Rural-to-urban migrants: Possibilities for new churches in China’s cities

Abstract

Over the last 30 years, the world has watched as China has developed into an urban nation. Early scholarship on the missiological importance of urban centers framed cities as “the new frontier.” Over time, missiological inquiry continued ranging from new strategies for urban work to developing a theology of urban missions. The continued growth of cities around the world has kept the increasingly diverse environments of the city at the fore of missiological conversations. China’s aggressive urbanization development has meant large populations of rural-to-urban migrants have flooded into the cities in this period. There lacks, however, a robust discussion about the need for more rural-to-urban migrant churches in China. In this article I explore the possibilities for migrant churches in cities. To understand China’s urban context, I begin with a brief overview of rapid urbanization development. I then discuss the growth of the Christian population in China’s cities which is due, in part, to rural-to-urban migration. Following, I discuss some barriers of belonging that many rural-to-urban migrants experience, including barriers in urban churches. I end the article by suggesting possibilities of an establishment of migrant churches in China’s urban centers.