True Jesus Church in China
Encyclopedia
The True Jesus Church in China is a non-denominational
(independent
) church that was established in Beijing, China, in 1917 and continues today in the People's Republic of China. The True Jesus Church was the first Chinese Christian group since the mid-nineteenth century Taipings to generate a creative and self-defined set of doctrines, and it was also the largest of the indigenous churches by the 1930s. This group practices faith healing
, speaking in tongues, baptism
by immersion, feet washing
and Saturday Sabbath. By 1949 they claimed 120,000 members, meeting in 700 churches. Although banned in 1958, they were allowed to reopen in 1985 and since then, they have experienced rapid growth and have spread nationwide, although they are strongest in Jiangsu
, Hunan
and Fujian
provinces. They strongly emphasis daily prayer
, both private and public, and engage in vigorous evangelism.
In 1900, the Pentecostal movement had sprung up from the United States. Within the States of Kansas
, Texas and Oklahoma
, a group of White American
Christians holding worship services and praying
. Suddenly, they began speaking in tongues, their bodies started vibrating, they also experienced spiritual laughter and other miraculous phenomenon. For example, a student named Agnes Ozman
began speaking the Chinese language
and was able to write in Chinese characters for three days. Hence this great downpouring of the Holy Spirit
later became the precursor to the world renowned "Pentecostal movement" that was to occur six years later.
During April 1906 in Los Angeles, a small African American congregation, later to be known as the Apostolic Faith Mission
, were holding a worship session underneath a grass house. For ten days, they prayed very fervently and were asking for the filling of the Holy Spirit unto their lives and also for the revival of the church of the end times.
While they were still praying on the evening of April 9, the Holy Spirit came down abundantly on them like fire, they were joyously filled with the Holy Spirit, and miraculous events occurred there. As a result, the number of church attendants continuously increased non-stop to the point where the grass house could no longer accommodate all the participants.
Not long afterwards, this news was spread to various parts of the world. Several overseas missionaries soon learnt of this new movement and, after studying their new teachings and praying earnestly for the Holy Spirit, they also received baptism of the Holy Spirit. They then vigorously preached the good news and thus setting off the first global wave of Pentecostalism.
By 1910, the Pentecostal churches had organized a General Assembly and opened up theological colleges in the both the northern and southern parts of the United States which trained up to five thousand preachers. They then evangelized all over the world using names such as the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal Church, the Church of God and so on. Since they asserted that speaking in tongues is the evidence of having received the Holy Spirit, they were labelled in China as the "speaking in tongues group" (方言派).
As the number of Pentecostal church groups increased, they made efforts to unite together as the "Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
". Their main focal points were:
By 1907, the first missionaries from the Pentecostal churches arrived in China and a Chinese American
pastor from a Congregational church
in Hong Kong named Mok Lai-Chi (莫礼智) printed out the Pentecostal Truths newspaper (五旬节真理报) which spread the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the Apostolic Faith Mission was also actively preaching in Shanghai. They stressed the need for receiving the Holy Spirit through speaking in tongues and, indeed, in those early days the works of the Holy Spirit were vividly seen. These were the early stages of the Pentecostal movement in China.
During 1911, an American pastor in North China, Berntsen
, had formed the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zhengding County, Shandong
. They published the Popular Gospel Truth (通傳福音真理報) and placed greater emphasis on the issue regarding why Christians needed to receive the Holy Spirit. Berntsen later came to Beijing and changed the name of his mission group to "Church of God" shortly after joining them; he later switched again and joined the Assemblies of God. By this time, the Popular Gospel Truth newspaper publications were now able to be substituted with gospel pamphlets instead.
People such as Zhang Lingsheng and his nephew Barnabas Zhang
, who later became the early prominent co-workers of the True Jesus Church, were once members of this Pentecostal group. Paul Wei
had also received baptism at this church mission before and later received the Holy Spirit. In this way, the Pentecostal movement was the background in which the True Jesus Church was later launched.
