Harrison - Biola in China

loyalty to Christianity and the missionaries was evident. No greater assessment about the overall effort could be found than that addressed by Chinese Christians to the Biola Board in the early 1950s .

. . . We need not re-examine our faith, for our fundamental faith in Christ is not to be shaken . . . It is also needless for us to relate here what the Christian move– ment in China has accomplished; we need not stress at the present juncture what share our Christian friends abroad have contributed to that achievement ... There does exist some deep-rooted feeling on the part of the Communists that the Chinese Church has been intimately related to imp~r~alism and capital– ism . . . We do realize and so wish to assert that missionary work in China never had any direct relationship with governmental policies; mission funds have always been contributed by the rank and file of common .ordinary Christians and church members; missionaries have been sent here for no other reason than to preach the Christian gospel of love, and to serve the needs of the Chinese people . . . We are not unmindful of the challenges and difficulties laying ahead in a more fundamental way . . Just how the Christian gospel can be witnessed to in a clime that is by virtue of its ideology, fundamentally materialistic and atheistic, presents a challenge stronger than ever before . . . the burden falls on us as Christians to demonstrate the efficiency and sufficiency of the Gospel as exemplified in the life of Christ • . . The Christian movement will have its due place in the future Chinese society and will have a genuine contribution to make. Its future will not be a bed of roses ... the Chinese Church will not emerge through the change uneffected. It will suffer a purge, and many of the withered branches will be amputated. But, we believe it will emerge stronger and purer in quality, a more fitting witness to the gospel of Christ. 1 11

Unsigned.

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