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The Use of "Platforms" in China Ministry
Author: Swells in the Middle Kingdom
Date: 20.07.2010
Location: mainland | China
Category: Integrity & Humility, Workplace Ministry
Translations
As Christianity becomes more common in mainland China and loses its traditional stigma in more and more social settings, at what point does the long-standing concept of using "platforms" for engaging in ministry within China become a counterproductive way of thinking? More to the point, is this strategy of claiming to be doing one thing in order to win opportunities to secretly engage in something else still a necessary or valuable means for effective ministry in China today?
Will there ever be a time when such approaches to China ministry are inappropriate? What would be some of the indicators that might suggest that such "covers" are no longer necessary? Let’s use this space to talk through the pros and cons of this technique given where China is today and the changes she is currently experiencing.
Keywords: China, mission methods, platforms, covers, religious freedom
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China
Observation: this post has garnered nearly 4500 views with only one comment from someone else.
I have a question: do Christian workers in countries other than China use the language of platforms and covers? Yes? How? No? Why not? I would love to hear from those of you in other places regarding how effective or common such practices are in your location.
05.10.2010
China
I recently heard of a medical project in another Chinese city that had been selected by their local government to be reviewed by the national Public Health Bureau. Days before the inspection, their local work partner--a small community health clinic--asked the medical project workers on behalf of the local government to pad their numbers by falsifying medical records. The project workers met, prayed, and then informed their partner that they would not forge the information.
The local partner was shamed. The local government was furious. And the national Public Health Bureau went someplace more cooperative. Had this medical project kept their Christian identity somehow "secret" then their behavior would have appeared simply untrustworthy; no higher cause or motivation would have been recognized. But precisely because this medical project was known for its Christian identity, they felt they had no choice but to refuse to falsify the information. And in fact, they can already see their very "salty" behavior is leaving a mark. Their willingness to take the blame on behalf of their local partner; their insistence that the sincere efforts of the project workers had value that should not be cheapened by falsification; their eagerness to continue working with this same local partner and local government; in short, the integrity with which they stand by their work is a powerful witness precisely because all those around are watching them to see how Christians differ from everyone else. They are paying the cost for their differentness, but doing so in faith that God is at work through it all.
20.09.2010
China
国内基督徒用平台来做侍奉是不是比国外基督徒在大陆用同样的侍奉方式更合适？ 或者从另一个角度来考虑， 国内基督徒到底需要不需要用平台作传福音工作 ？ 大家有什么看法？
02.09.2010
China
Two very curious observations:
My intent in this post has always been to try and use the Lausanne event to help push China missions to begin talking about the whole question of platforms in a more mature manner. So, once again, here is a call for comments from others who would like to move past the wholly empirical (it works, so it must be ok) and the too otherworldly (what we do doesn’t matter as long as we love Jesus) and to begin to talk seriously about what China ministry will/should look like 10 years from now.
Is the concept of platforms still a useful or appropriate tool for China ministry? Why or why not?
25.08.2010
China
What is the relationship between honesty and deceit in the development of ministry platforms in closed- or limited-access countries?
Can anyone share examples of what an “honest” platform might look like? What are the limitations to “honest” platforms?
23.08.2010
China
When we talk about platforms we can mean one of two things, depending on our context.
In some cases, when we say something is a platform for ministry, we simply mean that this event or activity provides an opportunity for Gospel witness in some form. In this sense, really, all of life is a series of varying platforms. Used in this way, the term may have some use when thinking about making full use of a particular area of one’s life for advancing the kingdom.
But within the context of cross-cultural ministry in China, when we talk of platforms we usually mean something more. Specifically, in this context the idea of “platform” typically implies the public employment of one particular event or activity to provide an opportunity to do another at least partially clandestine or hidden activity. This is where our term platform and the more traditional language of “covers” intersect. It is this hidden or clandestine aspect of our use of the term “platform” in China ministry that I am specifically trying to address in this blog.
Within China ministry our discussions tend to carry an assumption that the platform activity is a regrettable necessity that must be engaged in in order to be granted the opportunity to participate in the true and valued—but necessarily secret—activity. The platform is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself; and it is understood by all that the end to which we are employing this means must be for necessary reasons kept hidden from the public. In other words, the first (public) activity is engaged in to obscure the second activity—typically because it is either illegal or dangerously unpopular to engage in that activity in our cross-cultural context. And since this involves us in at least some degree of deception, we are obligated to ask ourselves some honest questions about integrity.
So, is every cross-cultural worker who was sent out by a church or mission agency but is employed in a secular job overseas “platforming” in the second sense of the word? If so, why? If not, why not?
14.08.2010
China
@ Swells_in_the_Middle:
Surely you have noticed that I am using a screen name for my participation on the Lausanne web sites. This implicates me in a slight deception, and so the question rushes up on me: am I relying on a lie to help me advance Christ’s kingdom?