Alyhough the Three-Self Movement had been encouraged by missionaries as early as the 1870s, this did not gain momentum until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Chinese Christians suffered from the Boxer Movement, New Culture Movement
and wave after wave of Anti-Christian Movement
s that swept China. Criticism and opposition to Christianity had also arisen from numerous Chinese politicians, intellectuals, the gentry and the masses. This caused many Christian intellectuals and pastors in China feeling perplexed, distressed, and in a state of shock or panic. Some Christians who had a national sense of justice and a pious faith began to reflect on what had been lost and gained so far from the Christian missionary work in China. They also started exploring the pathway for the churches in China to eventually break away from the influence and perceived association with Imperialism. Hence some Christians began to put into practice the idea of an independent Chinese church. For example, Chen Men-nan (陈梦南) established the Baptist Self-Support Church (浸会自立会) in Guangdong
and felt that since the overseas churches belonged to the overseas countries, the churches in China ought to belong to the Chinese. He held that Chinese Christians should form their own independent churches and preach the gospel themselves and thus avoid being labelled as a "Western religion" (洋教) or associated with the European colonial powers. In 1872, Chen rented a house with some financial aid from Chinese Americans and commenced preaching. The following year, he formed the "Cantonese Guangdong Chinese Evangelical Mission" (粤东广肇华人宣道会) and created the "Chinese Evangelistic Chapel" (华人宣道堂). Not long after the 1900 Boxer rebellion, a Chinese Presbyterian named Yu Guozhen formed a self-supporting Presbyterian congregation in Shanghai. By 1906 he formed the "China Christian Independent Church" using the principle of "love the church and love the country, self-support and self-governance" as its main founding aim.
Gradually, numerous other independent churches were established, after splitting away from their Protestant denominations, and were able to run their own affairs without outside financial aid, interference, or ecclesiastical control. This surge in church indigenization continued into the Chinese Revolution period of the 1910s and 1920s with up to six hundred independent churches throughout the country. The True Jesus Church was amongst those which developed and grew under such circumstances.
Interestingly, a brief comment after this list says that only those who abide by these provisions are true Christians. Another set of clauses defined a series of corrective measures which they believed must be taken by other Christian churches in order to become proper or pure. Other churches must:
The above sets of church regulations and demands upon other churches appeared in the first issue of the church paper in February 1919. They show a highly developed set of orthodox doctrines, as well as a striking exclusiveness in their presumption to dictate drastic changes to other churches.
corridor as a militant, millenarian sectarian church. There was no assurance that it would survive, however.
. After becoming Paul Wei's partner in this new religious venture, Zhang Lingsheng returned Weixian. There a relative named Zhang Dianju, an antique dealer who had become a Pentecostal convert of Zhang Lingsheng years before, and other locals as well, became followers of the new church. The Weixian group implored Paul Wei to come to Shandong, which he did in mid-1919, making Weixian his vabse but influencing many in east-central Shandong. Wei laid hands on Zhang Dianju and ordained him as an elder. He now took the name Barnabas. Barnabas Zhang was to become an outstanding and powerful missionary of the True Jesus Church during the next several years, spearheading the rapid expansion of the church into central and south China. But in the meantime the movement's top leaders remained in Weixian for a time in the summer of 1919. There were also some dramatic incidents of confrontation and violent clashes between the new sect and the established Presbyterian church in Weixian, as some converts came out of the older churches to join the new group
After 1919, the True Jesus Church grew. It did so without the two early workers. Paul Wei died in the fall of 1919, and Zhang Lingsheng, due to old age, soon confined his activities to his activities to his home area of Shandong. But Isaac Wei, son of Paul Wei, continued preaching in Northern China
, and set up several churches.
, as well as several other gifted missionaries and evangelists, spread the movement to the Southern areas of China in the 1920s. Henan
province, and in particular Hunan
province, became hotbeds of growth of the church, and by the mid-1920s Hunan was becoming its centre of gravity.
In 1923, Barnabas traveled to Shanghai to help pastor and nurture the church with the local preacher. He then headed to Wenzhou
of Zhejiang
province and the Fujian
province, spreading the Gospel and setting up churches there.
During this missionary trip, former Seventh-day Adventist Church
members Thomas Guo and Silas Liu from Fuzhou
province joined the True Jesus Church
. Thomas was later remembered as having established the TJC General Coordination Board and The Holy Spirit News publication.
