We can't begin to share China Partner's history without first providing a brief overview of the history of Christianity in China. By 1949, after 150 years of missionary activity in China, the Church had grown to approximately 700,000 members. In the early days of communist rule, foreign missionaries were forced out of the country. Pressures were placed upon the Chinese Christians, and during the Cultural Revolution all churches were closed and Christians were forced underground.

Dr. Werner Burklin was born to German missionaries who served in China for 25 years.  He grew up mostly in Shanghai, where he lived until he was 18.  In 1950, he and his family were forced to leave China when the communists came to power.  After China reopened her doors to the world in the late 70’s, he went back to China in 1981 to see if there was anything he could do to help the church in China. He realized that training emerging Christian leaders was the most pressing need.

The idea to implement Pastoral Training Seminars was born during the time Dr. Burklin directed Dr. Billy Graham's two international conferences for itinerant evangelists in Amsterdam (in 1983 and 1986).

In 1989, Dr. Burklin founded China Partner, Inc. to help the church in China fulfill the Great Commission by training and equipping emerging Christian leaders in China. It was incorporated in Florida and registered as a nonprofit charitable organization with the Internal Revenue Department of the United States under the 501(c)(3) code on November 20, 1989. China Partner also incorporated in Colorado in 1995 and moved the head office from Boca Raton, Florida, to Littleton, Colorado, in January 1996. CP became an official member of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability (ECFA) in July 1994. The membership affirms our organization’s commitment to financial excellence, Christian ethics, and accountability.

THE FIRST PASTORAL TRAINING SCHOOL (PTS), Nanjing, 1991

After ten years of faithfully meeting with Chinese Christian leaders and countless trips to China, Dr. Werner Burklin was invited to hold the first Pastoral Training Seminar (PTS) in Nanjing in 1988. However, the road to the event was not easy.  He not only had to convince government officials that the ministry's only goal was to help China, but he had to do the same with the Christian leaders who were still very skeptical about foreign involvement. The Chinese are a proud people with a 4,000-year-old culture. They have always been reluctant to receive ideas from the outside world. Dr. Burklin had to win their trust and confidence. He had to make many trips to bring this about.  Finally, in 1988, the invitation was given. However, before he was able to put the Pastoral Training Seminar together, the Tiananmen Square incident occurred. Finally, in 1991, he was allowed to hold the first Pastoral Training School in Nanjing. Others followed in quick succession: Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and finally across all of China.

"Our initial experience in Nanjing showed that trainees were very receptive," Dr. Burklin recalls. "They wanted to learn; they wanted to hear from others who have experience in evangelism. The leaders we trained came from many different provinces and were devoted to their task. They were very enthusiastic, drinking in every word," he continued. "At the first Pastoral Training Seminar, they took copious notes and were extremely inquisitive."

At this time, the teaching team learned that good study books were greatly needed. As a result, another dimension of the work was added. From that point on, China Partner has provided mini-libraries to all participants at the seminars and has helped to stock libraries at the schools in which it ministers.  Since 1991 CP has legally shipped and distributed over 30,000 theological study books in China.