Christianity With Chinese Characteristics: The Origins and Evolution of Adventist Mission in a Chinese Province

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in China is organized as the Chinese Union Mission and forms part of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division, which also includes the Japan Union, the Korean Union, and the Mongolian Mission Field.The Chinese Union has 1,150 churches and a membership of 380,295 members according to the Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook of 2010.The Chinese Union, in its current form, was first organized in 1949 and reorganized with the East Asian Association to form the Chinese Union Mission in 1999Mission in (2010:239):239).The Adventist mission in China is a story that is yet to be fully told.Until recently, Western or Chinese scholars have not been interested in how the church has indigenized or localized to suit Chinese needs.The purpose of this study is to trace the origins and the evolution of Adventism in China, particularly in the southern region of the country, showing how Chinese Adventists indigenized their faith to make it more suitable to the Chinese context without necessarily compromising it.It also highlights the strategy of local Adventists in carrying out their mission within the context of a totalitarian state.Perhaps this study may increase our understanding of how Christian missions can be more successful in totalitarian regimes in other parts of the world.Early Adventists had little concept of mission and were in fact antimission due to their peculiar theology of the Shut Door.George Knight traces four stages in the development of Adventist mission.The first stage, dating from 1844-1850, could be considered anti-mission.The early Adventists had recently come out of the Great Disappointment of the Millerite Movement and were still trying to understand the reason for their 1 O'Reggio and Smith: Christianity With Chinese Characteristics: The Origins and Evolut