The Importance of Hearing God in the Spiritual Formation of Chinese Christians of Immigrant Background

Abstract

Christian spiritual formation is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ. A Christlike Christian will be a convincing witness for Christ. The focus of this portfolio is to help Chinese immigrant Christians in the Mandarin congregation of Chinese Gospel Church (CGC) to be formed like Christ. Due to their cultural background, this group of Christians faces unique challenges in their spiritual formation. This portfolio is composed of three parts: the spiritual autobiography of the researcher, a model of spiritual formation for immigrant Chinese Christians and a participatory action research project focused on hearing God through lectio divina. There is one major theme running through this portfolio: hearing God, which played key roles in my spiritual formation and was viewed as a crucial factor in the model of spiritual formation designed to help immigrant Chinese Christians to overcome spiritual formation hurdles. Belonging to a small group also plays an important role in the spiritual growth of immigrant Christians. For example, small group can be a good setting for people to hear God. The research project, which was carried out in eight consecutive weeks, involved eight participants doing lectio divina on biblical texts, individually and in a small group setting. Most participants expressed their experience of hearing God by doing lectio divina, and some vowed to change their behaviour. In addition, they all expressed desire to practice lectio divina regularly, an indication that hearing God has the potential to help Chinese immigrant Christians to overcome obstacles to their spiritual development. In summary, this portfolio shows that hearing God and belonging to a small group are helpful in overcoming the hurdles to the spiritual formation of immigrant Chinese Christians, enabling them to grow more Christlike.