From the President

All For the Gospel

Grant Chen

“I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Co 9:23)

This is the conviction that we at the Blessings Foundation have inherited from Paul, the great apostle of the 1 st Century.

The mission of the Blessings Foundation is to sow the seed of the gospel on the soil of Chinese culture, in order to prepare the souls of Chinese people for salvation. We pursue this goal with four major strategies:

1. Nurturing Talents : Between 1996 and 2005, we have supported a total of twenty seminarians who have received clear callings from God to pursue cultural evangelism in the Kingdom of God. Some of them have now graduated from seminary and dedicated themselves to broadcasting, literature, audio-visual production, the publication industry, and the academia, bearing many delightful fruits.

2. Academic Influence : In recent years, the academic community in China has become more open-minded towards Christian studies. In view of this unprecedented opportunity, we have endeavoured to introduce the Biblical Worldview to the academia by means of lectures, academic conferences, and the publication of scholarly journals. We hope that these efforts will constitute a profound influence on Chinese culture.

3. Mass Media : We have dedicated significant efforts to distributing the Blessings Journal , maintaining our website, as well as publishing books and multi-media products. With various approaches to discussing the relationship between faith and culture, we aim at establishing an understanding of the Biblical Worldview within contemporary society, while proceeding to study and critique contemporary culture.

4. Preaching and Training : Our ministry is regularly active in preaching to Chinese people in North America. While in China, we are also involved in discipleship trainings.

In a word, we hope to dedicate all our resources and efforts to the exaltation of the cross of Jesus, preaching His Gospel to the multitudes and equipping members of His Church for the spiritual war, to await the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Nurturing the Talents

Scholarship Recipients

The Seminarian Scholarship of the Blessings Foundation is given out to fulltime M.Div., M.A., Ph.D., and Th.D. students studying at theological seminaries in North America. To qualify for the scholarship, the applicant must possess previous training and achievement in the areas of mass media or cultural communication, and share the vision of the Blessings Foundation, with the determination to be committed to relevant ministries after graduation.

Scholarship Recipients: Fall 2005

In fall 2005, two seminarians have been granted the scholarship—Alex Tseng who studies at Regent College in Canada, and Minju Li who studies at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.

Annual Retreat of the Blessings Family

Every year we organize a retreat for the Blessings Family, which includes our seminarians, graduates, trustees, and fellow workers, for mutual encouragement as well as sharing our thoughts. This year the retreat was held in the home of our trustee Leon Hsiao in Diamond Bar, CA, on July 14-17. About thirty people were present at the retreat, in which they were divided into four groups under the headings of academic exchange, arts & literature, audio-visual broadcasting, and theology & apologetics, leading discussion sessions on these topics during the retreat, as well as praying with their group members every night. In addition, a few of our trustees lectured on the following topics: “My View on Cultural Mission”, “Contemporary Thought and Servant of the Age”, and “Walking with God”.

Academic Influence

Our Fellow Workers

Rev. Grant Chen was in China last year from late October to early November to lecture at Peking University. He also lectured to students from the graduate program “The History of Christian Theological Though” at the Renmin University of China. A temporary panel was held in the Christian Studies Laboratory at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), after which Pastor Chen was invited to become a guest professor at the CASS. Pastor Chen also visited the Beijing Normal University and Fudan University in Shanghai. In April and May 2005, Pastor Chen went again to the CASS, the Beijing Normal University, and Peking University. On his journey he also visited seminary graduates of the Blessings Foundation who had returned to China from the United States.

Seminary Graduates of the Blessings Family

1. Zhongxin Wang, Ph.D.

Dr. Wang is the president of the Chinese Christian Scholars Association in North America (CCSANA). Between Dec. 26, 2004 and Jan. 12, 2005, he went to China with Dr. Wesley J. Wildman, Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics at Boston University, and Dr. Paul K. Chien, Professor of Biology at the University of San Francisco, to promote public attention and discussion on the topic of “Science and Faith” in the academia. They held a total of ten lectures and panels in eight different universities, inducing enthusiastic responses. In May and June, 2005, Dr. Wang went on an academic missionary trip to China with Dr. John H. Berthrong, Associate Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston University, visiting such institutions as Nankai University, XiangFan University, HuaZhong Normal University, the CASS, the Renmin University of China, Shandong University, Qingdao University, etc.

This year the CCSANA held its 10 th International Academic Conference from June 17-21 in San Jose. The topic this year is “Christianity and China: Globalization and Locality”. About sixty people attended the conference. After the conference, Dr. Wang took eight faculty members of several prestigious Chinese universities on a tour in six American cities to show them the profound influence of Christianity on the United States, in order for them to develop further understandings of the Christian faith.

2. Wenyu Xie, Ph.D.

Mar. 11-25, 2005, Dr. Xie went on a lecture tour in Indonesia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. He also lectured at Zhe Jiang University in China.

3. Rev. Ling Li

Rev. Li went to Shanghai in April to attend an academic conference entitled “Religion in the e-Age”, during which he received a letter of appointment from the Development Research Center of the State Council of the People's Republic of China to be an associate researcher at the Institute of Development for Indigenous Peoples for three years.

Mass Media

A. Magazine: The Blessings

A quarterly publication with columns headed by the titles “Contemporary Culture”, “Traditional Culture”, “Science and Faith”, “Communication Center”, “Comparative Religion”, “Typical of the Old Days”, “Contemporary Issues”, etc.

B. Academic Journal: Christianity and China , Vol. 2, 2004

Edited by Zhongxin Wang. Published by the Blessings Foundation

This volume includes special columns on the topics of “Christianity and Chinese Culture”, “Religious Dialogues”, “History of Christianity in China”, “Christian Art”, “Religion and Science”, etc., aimed at helping the reader to establish a deeper understanding of Christianity and Chinese culture. Available in English are the abstracts of each article in this volume.

C. Website: www.bf21.org

D. Books by our President

1. The Blessings Symposium—The Book of Acts

2. The Blessings Symposium—The Epistle to the Romans

3. Ontological Study of the Universe

This third book is a Chinese translation of Rev. Chen's Ph.D. dissertation, “The Concept of Ultimate Reality in Tu Wei-Ming and Chen Chung-Ying”. For those who are concerned with the question of communication and integration between Chinese culture and Christian faith, this book will be a helpful read.

Preaching and Training

Seminarians and seminary graduates

Rev. Grant Chen

Rev. Ling Li

Announcements

1. The 2005 Blessings Foundation Promotion DVD, about 11 minutes in length, is now available in English. This DVD includes testimonies from our trustees and seminarians, describing the ministry and vision of the Blessings Foundation. Please request a copy and share it with your friends.

2. Dr. Zhongxin Wang's trip to China

3. Rev. Ling Li