In 1935 Barnabas Zhang
, Thomas Guo, Silas Lin and others preached to Xiamen
, Zhangzhou
and surrounding areas. It was in this region where Taiwanese
left their former church denominations to join them. Together, they boarded a ship to Taiwan
and three churches were established numbering over 100 believers, after preaching there for only forty days.
In 1927, the TJC coordination board sent Barnabas Zhang to evangelise South-East Asia and on his return journey, he established churches in Guangdong province
was formed, its development was very rapid. In 1922, representatives from all the Chinese provinces held their first conference. During their discussion they agreed to become a unified body and set out 15 basic rules and standards that is expected for every church.
During the 3rd TJC major conference, delegates approved the establishment of the General Assembly Board of China in Nanjing
(moved to Shanghai the following year) and the creation of "The Holy Spirit
News" newspaper bulletin. After an excited discussion, they established the basic teachings and beliefs of the True Jesus Mission.
A theological institution was opened to cultivate preachers that can help pastor the church.
Zhang was discontented with the decisions made by the General Assembly; as a result, when Barnabas was sent by the church to South-East Asia, he then formed his own General Assembly in Hong Kong and became the head Bishop
of the church and donning the attire of Cardinal
or Pope
.
Despite many attempts by church brothers to dissuade him, they continued to disagree; therefore, during a major church meeting in 1930, Zhang was excommunicated. Barnabas remained as head of the Hong Kong church until his death.
On 20 January 1932, a Japanese citizen was murdered which provoked a war in the Zhabei (閘北 district, North of Shanghai. Japanese planes bombed this manufacturing and residential district to shreds.
By that time, most of the residents living there had already evacuated and fled to safer parts elsewhere. However, the True Jesus Church
General Assembly (which was in the Zhabei area) was holding the 6th delegates conference during that time. Japanese soldiers advanced to that area and wrongly believed that anti-Japanese rebels were hidden inside the church and were using it as headquarters. The soldiers quietly poured gasoline and ignited the whole church building which included the Holy Spirit Times newspaper printing factory.
Unaware of what had just occurred, the 21 church committee members continued with the meeting until they started seeing smoke fumes. Two of the committee members decided to flee from the building. Unfortunately as they were escaping, one of them was riddled with bullets on his leg (since the Japanese soldiers had surrounded the entire church building) and died shortly afterward - the other church member disappeared and was never seen again.
The remaining church members were frightened and decided to pray. Fortunately, the Japanese military officer heard the word "Hallelujah
" shouted from inside the church and concluded that they were "good people". The Japanese soldiers then escorted the church members from the building to the safe foreign settlement zone. This is considered the worst disaster that this church had faced ever since its establishment fifteen years before. After this incident, the church headquarters was relocated inside the safer foreign settlements of the city.
came to power in 1949, one of their main aims was to free the country from external forces of influence. Initially, Christianity was tolerated but the authorities quickly changed their minds and a law was passed to ban Christians evangelising or holding services. In practice, however, very few Christian groups are prevented from doing either. Every Christian denomination had to go to the government approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement
church for services which were said to be monitored.
The following is a list of significant dates:
The situation deteriorated into anarchy
during the infamous Cultural Revolution
initiated by chairman Mao Zedong
where Christians were among those who were persecuted, martyred, attacked, and imprisoned by the communist authorities. Mao's young red guards
forced people to hand over Bibles and they were burnt.
On the outward appearance, evangelising came to a standstill; it seemed that Christianity in China
had been effectively crushed. However, services were still secretly held in homes or underground and bibles were handwritten. Individuals started memorizing entire Apostolic letters and books in order to duplicate them later on.
When the Christians' underground hideouts were discovered, they fled to other cities and provinces, carrying their Gospel with them and preaching to new faces.
It is said that many Christians climbed high up into the Wenzhou
mountains where they could pray unhindered.
Nevertheless, in the 1970s in Fuqing
during the Cultural Revolution, one elder recounts how he witnessed the growth of the church, people copying hymn
als by hands, and exchanging the equivalent of fifty-five kilograms of potato chip
s for a Bible.
, former President of the United States, re-established ties with Mao Zedong
's government. Due to foreign pressure on human rights issues, their official policy changed to: "You can admit that you're a Christian but do not evangelise." The Cultural revolution had stopped by 1976.
