Partners in Christ with the Chinese National Conference

Danger and opportunity during COVID-19

Three of the past five years of our ministry were spent navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. Naturally the leaders of the Chinese community reflected on our joys and struggles during that time of crisis.

We first named our shared struggles in our language. The term “危机Crisis” in Chinese consists of two characters “危Danger” and “机Opportunity”. Everyone in Australia, indeed people around the world, faced the true danger of this pandemic. Yet some people discovered new opportunities in this crisis and managed to grow their faith communities through the changing circumstances.

The Melbourne Chinese Christian Zion Church reported that the congregation experienced its fastest growth during the pandemic period.

It took the opportunity of having some highly skilled young people and adapted quickly to the new situation. They moved their services online, so worship services never stopped. Ministers Rev Zhu and Rev Dai led the pastoral care team and formed community support groups. The congregation also used people-to-people connections, sourced masks from China and donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to UnitingCare aged care facilities and local hospitals. Furthermore, they established a social service program and distributed the resources free of charge to people in the surrounding community.

At the CNC meeting, the Chinese leaders asked President Suli to send our deep regards to UnitingCare for assisting them with the distribution of masks to many social service programs in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Tasmania, especially the facilities serving Aboriginal peoples in Western Australia and Darwin.

We also want to thank UnitingWorld for sending the first shipment of N95 masks to the China Christian Council. These surgical-grade masks came from Wesley Hospital in Brisbane, and they were distributed to the frontline hospitals in Hebei Province.

Is there a place for evangelism within the UCA?

Chinese Christians are a social and religious minority here in Australia. Many of us are first-generation Christians. Hence, we have experienced the transformation of lives within our lifetime. Sharing the Good News is both our natural desire and Christ’s persistent calling.

Growing the next generation of disciples is a priority for all of our faith communities. Is there a place for evangelism in the UCA?

Some ministers shared their struggle to live out the Gospel calling, making disciples of all nations. Some Uniting Church ministers view social justice and evangelism as opposing traditions. It was reported that some Anglo congregations would declare that 'We don’t do evangelism here.'

According to the Basis of Union, we are called to serve the world for which Christ has died. At the heart of social justice, there is a deep theological question about whether Christ can be witnessed. Social justice and evangelism should be viewed as mutually informing each other, rather than in opposition to one another, because they are rooted in, and bear witness to, God’s unending love.

Forming Next Generation of Disciples

The CNC representatives were inspired by the experience of MCC Zion Church. Ten years ago, when the faith community was established, it had only a handful of people. Now it is a home to more than 100 adults. They shared with us four lessons.

• Small Groups

Community is key. Each week, people across metropolitan Melbourne came together as a faith community. To maintain a sense of community, they have five small groups located in different areas and one of which is youth fellowship. The group leaders gather together each month for training, where Rev Zhu takes them through weekly Bible study materials. They use the 'Train the Trainer' model to grow the capabilities of these group leaders.

• Vision for Youth and Children’s Ministry

Children are our future. This program is designed to care for and support young people, including Youth Fellowship and Sunday School. Now the congregation has 20-30 young people and operates three Sunday School classes for around 30 children.

• A community of prayer

Prayer is at the heart of the Christian life. Each month, the whole congregation gathers for a prayer service. The leadership team also encourages members of the congregation to form 'prayer partners' for ongoing mutual support. The Congregation has just completed a program called '40 Days of Morning Prayers' to cover significant pastoral concerns in the church, family and community.

• Mission of the Good News

The Congregation conducts evangelical services during the major festivals, such as the Moon Festival. Families invite their friends and neighbours to join them for meal and fellowship at the church. Each week, newcomers are welcomed during the worship service. Each year, the congregation conducts a baptism service at the beach. Christian education also includes the 8 week Seekers’ program to nurture faith before baptism.

Partnership is at the heart of our experience

The emerging theme during our gathering was partnership. Representatives of the CNC shared their ministries building life-giving relationship across Chinese communities.

Rev Tennyson Chan from Sydney sent his greeting to the CNC and shared that he had just been called as the Minister to develop a partnership ministry between the Chinese and the Anglo community at Carlingford Uniting Church. Rev Jonathan Chen from Wesley Mission Sydney also sent his greetings. His Chinese community has been in partnership with Wesley Mission for a long time, even conducting mission exchange trips with the Christian Council in Jiangsu Province, China. Nedlands Uniting Church in Perth developed a campus mission at the University of Western Australia and gathered nearly 200 Chinese-speaking people within the Anglo Congregation.

In Melbourne, the Gospel Hall in the city and the Gospel Hall in Camberwell recently formed a partnership under the guidance of the Presbytery. Camberwell Uniting Church is in partnership with the MCC Zion Church.

