and who will move?
23 Chinese transitoriness in Sydney (part 2): where are they moving?
25 The threefold Chinese model of church
29 Life stage of Sydney ABCs – in bar graphs

October 2009

1 Chinese transitoriness in Sydney (part 3): more on North and South
6 Chinese in Catholic (and other) schools in Sydney
8 Where do we need to plant Chinese churches?
18 SALT 2009 retreat talks online!
27 Pornography – and what people search for on Google

November 2009

4 Two visions of the Christian life – part 1
5 Two visions of the Christian life – part 2
6 Two visions of the Christian life – part 3
7 The Glory of God – a Bible study series
26 How denominations are going at reaching the Chinese in Sydney
27 The background of kids in NSW public schools – part 1
28 The background of kids in NSW public schools – part 2
29 The background of kids in NSW public schools – part 3
30 List of postings: September ’09 to November ’09

[ PS: on a more personal note, yesterday I signed a contract to become an Associate Pastor at North Side Chinese Alliance Church (on Carlingford Road, in Epping). I begin with them in the new year! ]

Here is an index of this quarter’s postings (June ’09 to August ’09). Clicking on the titles will take you to that post.

During this quarter the blog again clocked up over 11,000 page views – thanks everyone for reading! And this month it was especially encouraging to meet some readers from interstate – you know who you are!

Last quarter I began a series of posts on the Chinese concept of face, and this quarter I cap off that series with one final post where we look at what we can do about ‘face’ in our ministry (July 30). There is also a short series where I apply Transactional Analysis (TA) to Chinese culture, with interesting results (June 5 and 22). Also significant was a post on the strange lack of forgiveness in Chinese culture (Aug 6), and the Chinese understanding of family (Jul 14). These would be extremely worthwhile to discuss with your ministry team!

Earlier this month I also found a way to get more detailed stats out of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and have been posting some of my findings about the Australian Born Chinese and how we’re going at reaching this group (August 19, 21, 23, 25 and 28). Watch out for a few more in this series next quarter!

I also reorganised the categories of the articles a little. So now the ‘Chinese culture‘ category should show most of the stuff in that area, and the ‘Statistics‘ category should show all the statistical stuff I’ve produced.

June 2009

5 Transactional analysis – and Chinese culture
22 Transactional analysis – and conflict in Chinese culture
25 Narrative-critical Bible studies on Mark

July 2009

2 Topical Bible studies on the Affections
8 Debating ideas – East and West
14 Church as family – and the Chinese idea of family
16 Size of migrant populations in Australia
17 Age and sex of Australia’s migrant communities
20 Migration in 2007-08 – and Indian ministry
30 Face in Chinese culture: what you can do about it!

August 2009

1 Foreign students in Australia 2009
6 Forgiveness – and its absence in Chinese culture!
7 SCCCA networking dinner 2009
12 Pathways for overseas Chinese students in Australia
16 Time to move on
19 Age profile of the Australian Born Chinese
21 Map of where ABCs live in Sydney
23 Maps of the Chinese in Brisbane
25 How are we going at reaching the ABCs?
26 Map of where recent Chinese migrants live in Sydney
28 Profile of Catholic Australian Born Chinese
31 List of postings: June ’09 to August ’09

[ PS: during this period which were your favourite posts? which ones did you feel strongly about? ]

Here is an index of this quarter’s postings (March ’09 to May ’09). Clicking on the titles will take you to that post.

During this quarter the blog again clocked up over 10,000 page views – thanks everyone for reading! It’s always encouraging to hear how these articles have informed ministry and stimulated reflection.

This quarter featured a series of articles about the Chinese concept of ‘face’ (March 22, April 08 and 21, May 01, 15 and 30). These have taken a significant amount of time to process and write – which is why there have been longer gaps between posts. A number of people have already mentioned to me how helpful these have been in shedding light on Chinese culture.

Also significant this quarter was a post on how to strengthen ourselves against  temptation (March 13) – an area that I find most Christians have very poorly thought out answers!

If you’re looking for some short articles to stimulate discussion and thought for your ministry team, I recommend checking those out!

March 2009

13 The affections – and fighting temptation
22 Face in Chinese culture: what it is and how it works

April 2009

08 Face in Chinese culture: what face reveals
21 Face in Chinese culture: the idolatry of face

May 2009

01 Face in Chinese culture: jealousy for God’s face
15 Face in Chinese culture: the good face of respectable ones
25 Looking for property for a church plant?
29 GFC – not enough of a crisis?
30 Face in Chinese culture: just us Chinese?
31 List of postings: Mar ’09 to May ’09

[ PS: during this period, which were your favourite posts? which ones did you feel strongly about? ]

Here is an index of this quarter’s postings (December ’08 to February ’09). Clicking on the titles will take you to that post.

During this quarter the blog recorded over 10,000 page views – thanks everyone for reading!

This quarter featured a post I worked on a while ago, and have been sitting on – but in the end decided to post. It’s about the Eastern and Western approach to committees (17 Feb). Also some reflections on a pretty damning report into depression amongst Asian kids who go to church (3 Dec) and the place of duty in Chinese culture – and its influence in Chinese Christianity (22 Dec). You may find these stimulating to read through with your leadership team!

Coming up soon will be some posts on the influence of the concept of face on Chinese culture and Chinese churches … stay tuned! Oh, and if you’re on Twitter, you’ll find me here.

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

[ PS: during this period, which were your favourite posts? which ones did you feel strongly about? ]

Here is an index of this quarter’s postings (September ’08 to November ’08). Clicking on the titles will take you to that post.

