I’ve said for a while that the two most critical needs for the Chinese church now are (1) theological education and (2) family ministry (marriage, parenting, etc.).Here’s one more reason I’ll say it again. The WSJ blog recently posted an article “A Chinese Father’s Most Important Job”.
Here is an excerpt of it.
When it comes to parenting, Chinese fathers say the most important role they play is that of the family chauffeur.
In a survey of 500 Chinese fathers released earlier this week by communications company JWT, respondents ranked driving their children to extracurricular activities and to school first and second, respectively, as the childcare responsibilities they most viewed as the responsibility of the male in the family. More than two-thirds of Chinese fathers surveyed said they saw these tasks as their responsibilities, not their wives’.
Fathers ranked handling doctor visits, disciplining children and helping with homework third through fifth on the list of daddy jobs.
Imagine the implications for the church?
How do pastors see their role when this is a common model for leading a family?
Paul describe one of the qualifications of an elder-pastor,
“He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (1 Timothy 3:4–5)
If you are interested, I have written on the topic of Chinese pastoral leadership and its influences, in particular typical notions about fatherhood. The article is called “Authority in a Collectivistic Church: Identifying Crucial Concerns for a Chinese Ecclesiology.”
Photo Credit: CC 2.0/wikimedia
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