History

And [Jesus] said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Beginnings of the West Coast Chinese Christian Conference

The West Coast Chinese Christian Conference (WCCCC) began in 1969 when a group of foreign-born Chinese Christian students gathered for fellowship over the Christmas break. This winter retreat continued up through 1971.

Joining the Emergence of Chinese-American Evangelicalism

In 1972, the winter retreat planning committee elected to place its efforts in the planning of the North American Congress of Chinese Evangelicals (NACOCE) with the theme “Spiritual Unity and Awakening”. This meeting of over 300 Chinese evangelical church and bible-study group leaders was one of the major events that marked “the emergence of Chinese-American Evangelicalism” within the United States. After the NACOCE meeting, WCCCC’s winter retreat began its transformation into a full-fledged ‘Winter Conference’.

From that point, WCCCC began to grow into a regional conference ministering to students and young adults, both foreign and American-born, from more than 100 groups and churches.

Joining the Global Ecumenical Dialogue

Much has changed in the political and cultural landscape of the United States since that 1972 NACOCE conference, and the leaders of WCCCC throughout the years have sought to consider their role in the larger ecumenical dialogue concerning Christian unity among local churches wordwide—especially in light of the centennial World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 2010.

Some of the questions currently being discussed within WCCCC are the following:

• What is WCCCC’s role in the fulfilling Jesus’ directive called The Great Commission?
• How can a para-church organization—like WCCCC—help bring unity and encourage collaboration between both nearby churches and distant churches?
• How is the relationship between cultural identity and Christian identity? Are they mutually compatible, and if so, what role does cultural identity play in the spiritual walk of a modern Christian?

If you are interested in joining in this dialogue, we welcome you to email us at paul@wcccc.us and consider joining this years 2019 Winter Conference.

Additional Resources

• For a more detailed information about WCCCC’s history, please visit our 50th Anniversary Jubilee Celebration.
• Article about the changing ecumenical stance of main stream evangelical Chinese Churches in the United States: Protestantism in Twentieth-Century Chinese America: The Impact of Transnationalism on the Chinese Diaspora