Transforming Globally: How a Chinese Transnational Evangelical Network Expands and Negotiates with Locals in Taiwan and Thailand

The research project disentangles how the transnational Evangelical movement strategizes to build a network that economically and ideologically affects the Global South, negotiating local community empowerment with transnational religious ideologies in Taiwan and Thailand. The research will focus on the case study of a Chinese-initiated Evangelical network, the BOL Global Apostolic Network (BGAN), which has built six hundred churches in Taiwan, the U.S., Asia, and Africa. Through conducting interviews and participant observations in BGAN churches in Taiwan and Thailand, I will explore the network-building strategies, the motivations for pursuing the Evangelical movement, and local responses to the transnational religious power. The research sheds light on de-centered transnational Evangelical studies, diasporic Chinese movements, and the interplay between transnational religious forces and local community development in a non-Western setting. The project will contribute to how transnational religious power leads to social changes and community developments in civil societies of marginal places.