I already have this thought in mind since a few days ago after looking at a temple near my house...
A Christian temple!!!
In my opinion, Chinese people visit temples for many, many reasons. But when they hear of going to a church, their reaction will be... Waahhhaaat? Chuuuurrrch? Dowan lar!... or something like that. They are totally freaked out about the idea of going to a church, despite they know very well that it means no harm.
The idea of the temple is like this:
A typical temple without idols. Joss sticks are still burned but 3 each time to resemble the burning of incense to the Trinity. They are burned while the one holding them will be praying, bringing their petitions to God. They can face anywhere while praying since God is omnipresent.
The name of the temple should be a Christian term in Chinese and ends with the word 庙, e.g 恩典庙 (Grace Temple).
Every visitors should be welcomed. A service can be done in a way that use less jargon, with a person preaching but more in a Chinese socio-economy context. Community service like tuition classes can be done as well.
Until a certain point of time, when the people are convinced that this 'new religion' can bring them eternal life, this temple can be converted into a church.
This idea is actually influenced a little by what i've learned in BK classes, that is, Acts 17:16-34. In Athens, Paul saw idols everywhere. Probably the number of idols was even more than the population in Athens! He found an altar with words inscripted: To an Unknown God. So he preached about the God who was unknown to them, also affirming them for being religious. Praise God, Paul was so smart in his words. See verse 22-23.
The next little influence came from Acts 14:8-20. Lystra is a wolf-land, which means it's almost barren, also means that the people are not rich, probably facing poverty and famine often. Read especially verse 17. That is why when a preacher preaches, he or she has to choose a topic that touches the people's hearts, not forgetting to seek wisdom from God.
This idea might sound childish, but if we can win another for Christ, by all means, why not?
*this is not constricted to Chinese only, so Christians of other races may do this as well but in their respective contexts*
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2 comments:
very radical!
hmm, it sounds like an interesting idea.
one problem would be syncretism. it would be very easy for a buddhist/taoist to walk in and burn incense and walk out again without encountering the True God. they may be confused, why are we saying our God is different when all the outward signs are the same.
or to look at it another way, a buddhist/taoist may be angry that we christians "steal" their expressions of worship. they may accuse us of purposely trying to trick their "sheep" into worshipping at our temple instead of theirs.
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