I am currently using a screen name for two reasons. First, some of the local pastors in my city expressed concern about my participation in Lausanne. They have been told by various Chinese officials that the government is watching Lausanne and who attends. They advised me to be cautious. Secondly, a number of my local and expatriate colleagues asked me to not use our company’s name or my personal name for the online portions of the conference. While there is no hidden agenda to our companies activites—we are openly Christian and understand our professional work to be our minstry—we are concerned about guilt by association. We do not want to give local officials any reason to perceive us to be something we are not merely because of our participation in such a large and public event as Lausanne. It is simply too easy to look details up on the internet, and again our local friends and our experience in the local environment as of late suggests that this event is already under official scrutiny.
And so here I am. To be honest, I am not comfortable with this; I do feel deceptive. And yet I also wish to respect my local brothers and sisters and my coworkers as well. When physically present at the congress I plan to workand speak in my own name.
One way to think about this that I have found helpful is to recall Jesus words in Matthew 10:16, “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” I hope that my use of a screen name in this instance is a small bit of serpent-like activity. Now if my entire ministry is essentially snake-like—if my service never shines with the innocence of the dove—then I am failing to measure up to the full standard. We need to be both shrewd and without guile. This is not easy. And I’m not sure how I’m doing right now.
May God have mercy and grant us wisdom.
14.08.2010
China
@ Swells_in_the_Middle:
The excellent post "Honest Evangelism for a Suspicious City" is a fine example of what it might look like to remove the deception and instead to see all of life (work, family, play, church, etc.) as ministry. Find it here:
http://conversation.lausanne.org/en/conversations/detail/10724
14.08.2010
China
A local Chinese colleague who is a believer just recently began a business venture. She is finding many challenges, some expected, some not. In particular, she has found the corruption involved in getting the various licenses to be especially troublesome. While there are a number of business-experienced expats helping her with some of her business processes, this is an area where we encouraged her to talk to her brothers and sisters in the local Chrsitian community.
The initial reaction from the majority of her fellow believers was that she needed to stop trying to solve the corruption problems herself, and instead to pray and let God fix it. A minority of local believers thought that surely she could try and find someone she knew in the relevant bureaus who might be able to help her avoid paying bribes. She prayed, poured over scripture, and eventually came to realize that even her relationships were a gift from God--the kinds of things that she could use for God’s glory. And now she is taking this lesson back to her local Christian community and encouraging them to engage their community through the prayeful application of all the gifts God has given them.
NOW..
What is most interesting about this entire episode is that this business is openly Christian. It has a name that subtly lets any other believer who might come by know that this business is owned by a Christian. She is happy to discuss her faith with anyone who asks and is eager to show the world how Christians participate in the business world. But this is NOT a platform. It is a local busines trying to live out Colossians 3:17--the business itself is the ministry, as she discovers everytime she is pressured for a bribe, or encouraged to sell inferior products.
What would this business look like if it were run as a platform or cover for other religious activities? What witness would it have in the community? I cannot help but think this format--the idea of seeing work itself as ministry--as being a healthier way to live out the gospel.
09.08.2010
China
A question I thought of the other day:
If the local Chinese Christian community engages in the use of platforms in order to gain access to new venues for ministry while masking their religious nature, are expatriate coworkers then under obligation to accept this mode of ministry out of resepct for the priority of the indigenous church?
Would local practice in effect trump all other discussion? I know this is a hot topic, but we need to hear from those with experience and insight. What are your thoughts?
04.08.2010
China
Excellent point. So often it seems the church is either jealously guarding the ways of the past or blindly chasing after the latest trends. We need to be free to respond faithfully to whatever context we find ourselves in. While the past and the present are certainly factors that must be considered when developing our strategies, they are not the only nor the most important criteria. If God’s Word is alive, then we should be in a position to engage our world with unique power and insight. Not merely relevant, we should be--as you have said--a step ahead.
In China ministry, I tend to think this has something to do with how the church in this country engages society and takes their faith out beyond the Christian community and into the public square: a replacing of the secrecy of platforms with the context-challenging openness of presence.
27.07.2010
Canada
Those who insist on holding onto ’tried and true’ methods long after the environment or context have changes are probably still using typewriters.
The world is changing rapidly and ’adapting to change’ must become an integral part of any model / ’way of thinking’ we choose. Effectively adapting to change requires that we continually monitor and evaluate using indicators and other tools to ensure that we acheive our objectives. If we lose sight of the objectives, we may perfect models that are no longer relevant.
We need a paradigm shift in thinking that moves us from reacting to situations to hearing where God would have us go - trail blazing. Reacting puts us one step behind, following God’s lead puts us one step ahead. Staying one step ahead is not easy but it is essential if our efforts are to be effective
24.07.2010
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