The Encounter Of Adherents And Non-adherents: The Spreading Of Christianity In Rural Areas

Ever since Morrison started the history of spreading Christianity in China after he arrived in Guangzhou in 1807, Christianity has been widely spread in Chinese region. Especially, with the national policy of religion carried out, Christianity recovered in Chinese rural areas, challenging traditional local beliefs. The spreading of Christianity in rural areas is the process of localizing and naturalizing it as well. Using the encounter of adherents and non-adherents as the cutting point, the paper studies the spreading of Christianity in rural areas with in-depth interview and non-participant observation, while aiming to discover how Christians convince non-adherents with various naturalizing spreading techniques.The paper uses the spreading of Christianity at D Town as an example and the encounter of adherents and non-adherents as the cutting point. The adherents refer to people who believe in Christianity and are willing to accept and to act according to the doctrines of Christianity, while the non-adherents refer to who do not believe in Christianity, including who have no religious belief and who believe in other religions. For different reasons, such as illness, spiritual emptiness, and family environment, non-adherents become adherents. Facing adherents' convincing communication, based on whether the religion can satisfy people's requirement of reasonable choice, non-adherents show the identifying or dis-identifying attitude and continue or change their beliefs.To further reinforce adherents' belief of Christianity, and to attract more non-adherents, the Christians localize the spreading with the full use of rural resources. First, they use the interpersonal network of acquaintance society, including relatives based on blood relationship and neighbors based on geopolitical one to spread Christianity transversely. Second, they naturalize the symbolic rituals, which is to naturalize religious activities and rituals, and to adapt or to reuse the traditional ones. Third, they life-stylize the significance system of Christianity, which is to embed Christian ethics into daily life, and to realize Christian groups' sense of belonging with the supporting system in daily life. The ending part summarizes and discusses the spreading of Christianity in rural areas. It is suggested that using naturalizing spreading techniques of Christianity reconstructs traditional interpersonal relationship in rural areas essentially. It embodies the spreading characteristics of rituals, and finally integrates the sacred and the secular. It remains to be discussed where the naturalizing spreading road of Christianity leads, facing the specific environment of rural society.