Peter Anderson, ChinaSource Quarterly, Summer 2022. This issue of ChinaSource Quarterly focuses on the Chinese diaspora in New Zealand and the Pacific. With a total population of just over five million and being literally at the “ends of the earth,” one may ask, why this focus on New Zealand? New Zealand may be a small nation, but it packs a punch nevertheless—and not just on the rugby field or in terms of its agricultural fruitfulness or its extreme natural beauty. New Zealand is increasingly a multicultural society with immigrants from all over the globe, the largest numbers being from Asia. Asians (about half of whom are Chinese) now make up 15.3% of the population. Chinese (from places such as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China) are playing an increasingly important role in both society and in the church.
Immigrants (including Chinese) are bringing fresh life to many churches. Chinese Christians are not only found in Chinese churches, of course. Many English-speaking, so-called Kiwi churches have significant numbers of Chinese congregants. In some Kiwi churches, Chinese play leading roles on deacons’ or elders’ boards and quite a few are serving in pastoral ministry or in parachurch organizations. There is, at the same time, a growing awareness of the importance of “multicultural church” where people from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds worship and serve together. There are helpful lessons for all as we consider what God is doing in and through the Chinese in New Zealand and in the island nations of the Pacific.
Relational Realism for Christian Ministry 關係論與基督教事工 