Since Deng Xiao Ping's took over the communist regime, the situation has improved as their tight grip has been relaxed. In April 1979, the first church reopened and gradually other churches followed. The number of Christians increased rapidly during this period and numerous miracles occurred. Nevertheless, people that are caught preaching will face a minimum prison sentence of 3 years.
In 1980 a law was passed that allowed Christians to worship at specific locations and venues; evangelising elsewhere is prohibited. Seven prohibitions were listed. This includes: no secret family services, no building of churches, and no preaching.
After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
incident, Christians returned to underground services for only a brief period.
From 1996–present, China's welcoming open-door policy to foreign investors has lifted its economy to new heights and since China wishes to enter new markets and continue the prosperity, Christians can now hold services safely.
Of the current population of Chinese Christians, there are an estimated 2.4 million True Jesus Church
members.
There is no well organised church governing structure so many areas still lack Bibles and other reference materials.
Free church
The term "free church" refers to a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separated from government . A free church does not define government policy, nor have governments define church policy or theology, nor seeks or receives government endorsement or funding for its general mission...
(independent
Chinese Independent Churches
The Chinese Independent Churches are a major category of churches of Chinese people.During Missionary Council Meetings in the mid to late 19th century several Western missionaries started advocating for the Chinese Christians to become independent instead of relying on outside support and funds....
) church that was established in Beijing, China, in 1917 and continues today in the People's Republic of China. The True Jesus Church was the first Chinese Christian group since the mid-nineteenth century Taipings to generate a creative and self-defined set of doctrines, and it was also the largest of the indigenous churches by the 1930s. This group practices faith healing
Faith healing
Faith healing is healing through spiritual means. The healing of a person is brought about by religious faith through prayer and/or rituals that, according to adherents, stimulate a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or...
, speaking in tongues, baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
by immersion, feet washing
Feet washing
Foot washing or washing of feet is a religious rite observed as an ordinance by several Christian denominations. The name, and even the spelling, of this practice is not consistently established, being variously known as foot washing, washing the saints' feet, pedilavium, and mandatum.For some...
and Saturday Sabbath. By 1949 they claimed 120,000 members, meeting in 700 churches. Although banned in 1958, they were allowed to reopen in 1985 and since then, they have experienced rapid growth and have spread nationwide, although they are strongest in Jiangsu
Jiangsu
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
, Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
and Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
provinces. They strongly emphasis daily prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
, both private and public, and engage in vigorous evangelism.
Background
There were two causes which eventually resulted in the creation of the True Jesus Church; one was an external cause and the other an internal cause.The Pentecostal movement
The external cause was due to several events that occurred in America during the beginning of the Twentieth Century.In 1900, the Pentecostal movement had sprung up from the United States. Within the States of Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Texas and Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, a group of White American
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
Christians holding worship services and praying
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
. Suddenly, they began speaking in tongues, their bodies started vibrating, they also experienced spiritual laughter and other miraculous phenomenon. For example, a student named Agnes Ozman
Agnes Ozman
Agnes Ozman was a female student at Charles Fox Parham's Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas. Ozman was considered by many as “the first to speak in tongues”. Her experiences sparked the modern Pentecostal-Holiness movement, which began in the early 20th century...
began speaking the Chinese language
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
and was able to write in Chinese characters for three days. Hence this great downpouring of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
later became the precursor to the world renowned "Pentecostal movement" that was to occur six years later.
During April 1906 in Los Angeles, a small African American congregation, later to be known as the Apostolic Faith Mission
Azusa Street Revival
The Azusa Street Revival was a historic Pentecostal revival meeting that took place in Los Angeles, California and is the origin of the Pentecostal movement. It was led by William J. Seymour, an African American preacher. It began with a meeting on April 14, 1906, and continued until roughly 1915...
, were holding a worship session underneath a grass house. For ten days, they prayed very fervently and were asking for the filling of the Holy Spirit unto their lives and also for the revival of the church of the end times.
While they were still praying on the evening of April 9, the Holy Spirit came down abundantly on them like fire, they were joyously filled with the Holy Spirit, and miraculous events occurred there. As a result, the number of church attendants continuously increased non-stop to the point where the grass house could no longer accommodate all the participants.
