Sundar Singh, John Sung and Future of Asian Christianity

Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 Posted: 2:36:36AM HKT

Neither sought to build any church, organisation or kingdom of his own, but worked with whichever church or group that welcomed them. Hence the widespread impact of their respective ministries. The examples of John Sung and Sundar Singh provide an interesting contrast with many travelling preachers (especially the "Prosperity Gospel" variety) and church leaders today. If the church is to impact Asia significantly today, we need to recover the same spirit of simplicity, holiness and sacrifice.

Thirdly, the church worldwide in the last few decades has been hit by the pentecostal-charismatic renewal. Many think that this originated largely from the American pentecostal tradition dating back to Azusa Street in 1906. However, this perception is increasingly being recognised as a distorted Western reading of church history. In fact "signs and wonders" have often marked revival movements throughout history, especially in the non-Western world.

Sundar Singh and John Sung read the Bible through Asian eyes, took the supernatural and the Holy Spirit seriously, and the rest followed. Sundar Singh's ministry was marked by regular contact with the spiritual realm through visions, angelic encounters and the miraculous.

John Sung exercised multiple spiritual gifts, including prophecy, healing, tongues and evangelism with tremendous authority. His long-time missionary colleague, William Schubert, writing in 1976, compared him with all the great preachers he had heard, including Billy Graham. He concluded that, "'Dr John Sung was probably the greatest preacher of this century … (He) surpassed them all in pulpit power". Clearly Sundar Singh and John Sung demonstrated an anointing which far exceeds that of most pentecostal-charismatic preachers today. Yet so few of us have bothered to learn from them!

Fourthly, both men saw the inadequacies of a merely Western Christianity, and how its foreignness hindered the Gospel's advance in Asia. Sundar Singh noted that Indians needed the "water of life", but they want it in an Indian cup, not a Western one. He saw clearly that living as a sadhu gave both the evangelist and the Gospel maximum entrée into Indian society.

John Sung was fully aware of the contribution of missionaries. Nevertheless, he repeatedly noted in his diaries that Western control and dependency on Western funds often prevented the Chinese church from growing. He urged the churches instead to become self-supporting, take responsibility for themselves, and trust God for every need. This vision found its out-working in the ministry of many, including Wang Ming Dao, the Beijng pastor of later fame.

In their own ways, both John Sung and Sundar Singh worked towards Asian church independence and developing a genuinely indigenous Christian identity. Yet to this day, some 60 to 70 years later, we have yet to fully understand their concern.

Christianity in much of Asia is still viewed by most as an "orang putih" (white man's) religion. Although we may be organisational and financially independent, much of the church remains in Western captivity. Our music and worship, hymns and theology, concerns and agenda, and so forth remain largely Western. Yet, there are two reasons at least why we must take seriously the concern for an indigenous Christian identity.

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Bishop Dr Hwa Yung