| Since 1980, about 100,000 Chinese students and scholars have come to North America. Most of those Chinese intellectuals' faith in Marxism has been virtually demolished after a series of political persecution. Therefore, North America has become one of the most fruitful mission fields to those Chinese intellectuals.; However, the effectiveness of evangelism still varies from place to place. The purpose of this study, then, is to find out the factors influencing the conversion of Chinese intellectuals in North America toward Christianity.; A paradigm of "Centered Sets" for the religious conversion and a "Kinetic Model" of conversion process were proposed to explain the conversion of mainland Chinese intellectuals in North America. Two questionnaire surveys were employed among Chinese intellectuals and mainland Chinese ministry workers respectively. An interview among mainland Chinese converts was also conducted. The results were then analyzed by statistical analysis methods.; The results indicate that China's respondents held significantly different views from their Taiwan's counterparts in their impression about Christianity, the barriers of accepting gospel, and most influential gospel messages. Meanwhile, for the respondents from China, the converts also had quite different perceptions from non-converts in their sense of faith crisis and moral bankruptcy in their homeland. They also shared different viewpoints of the solution of China's moral bankruptcy and their own ultimate goals in life.; The survey among the mainland Chinese ministry workers indicate that the spiritual growth and baptism among mainland Chinese intellectuals was increasing recently, but their discipleship and commitment in the local church was not very encouraging. The effectiveness of different evangelistic methods was also discussed. Most of the mainland Chinese ministry workers recommended the mainland Chinese converts to join the existing Chinese church, while about 40% of Chinese church leaders in Canada seemed to encourage mainland Chinese converts to plant their own new churches. However, almost all of the interviewed mainland Chinese converts preferred to join the existing Chinese church. Some practical suggestions for the mainland Chinese ministry are included in the conclusion of this study. |
