THE POWER TO SAVE
A history of the gospel in China
By Bob Davey. EP Books. 354 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 0 852 347 430
‘God must love the Chinese, he has made so many of them’ is an old saying that contains some truth now that so many Chinese have been saved to spend an eternity with God.
Davey’s book is a great overview of the history of the Christian message going to China time and again. He doesn’t mention the possibility of the Apostle Thomas taking the gospel there, but does include the Great Church of the East (Nestorians) and the early Catholic missions.
Famous missionary stories
However, his main focus is on those who have taken the evangelical message there and the results. He includes the famous missionary stories of Morrison, Gutzlaff, Hudson Taylor and others well known in the West, but the most exciting part is the final section where he recounts the suffering and exploits of the Chinese leaders of the churches today. The long story is well told in a balanced way to encourage not only praise to God for what he has done, but also a challenge to our more comfortable Christian lives.
There are useful appendices that help the readers find their way through Chinese history and geography. These include the 1998 Confession of Faith by the leaders of the major unregistered (house) churches. This shows a church that is clear on the central details of the gospel, premillennial and believing in the work of the Holy Spirit in miraculous activity.
Revivals
Davey recounts several of the revivals that have taken place in China where there was true conviction of sin and evident repentance and spiritual life. This book will not make you pray for the removal of political barriers to allow the West to have a greater role in China, but rather to ask that the Chinese church might be free to contribute more to the evangelism of the rest of the world.
This is a popular book which all could read with profit. Those wanting a more academic approach might turn to the recently published A New History of Christianity in China by Daniel H. Bays of Calvin College. Davey makes few obvious mistakes, but he gets a little confused (p.29) about the date of Arnobius, which should be c. 303 AD, and he neglects 200 years of Dutch missionary work when he remarks that in 1800 there had been no gospel work east of India (p.37).
Ray Porter,
member of OMF International and Director of World Mission Studies at Oak Hill Theological College, London
