A Chinese theological education team was trained in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to enhance preaching skills.
From February 13 to 16, the Chinese theological construction propaganda team hosted training sessions in Nanning City, attended by more than 140 members of the propaganda group from all over the country and staff members of CC&TSPMs, according to CCC&TSPM.
Before the meeting, Rev. Wang Conglian, chairman of the Guangxi CC&TSPM, delivered a sermon titled "Walking in the Wilderness," citing Exodus 13:18–22. He encouraged staff workers to seek God's guidance and protection and move forward with His leadership.
In the opening ceremony on February 14, Rev. Xu Xiaohong, chairman of the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), pointed out that the team was applying the theoretical results of theological construction to sermons. He encouraged members of the team to guide believers to love the country and religion and to be faithful and righteous based on the Bible. In terms of culture, he advised them to integrate excellent Chinese traditional culture to sinicize Christianity.
This afternoon, Rev. Wu Wei, president of the China Christian Council (CCC), gave a lecture on the theme "Adhere to the Principle of Developing Religion in the Chinese Context and Strive to Run Chinese Churches Well," beginning with three questions. He talked about how important it was for a church to follow the three self-principles (self-preaching, self-governing, and self-supporting) while going over the history of how Christianity has grown in modern China.
Rev. Shan Weixiang, vice president and general secretary of CCC, announced that the theme of the team's preaching in 2023 is "Life, Health, and Hope." He hoped that members of the preaching group could write more wonderful sermons based on biblical principles and practical needs.
The next day, trainees were divided into three groups to discuss "how to further promote the sinicization of Christianity and the construction of theological ideology."
In the closing ceremony, representatives of each group reported and exchanged views, followed by a summary of the meeting from Rev. Wu.
On February 15-16, Rev. Xu and Rev. Wu visited two churches in Liuzhou City and the municipal CC&TSPM. CCC&TSPM said that they did research on staff training, church rules, the effects of encouraging frugality and forbidding wastefulness in the church, and the promotion of the sinicization of Christianity.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
