In 1987 I began teaching Asian Church History and “Church History” courses in Singapore. For the time, such a notion was forward-looking for the seminary to require a whole year of study of “Asian Church” history for students who came from approximately twelve Asian countries.

However, the assumption seemed to be, whether intended or not, that Asian Christianity was not part of the main “Church History” story, which was mostly Western.

What I soon found out was that my Asian students preferred to study Western Church history! Why? Because all the great resources and primary texts were written by Western scholars. There was very little original scholarship on Asian Christianity at the time. The result was, Asian Christianity seemed less significant or interesting.

Much has changed since then. Today we have books that tell the history of Christianity as a global religion;[1] we have faculty chairs in World Christianity and resources that cover Christianity globally.

Realizing that the dearth of materials on Asian Christianity prevented students from appreciating their own heritage, three of us at Trinity Theological College in Singapore began work on an eleven-year project: A Dictionary of Asian Christianity (DAC).[2]

One important lesson from 1990 and my work on the DAC came to mind recently in 2025: how easy it is for Christians to be parochial and nationalistic in their understanding of Christianity. From 1990 to late 1993, a period of over three years, I had traveled to most of the countries of south and east Asia gathering together Asian Christian scholars to come up with names and places and historic events that needed to be included in the dictionary that represented their particular countries. This was a complex undertaking because it involved representing the entire mosaic of Christianity: Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and Pentecostals. In addition, some places, such as Indonesia, have distinct Christian histories according to the islands or regions. Timor and East Timor are very different from the Batak of Sumatra, or from the various groups in Celebes!

Christian scholars in Singapore often knew very little about Thailand or Indonesia. When I gave an example in Korea when asking for names of local Christian leaders and influencers, I told the Korean Christian scholars, “We want regional names, some who have had an influence not only in your country, but maybe throughout the region or on the international stage: names like the great evangelist John Sung for China or Bishop Azariah in India.”

Such questioning was met with the counter question, “Who are they?”

Christianity in its various local contexts often reinforces its own national and linguistic borders, which is understandable, but we can do better. The peninsula known as Korea is attached to China, but Korean Christians know very little about Chinese Christianity and vice versa. Vietnamese Christians know very little about Christianity in Thailand or China. In most of these seminaries and Bible colleges they teach their own country’s Christian history: Korean Church history; Japanese Christian history, and so on.

Taking time to know about our neighbors (neighboring cultures, nations, languages) takes effort, which is neither natural nor easy. More to the point, it seems more normal to study one’s own cultural and national history. In part, this is understandable. Yet, as a missional people, it remains troubling how little U.S. Christians know about Christianity in Canada or Mexico. I was impressed with the work done by Christian historian Mark Noll when he completed his volume History of Christianity in the United States and Canada in 1992, during the time I was traveling around Asia working on the DAC.

I would like to suggest that a basic element of Christian discipleship includes cultivating an openness to and curiosity about ways to reach out to and understand the Christian experiences of other cultures, races, nations, and languages, or perhaps even to introduce them to the Jesus of every culture, language, tribe, and nation (Acts 2 and Revelation 7). Christians ought to stand out as curious and gracious people who ask questions and seek to understand other cultures and nations. Basic Christian discipleship is missional, crossing human divisions and barriers with the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.

NOTE: To learn more about the interaction of Christianity in the various countries of East Asia, consider attending our conference on Christianity and Societies in East Asia this April 3-5, 2025.

[1] One of the first major projects Dale Irvin and I were privileged to pioneer with about 45 other global scholars: History of the World Christian Movement, Volume One and Volume Two (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books).
[2] Published in 2001 by Eerdmans Publishing.

Dr. Scott W. Sunquist, President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is author of the “Attentiveness” blog. He welcomes comments, responses, and good ideas.