An encapsulated, on-line mediated, contextualized leadership development curriculum for the Chinese House Church

The purpose of this dissertation is to answer the question: "What should constitute an encapsulated, online-mediated, contextualized leadership development curriculum for the Chinese House Church?" In the aftermath of and during the Cultural Revolution, Chinese Christians faced arrest, torture and even death for their faith, and the famed underground church movement held sway in China. Some forty years later Chinese "underground churches" have largely shed that name and are now referred to as "unregistered" or "house" churches. Such churches are even making headlines as they openly challenge the Government for the right to have their own buildings, ardent testimony to the strides that the Christian Church has made within China. Data from the Chinese Government shows a growing interest in China in varied religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam but by far the most dramatic growth is being experienced by Christianity. This rapid increase in membership in the Chinese House Church has led to there being a pressing need for Christian leaders who can exegete the Bible and teach the true Word of God to the rapidly burgeoning church so as to create disciples of Jesus Christ. It is the author's deep concern to work along with the Chinese Church to create an approach so as to address said deficit.;In order to accomplish this goal, an encapsulated, online-mediated, contextualized leadership development curriculum has been developed with the goal of imparting to the emergent Chinese Christian leader foundational Christian leadership beliefs, knowledge of spiritual disciplines, and standard leadership skills. This curriculum was justified through a review of the literature and by examining the biblical, theological and historical foundation for such a curriculum. Additionally, questionnaires and an interview were utilized to determine the desired competencies of the leaders that will emerge from this course of study.