Brent Fulton

Brent Fulton

Dr. Brent Fulton is the founder of ChinaSource and served as its first president until 2019. Prior to that, he served as the managing director of the Institute for Chinese Studies at Wheaton College, and before that as founding US director of China Ministries International and the English publications editor for the Chinese Church Research Center in Hong Kong. Dr. Fulton holds MA and PhD degrees in political science from the University of Southern California and a BA in radio-TV-film from Messiah College. Currently, Dr. Fulton facilitates a network of member care professionals serving missionaries sent out from China and also consults with other organizations on the impact of China's religious policy.

Articles by Brent Fulton

  • The end of persecution is a realistic hope but in the meantime we lament
    Asia Religious Freedom

    The end of persecution is a realistic hope but in the meantime we lament

    By Brent Fulton

    In a perfect world, where legal systems hold political power to account and protect minorities against human rights abuses we might expect an end to persecution. But we do not live in a perfect world. People with power continue to act with impunity against those who think and live differently to them. Christians have a way to cope with this reality and a real and living hope for a future free of persecution.

  • Back to Jerusalem is too small a focus when Chinese Christians have the power to advance the gospel worldwide
    Asia Church & Missions

    Back to Jerusalem is too small a focus when Chinese Christians have the power to advance the gospel worldwide

    By Brent Fulton

    The idea that Chinese Christians have a responsibility to take the gospel "back to Jerusalem" has become widely popularized but it fails to recognize a much larger perspective. The role of China’s church in world evangelization has more to do with intentionality of heart than with getting to any one particular destination. Chinese believers among diaspora worldwide have great potential to advance the gospel everywhere, but it requires a shift of thinking away from traditional missions paradigms.

  • Sinicization: Culture or Politics?
    Asia Opinion

    Sinicization: Culture or Politics?

    By Brent Fulton

    In his incisive Christianity Today article titled “Xi Jinping Is Not Trying to Make Christianity More Chinese,” Purdue University professor Fenggang Yang draws a distinction between Sinicization, or the cultural adaptation of religion to Chinese culture, and what he calls “Chinafication,” a more literal translation of the Chinese term Zhongguo hua (中国化) used in the current “Sinicization of religion” campaign.