Partnership is not just a vision for our future, but a reality in all of our shared experience.

Our diversity through history

Throughout the Australian history, there are four waves of immigration that have brought the Chinese to this land.

• The Gold Rush

The Chinese were among the first arrivals in northern Australia through the ancient trade routes and followed by large number of arrivals in Victoria and South Australia during the Gold Rush (1852-1868). Chinese people have always been part of Australia history. The Gospel Hall in the city of Melbourne is the one of the oldest churches in Victoria, celebrating 153 years of continuing ministry in Chinatown.

• The Colombo Plan

The second wave of the Chinese migrants were the people from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong is a daughter of Chinese migrants of that period. Many Chinese people were educated between 1950-1983 as part of the Colombo Plan to develop human resources in the south and southeast regions. Some of them stayed in Australia or returned to Australia as migrants. The Chinese community at Wesley Church Melbourne was formed during this period.

• The Chinese Students Movement

The biggest wave of migration from mainland China took place after 1989. More than 40,000 Chinese students were granted permanent residency and later their family members reunited with them in Australia. Wesley Mission Chinese Community, the Chinese language services at Eastwood Uniting, Carlingford Uniting Church in Sydney and Nedlands Uniting Church in Perth were all established during this period.

• The Education Export Program

Australia has one of the most successful education systems in the world. Each year, 150,000 Chinese people study at Australian universities. In the past 10 years, the Government also created various “business” and “special skills” categories to grow economic connections with Australia’s biggest trading partner. MCC Zion Church was born in this period.

There is also an influx of Christians from China, because the Church in China today is the largest member church within the World Council of Churches, representing 40 million Protestants. The Uniting Church in Australia has a strategic partnership with the China Christian Council. The 14^th Assembly passed the Resolution in 2015, to recognise the fruitful exchanges and trainings in theological education and social service, and encourage UnitingWorld and UnitingCare to continue the relationship and share their learnings with the wider Uniting Church.

Unity in Partnership

According to Australian census, Chinese is the second most spoken language in Australia, after English. Yet we only have a handful of Chinese Congregations within UCA.

Within the CNC, we have a diverse group of peoples, including the Taiwanese community in Brisbane. The CNC is an inclusive community for Chinese-speaking people from all round the world, regardless of our diverse historical and geographic heritages, ethnic origins, and socio-political backgrounds.

To maintain our many and diverse relationships, we live by an ancient value, "求同存异 the Sages work on their commonality yet maintain their differences." This Confucian value is also connected with Christian teaching, “Making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3).

We, therefore, reject any attempts that explore our difference and divide us. Not stopping the small streams is the reason why the river will be enlarged to fulfil its destiny – uniting with the ocean.

The theme of the President’s sermon added a new meaning to the CNC’s growing future. It calls all members of the Chinese congregations and our faith communities to form partnership with Christ – being woven together by the love of Christ.

This is a bigger vision than the traditional mindset of cultural sameness. It also frees us from the western category of either/or. In fact, our partnership is about both/and.

Theologically, partnership exists in the heart of the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit form mutually life-giving relationships. The Three cannot be the same, otherwise the plurality of the Three would collapse into a divine singularity.

All Christian Creeds confess the faith that we believe in the God of Three-in-One. Each Person of the Trinity maintains its ontological identity by giving life to, and receiving life from, one another. This unity can only be understood as God’s Love – longing for one another – in its wholeness.

Within the Trinity, unity and diversity can be both affirmed, or together rejected.

We are threads of Christ’s love

In partnership, we are transformed into the threads of Christ’s love - with the invitation by our President - to actively enlarge this weaving of the multicultural Uniting Church.

We can start this weaving from the Chinese communities, and then move beyond our culturally defined boundaries. In this way, we live out the vision of the Basis of Union, “the Church is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (Basis of Union, 3).

On Sunday, President Suli preached her sermon at the joint worship service between Camberwell Uniting Church and MCC Zion Church. In her sermon, she said: “The problem we are facing now is not structural, but spiritual”. It requires the Church to return to the very purpose of the Gospel calling – to see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' (Luke 21:27). She then preached: "No matter how broken the world is, we should look to Christ and weave ourselves together with his love."

Acting Chairperson of the CNC Rev Zhu wrote on behalf of the CNC to thank the President. "Although it was only two days of your stay, I feel your humbleness, kindness, wisdom, and confidence. You made this last weekend pleasant and fulfilling. I will pray for you often and believe with my heart that your team under your leadership will go above and beyond, and the Uniting Church will surely usher in a new reform, renewal, and be fruitful."