The Chinese evangelist John Sung ignited numerous revivals throughout Southeast Asia in the 1930s... more The Chinese evangelist John Sung ignited numerous revivals throughout Southeast Asia in the 1930s. As the catalyst, Sung has received extensive attention. Less has been written on the people whose lives were redirected by his evangelistic campaigns. Yet they were the ones who turned Sung’s preaching events into popular spiritual movements, perpetuating and extending the revival across the region. This study focuses on the evangelistic teams organized in Singapore before Sung’s departure in 1935. These teams created a new social space for Chinese women, offering them a new community, a satisfying spirituality, and divine sanction to explore contentious gender roles. As they spread across the island, evangelistic teams embodied a new way of life that, for a time, made Christian women the vanguard of modernity. Female evangelistic teams attracted others who also wanted to create a meaningful identity in the midst of rapid social changes.
The Chinese revivalist, John Sung [Song Shangjie], forged a powerful conversion narrative that sh... more The Chinese revivalist, John Sung [Song Shangjie], forged a powerful conversion narrative that shifted and adapted to changing circumstances. Its malleability has been one of the secrets of Sung's continuing relevance to Chinese and world Christianity.
The Chinese evangelist John Sung ignited numerous revivals throughout Southeast Asia in the 1930s... more The Chinese evangelist John Sung ignited numerous revivals throughout Southeast Asia in the 1930s. As the catalyst, Sung has received extensive attention. Less has been written on the people whose lives were redirected by his evangelistic campaigns. Yet they were the ones who turned Sung’s preaching events into popular spiritual movements, perpetuating and extending the revival across the region. This study focuses on the evangelistic teams organized in Singapore before Sung’s departure in 1935. These teams created a new social space for Chinese women, offering them a new community, a satisfying spirituality, and divine sanction to explore contentious gender roles. As they spread across the island, evangelistic teams embodied a new way of life that, for a time, made Christian women the vanguard of modernity. Female evangelistic teams attracted others who also wanted to create a meaningful identity in the midst of rapid social changes.
The Chinese revivalist, John Sung [Song Shangjie], forged a powerful conversion narrative that sh... more The Chinese revivalist, John Sung [Song Shangjie], forged a powerful conversion narrative that shifted and adapted to changing circumstances. Its malleability has been one of the secrets of Sung's continuing relevance to Chinese and world Christianity.
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