Spiritual Formation in the House Church Seminary
by Rebecca Chen
Theological education is not only the transmission of knowledge and the acquisition of skills, but also the formation of people and the transformation of life. In this paper, a female leader discusses the challenges facing house church seminaries and offers suggestions for how seminaries can better prepare leaders in any context.
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Moreover, as an organization born out of Chinese grassroots society, the house church has a strong flavor of clan patriarchy. The church’s greatest demands on the younger generation are humility and obedience. While these qualities are important and legitimate in their own right, a narrow understanding of them often causes problems. For example, traditional Chinese “humility” discourages people from seeking to be leaders, or in spiritual terms, “all are servants of God.” Behind this apparent humility there is often spiritual pride and avoidance of responsibility. Not talking about leadership and authority on paper does not mean that there is no authority, but it exists in an invisible way that often requires long periods of guessing in the dark. This may be the “unspoken rule” of Chinese grassroots society, but under the renewal of the gospel, the church should recognize the need for change and have the courage to make a breakthrough. As mentioned earlier, the preacher shepherds and teaches the church, and is indeed the leader of the flock. Recognizing this fact, we must recognize the need for seminary students to consciously develop their leadership skills as future church leaders.
On the other hand, the different stages of church development in China and the West have created a tension between the Western model of seminary and the Chinese model of church to some extent. In Western countries, both churches and seminaries have developed to a relatively mature stage…
The reality of the Chinese house churches is quite different. Most of the house churches in China have developed in the decades following the economic reforms of the 1970s; they do not have a long history and are in many ways still relatively young. Most church leaders have not received formal theological training. Although they have rich spiritual experience, they do not have a deep understanding of theological education, which makes it difficult to carry out many of the expected tasks in the church according to the Western seminary model, such as pastoral care and practical training for students. Some seminary students have not been equipped before entering the seminary, and their ministry experience and theological foundation are weak, so it is not easy for them to adjust to seminary at first; and when they enter the church after graduation, what they bring to the church may be too new and difficult for the church to accept. All of these factors can create a gap between the seminary and the church, and thus cause difficulties in cooperation between them.
In conclusion, for house church seminaries, the tradition of pietism in the Chinese house churches is a spiritual resource, but it can also create challenges and tensions that are detrimental to the development of the church when combined with Chinese culture. Since most of the churches are still in a relatively early stage of development, and the seminaries are still finding their own models, the interaction between them needs to be fine-tuned. These are unique contextual factors that need to be considered in the current theological education of the house churches.
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Rebecca Chen was born in China. She and her family became Christians when she was a teenager. She received seminary training in the United States with an MDiv degree. Now she serves in theological education for the house church in China.
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Category: Ministry Leader
Date created: 2022
Key terms: theological education, leadership development, spiritual formation
This article was written for a seminary in China. This English edition and introduction are copyright © 2023 by the Center for House Church Theology. All rights reserved.
Cover design and illustration by PC Ng.
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