During this period the blog recorded over 10,000 page views – thanks everyone for reading!

I wasn’t able to be as regular with posting this quarter – I had two essays to knock off for a course I was doing at Moore College on the Puritans. Maybe I’ll write something about the Puritans sometime soon.

This quarter featured a couple of interesting maps of Chinese ministries in Sydney (02 and 25 Sept). Also on 09 Sept you’ll find an article on modernism, that complements the recent series on the influence of Confucianism on Chinese culture. Also interesting is a recent couple of posts on the Chinese understanding of sin (20 and 24 Nov).

Looking for something to read through with your leadership team? Consider the post on 29 Sept on Generation Y, the post on 10 Nov about PDI, or the post on 02 Oct on evangelism!

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

[ PS: during this period, which were your favourite posts? which ones did you feel strongly about? ]

Here is an index of this quarter’s postings (June ’08 to August ’08). Clicking on the titles will take you to that post.

During this period the blog recorded over 11000 page views … thanks everyone for reading!
 
This quarter featured three more in the series of posts on Confucianism that I began last quarter (30 June, 23 July and 03 Aug). Also you may have missed it, but an article on 20 Aug actually complements that series, showing how the experience of migrating to another country has influenced OBC culture, just like Confucianism. Check it out!

In September I’ll be speaking at the 2008 SCCCA English leadership conference (see post from 24 July). Hope to see you there!

June 2008

02 The three models of Chinese church growth
05 How does Adam’s sin affect you?
07 Where in Sydney do recent Chinese migrants live?
10 SCCCA English dinner promo #2
18 Five things I learnt in ministry
19 Religious affiliation in Sydney over the last 20 years
22 All-in-one statistical document on the Chinese in Sydney
24 How many Australian Chinese are Christians?
25 Age profile of the Chinese migrant population
29 Uni students from China
30 Confucianism – and leadership

July 2008

15 English congregations in Sydney’s Chinese churches
19 "Walk with Jesus" – Catholic style
21 Understanding China’s generations
23 Confucianism – and the person
24 SCCCA Leadership conference 2008
26 Communication styles and culture
29 Migration from Asian countries since 1975

August 2008

03 Confucianism – and Chinese Christians
07 Narrative criticism
10 Emergency joke
12 What I think of house churches
19 Opening ceremony and Chinese culture
20 The migrant experience – and Chinese culture
23 Good works
26 Mixed marriages among the Chinese
31 List of postings: Jun ’08 to Aug ’08

[ PS: during this period which were your favourite posts? which ones did you feel strongly about? ]

Here is an index of this quarter’s postings (March ’08 to May ’08). Clicking on the titles will take you to that post.
 
This quarter featured a series of posts on Confucianism (April 03, 09, 28 and May 05). This has mostly been research for an essay I’ve been writing for an Master of Arts in Theology subject I’ve been doing this semester. There may be a few more to come in this series, so stay tuned!
 
Also popular was a short series of two posts on pornography (May 14, 20), described by some as the biggest hidden problem in the church.

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

[ PS: during this period which was your favourite post? which ones did you feel most strongly about? ]

Here is an index of this quarter’s postings (December ’07 to February ’08). Clicking on the titles will take you to that post. You’ll notice that I’m getting a little slacker on the update frequency – that’s on account of a short holiday in December, and things getting quite busy some days!
 
At the start of this quarter there was a short series on the lies we use to comfort ourselves that the sins we like are really okay. Over three posts we looked at  materialism, lust and gossiping. If you’re discipling someone, these might be worth talking through!
 
And towards the end of the quarter you’ll find a series on the heart and the affections, on account of some talks I have been working on for our leaders’ retreat – which incidentally starts TONIGHT!! Hence the picture of the harried pastor. You can find the posts on January 25, 26, and February 04, 11, 13 and 28.

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

[ PS: during this period which were your favourite posts? which did you feel strongly about? ]

01 How to get along with your parents
04 Four ways of relating to parents
07 What Christian parents want
11 Survey of English pastors of Chinese churches
17 200 years of Protestant missions in China
23 Chinese theological issues
26 Parenting – how not to be too little, too late
29 Chinese churches – three generations from now

02 Reformation bravery
04 Planning your prayer
06 Programs vs. relationships
15 Why you should bother with the prophets
17 Christians and alcohol
20 Different kinds of prophets
28 Looking back on your ministry year
29 Reaching out to your non Christian parents

30 List of postings: Sept ’07 to Nov ’07

04 Mini sermons from the box

06 How Christian leaders lead

11 Different kinds of trials

14 Blasphemy Challenge

17 How to think theologically

19 The place of historical theology

21 Starting points for theology

24 The usefulness of sound theology

25 Rewards

27 ABS 2006 census data online!

29 Distribution of Asians in Sydney

01 Religious belief in Australia

03 Chinese languages in Sydney

05 Non-English languages in Sydney

07 Make your own stats

09 Immigration stats 2005-2006

15 One year to World Youth Day

24 Asians at Moore College

25 Operation World – online

28 The Roman Catholic line on Protestants

31 Church leadership – reformation style

01 Things you can do in the car

03 Stock market correction

06 The real crutch

09 Planning dates for 2008

11 What your calendar reveals about you

14 2007 Make It Count

21 The art and science of preaching

23 Expectations of high schoolers

28 SCCCA dinner
30 Becoming an expert

31 List of postings: Jun ’07 to Aug ’07