May 17, 2010 issue
Chinese pastor discovers a spiritual homecoming
By Jeanette Hanson Mennonite Mission NetworkPage:
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VANCOUVER, B.C.— Jonathan Yin, recently ordained for ministry in Beijing, calls his encounter with Anabaptist theology a “homecoming of faith.”
Pastor Jonathan Yin gives the benediction after his ordination service. — Photo by MMN
More than a decade ago, a fellow Chinese pastor told him to “check out these Mennonites; I think you could get excited about what they are teaching,” Yin recalls.
He connected with Canadian Mennonite workers and went on to study at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind.
Today he refers to himself as an Anabaptist Mennonite pastor, though none of the churches he works with have “Mennonite” written on their doors.
He works in Beijing with Mennonite Partners in China, a partner ministry of Mennonite Mission Network.
He believes many other Chinese can be drawn, as he was, to “an Anabaptist vision of the church that really fits with Jesus’ teaching.”
Many Chinese think Christianity is a hypocritical religion, Yin said, because Jesus’ followers ignore Jesus’ teachings.
Also, in China, Christianity and Western imperialism are closely linked. In the 1800s, when Western gunboats forcibly opened Chinese ports to accept trade, missionaries at times rode in on the gunboats.
Anabaptist rejection of gunboat power presents a different view of Christian faith.
Yin says Chinese are drawn to a faith that emphasizes ethics.
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