Lisu Church

Lisu Church at Fugong

Lisu Church is a Christian church of an ethnic minority of southern China, Myanmar, Thailand and a part of India. The Chinese government's State Administration for Religious Affairs has proposed considering Christianity the official religion of the Lisu.[1]

History

Christian missionaries had been working in the Lisu area since the early 20th century. The first to work among the Lisu, in the Yunnan province in China, was James O. Fraser with the China Inland Mission, who also developed the written Lisu language and the Fraser Alphabet, which today is officially adopted by the Chinese government.[2][3] Reading and writing in Lisu has been mainly developed by the church and, in some villages, the membership of the Christian church comprises far more than half the population.[4] The Lisu Church has both the Holy Bible and a Christian hymn book in its own language. As an originally orally-based culture, Lisu hymn singing has become a centerpiece in Lisu Christian worship and practice.[5][6]

The Chinese Lisu Church has training centers, training evangelists, in Fugong and Lushui. Lisu pastors are trained at the Theological University of Kunming. There is a great shortage of pastors in the Lisu churches, according to representants of the church in the area. The church is part of the official Protestant Church of China, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Sunday service in church is mainly in Lisu.

Of the 18,000 Lisu who lived in Fugong in 1950 - 3,400 professed faith in Christ. As of 2007 there are estimated to be 80-90 percent of the 70,000 making the same profession.[7] It is estimated that there are now nearly 300,000 total Lisu Christians.[1] More than 75,000 Lisu Bibles have been legally printed in China following this explosive growth.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Covell, Ralph (Spring 2008). "To Every Tribe". Christian History & Biography (98): 27–28.
  2. ↑ Crossman, Eileen (2001). Mountain Rain: A New Biography of James O. Fraser. Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster. ISBN 978-1850784111.
  3. ↑ Simpson, Stuart. "James O. Fraser". OMF International (U.S.). Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  4. ↑ You, Bin; Wang, Aiguo; Gong, Yukuan (2005). "Christianity in a Culture of Ethnic Pluralism: Report on Christianity Among the Minorities of Yunan". Chinese Theological Review. 19: 100–124.
  5. ↑ Arrington, Aminta (2015-07-29). "Christian Hymns as Theological Mediator: The Lisu of South-west China and Their Music". Studies in World Christianity. 21 (2): 140–160. doi:10.3366/swc.2015.0115.
  6. ↑ "Singing as the Lisu's Second Language". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  7. 1 2 OMF International (November 2007). Global Chinese Ministries. Littleton, Colorado: OMF International. pp. 1–2.
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