Trends Among the Chinese-Filipino Churches in the Third Millennium[i]

Joseph Shao, Ph.D.

God has blessed the Chinese-Filipino churches through generations of faithful believers and worshippers, even as different spiritual waves surged in and out. In the third millennium, the world has witnessed changing trends in fashion, food and faith. Likewise, there are various changes noted in the churches. We need to prepare and face the reality of changes by taking a serious look at the changing reality within the Chinese-Filipino Churches.

Multi-Cultural Setting

In the past millennium, the Chinese churches in the Philippines were quite a homogenous group. Most people in the Chinese community could read, write and/or speak the Chinese language.  The believers then, had either migrated from China, or their ancestors were from China. Hence, the setting in any given church in the Philippines was mono-cultural.

                The “Chineseness” of Chinese-Filipinos may explain one’s ancestry, that is, parents coming from China. It may also depict one’s ethnicity, that is, someone may have some, if not all “Chinese” blood flowing through his body. It may also express one’s cultural way of thinking and living as being “Chinese.”

                At the turn of the millennium, many factors are influencing and changing the Chinese-Filipino churches into a multi-cultural setting. With the passing of the Cold War that used to divide the world into the East and the West, comes the reality of globalization.[ii] The world is now flat.[iii] On the local scene, comparing with our neighboring countries like Malaysia, many believers are now integrated, if not, assimilated into the Filipino society. We are called tsinoy, from a combination of tsino for Chinese and pinoy for Filipino. Being naturalized citizens or natural born Filipinos, many Chinese are now Chinese-Filipinos.

Yet, most, if not all, churches still use Chinese during the worship service. Within the last decade, however, we can see transformation in many Chinese-Filipino churches, indicating the multi-cultural setting and the changing face of the Christians. Many, if not all churches, have adjusted from using Chinese as the sole medium of language, to either bi-lingual translation or simply English as the main language. There are churches in Metro-Manila, such as Grace Gospel Church and United Evangelical Church of Greenhills, that employ English as the sole medium of language in their prime time worship service. Many churches in Metro-Manila such as St. Stephen’s Parish Church, United Evangelical Church of the Phil, United Evangelical Church of Pasay, Jubilee Evangelical Church, Quezon City Evangelical Church, Christian Bible Church of the Philippines, and Grace Christian Church have added a separate English worship service that focus on the needs of the younger congregation. Within the past few years, we have also observed that some churches in Metro-Manila are using Mandarin as the medium of preaching in a separate worship service.

Pastoring in the Chinese-Filipino churches has now become very challenging with the rise of this multi-cultural setting. We need to focus on the cultural needs of our congregations. We are more Western than we would like to admit, and we are more Chinese than we would like to admit too.[iv] The tsinoy worldview is very perplexed, living underneath enigmatic changing subcultures. Many are either living as “third culture persons,” or under post-modern lifestyles rather than the traditional lifestyle of their parents.[v] To complicate things, the broad spectrum is constantly on the move, sometimes moving toward the western way of thinking, other times returning to Chinese way of life.

Since the struggles of the tsinoy family are more intense than the typical Filipino family, language could be part of the solution of identity issues. Within the last few years, we can see the changing face of many churches in Metro-Manila, using English and even a mixture of Chinese-Tagalog-English (Chi-Taglish) for the younger generation. With the influx of new immigrants, the Chinese-Filipino has revived the use of Mandarin to meet the needs of Mandarin-speaking immigrants and visitors. As the world gets more and more interconnected, many younger generations in various Chinese churches throughout the world are finding interest in using Mandarin as the common language. As China becomes a world power to reckon with, the Chinese-Filipino churches should prepare themselves to reckon with the Mandarin-speaking people groups.

Migratory People

In the previous millennium, people tended to stay put in one community. Children tended to worship at the same church with their parents and even their grandparents. But in the third millennium, we are moving from the “walking” to the “riding” mode. Previously, believers would walk to church since they live near or around the church, but now they live quite “far” and they need vehicles to ride to church. To further complicate the matter, Christians are constantly moving around, even migrating to different places. Some Christians study in metropolis such as Manila, Cebu, or Davao City, and eventually settle in the city. Others migrate to Asian countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, and to Western nations such as Australia, Canada, and USA. Traveling and transferring their residences start to influence membership in their respective churches.

People in the third millennium tend to focus on their own needs and choices. With so many choices available, egocentricity may have already replaced the old traditional virtue of sacrificing for the common good. Busyness, as well as distance, and even traffic condition are common excuses for transferring to different churches. Gone are the days when a church can easily ask members to come merely by announcing a specific weekday or weekend gathering. There are simply too many choices for them.

 Pastoring in the third millennium needs patience and creativity. The Chinese-Filipino churches in the third millennium need to provide for the specific needs of the believers. The church should “go” to the place of the Christians as well as the non-Christians, fulfilling the great commission of going to the world. With the advent of the Web and the popular use of sending SMS through cell phones, the world is smaller than we think. As call centers flourish in Philippines and a new bred of the sleepless generation arises, caring and pasturing will be more challenging as we make use of the multi-media as a tool to connect with people.

Multi-tasking Church

The Chinese-Filipino churches are blessed to have many members with amazingly diverse talents and distinct interests. Many churches today, however, can do much greater mission work for God with the resources He has given.

Pastoring in the third millennium needs some changes in our existing paradigms. Passivity on the part of the Christians - sitting and listening to sermons - was known to be the strategy of the past millennium. To stir up the interests of the members, participatory approach should now be part of the strategy to win back the hearts of the Christians. Many short-term mission works that allow Christians to participate can motivate them to become caring people for God’s work. With instant access of information, multi-media exposures, the convenience of internet downloads and being connected to the religious world through broadband, many Christians can be trained without even leaving their own homes.

           Previously, church members tended to be mere followers. With systematic equipping of God’s word and empowering with leadership skills, many can now be the movers of mighty endeavors for the Chinese-Filipino churches. The Chinese-Filipino churches have come of age to do greater tasks for God’s kingdom with its multi-tasking roles.

May God’s will be done in and through the Chinese-Filipino churches for this globalized generation and more to come!