Have you ever noticed that most of the Bible consists of narratives, that is, stories about God’s dealing with the humans he has made?
Not only does this sacred history reveal the unfolding of God’s plan of salvation, but it also presents us with examples of people who either walked with God or walked away from him. “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
God has made us to love stories. The Chinese, in particular, delight in reading, hearing, and seeing (on television and in movies) tales of the heroes and villains of their long and colorful history. Even today, many, continuing the tradition of Chinese opera, television dramas and movies revolve around the exploits of these well-known characters. Some of the accounts are embellished, of course.
Why the Biographical Dictionary?
Sadly, they do not know the true stories of the Bible, and even Christians are mostly ignorant of their own “sacred history.” They haven’t had the opportunity to learn about Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries who labored and often suffered to bring the saving knowledge of Christ to their forebears.
Instead, they have been told that the missionaries were willing agents of foreign imperialism and that Chinese Christians had betrayed their culture.
The online Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity – BDCC, for short – seeks to correct these distortions of the truth, thus removing one obstacle to faith for non-believers.
These brief biographies of Chinese Christians and Western missionaries serve other purposes, as well:
Stories provide examples of godly men and women who sought to follow Christ and bear witness to him. While we do not try to hide their faults, we do record their good deeds and portray their stellar character, thus encouraging believers to demonstrate the love and truth of Jesus in this generation.
The Chinese church faces a chronic shortage of qualified leaders. Most of the people described in the BDCC were outstanding leaders in their day, and they furnish patterns for evangelists, teachers, pastors, elders, professionals, and their wives today.
As we have said before, a variety of factors make it imperative for us to find low-cost and effective ways of presenting the truth to Chinese. The BDCC does just that.
In the past dozen years or so, the English and Chinese pages of the BDCC have received more than one million unique visits.
A colorful cast
So, what will you find when you go to www.bdcconline.net?
There are famous missionaries, like J. Hudson Taylor and his first wife Maria, Jonathan Goforth, L. Nelson Bell, and Lottie Moon, of course.
We also include stories of people who were prominent in their day, but are almost unknown today, like R.H. Graves, the great Baptist missionary, the brilliant translator Samuel Schereshewsky, and early pioneers of the China Inland Mission, such as John W. Stevenson, James Meadows, and William Parker.
Hudson Taylor’s second wife, Jennie Faulding, and their dearly beloved friend Emily Blatchley were great Christians, also. We bring them out of the mists of history for your delight.
In addition little-known figures like Watchman Nee, Wang Mingdao, and John Sung (Song), Ding Limei, Lit-sen Chang (Zhang Lisheng) and others even less famous in their time receive the acknowledgment that is their due.
When we think it is necessary, we very reluctantly mention the faults and failings of even the heroes of the faith in China, always keenly aware that we, too, are far from perfect.
Sometimes, we feel that we must correct overly favorable evaluations of great missionaries such as Timothy Richard and Matteo Ricci, without minimizing their real achievements.
How can you help?
First of all, please pray for me. As editor of the English page, I have been, so far, the principal writer. With my other responsibilities, it takes me about a month to compose a major article. Dr. Yading Li, editor of the Chinese page, also needs your prayers. In addition to serving as a pastor of a Chinese church, he cares for his wife, Dr. Peng, who has Parkinson’s Disease.
We need many, many more contributors. Recently, several people have offered to send us stories, for which we are grateful. Please ask God to raise up more writers.
Pray for more readers, too. And start with yourself! You, your friends, your children, and students deserve to benefit from the riches of the BDCC. Visit the site today!