Not long afterwards, this news was spread to various parts of the world. Several overseas missionaries soon learnt of this new movement and, after studying their new teachings and praying earnestly for the Holy Spirit, they also received baptism of the Holy Spirit. They then vigorously preached the good news and thus setting off the first global wave of Pentecostalism.
By 1910, the Pentecostal churches had organized a General Assembly and opened up theological colleges in the both the northern and southern parts of the United States which trained up to five thousand preachers. They then evangelized all over the world using names such as the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal Church, the Church of God and so on. Since they asserted that speaking in tongues is the evidence of having received the Holy Spirit, they were labelled in China as the "speaking in tongues group" (方言派).
As the number of Pentecostal church groups increased, they made efforts to unite together as the "Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World is a Pentecostal Christian denomination. Founded in 1914, it is one of the oldest Oneness Pentecostal organizations in existence. Headquarters are in Indianapolis, Indiana, and The Christian Outlook is the church's official publication...
". Their main focal points were:
- The emphasis of speaking in tongues;
- The viewpoint of a One True God;
- They neither advocated for, nor did they oppose, their members worshipping on SabbathBiblical SabbathSabbath in the Bible is usually a weekly day of rest and time of worship. The Sabbath is first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative. The seventh day is there set aside as a day of rest—the Sabbath. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in...
(some worshipped on Sunday whilst others worshipped on Saturday); - They held that baptismBaptismIn Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
s ought to be conducted in the name of Jesus Christ; however, the baptisms were performed with the head facing upwards and it did not necessarily need to be performed in natural flowing water; - There were no rigid rules with regards to handling the sacramentSacramentA sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...
of the Holy Communion such as the use of unleavened breadUnleavened BreadUnleavened Bread is a 1900 novel by American writer Robert Grant....
and grape juiceGrape juiceGrape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. The juice is often sold in stores or fermented and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7-23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as "must"...
; - They placed particular emphasis on the development of a mature spiritual growth for each individual.
By 1907, the first missionaries from the Pentecostal churches arrived in China and a Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
pastor from a Congregational church
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
in Hong Kong named Mok Lai-Chi (莫礼智) printed out the Pentecostal Truths newspaper (五旬节真理报) which spread the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the Apostolic Faith Mission was also actively preaching in Shanghai. They stressed the need for receiving the Holy Spirit through speaking in tongues and, indeed, in those early days the works of the Holy Spirit were vividly seen. These were the early stages of the Pentecostal movement in China.
During 1911, an American pastor in North China, Berntsen
Bernt Berntsen
Bernt Berntsen , also known as Brother B. Berntsen, was a Norwegian-American Protestant Christian missionary to China. In 1904, Berntsen and his wife Magna was able to preach along with several other independent Norwegian missionaries in a mission station in Damingfu of Zhili Province...
, had formed the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zhengding County, Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
. They published the Popular Gospel Truth (通傳福音真理報) and placed greater emphasis on the issue regarding why Christians needed to receive the Holy Spirit. Berntsen later came to Beijing and changed the name of his mission group to "Church of God" shortly after joining them; he later switched again and joined the Assemblies of God. By this time, the Popular Gospel Truth newspaper publications were now able to be substituted with gospel pamphlets instead.
People such as Zhang Lingsheng and his nephew Barnabas Zhang
Barnabas Zhang
Barnabas Zhang , was an early preacher for the True Jesus Church in China, an indigenous Chinese church. Born in Wei County, Shandong Province, Zhang's former name was Diàn-Jǚ . His mother died when he was four years old and when his father remarried, Diàn-Jǚ often fled to distant locations...
, who later became the early prominent co-workers of the True Jesus Church, were once members of this Pentecostal group. Paul Wei
Paul Wei
Paul Wei , previously known as Wèi Ēnbō , was born in Hebei province, China. He was a farmer from a poor family background and had very little education. In 1902 he migrated to Beijing where he later became a prosperous silk and merchandise dealer.By his own accounts, he was previously a...
had also received baptism at this church mission before and later received the Holy Spirit. In this way, the Pentecostal movement was the background in which the True Jesus Church was later launched.
The church indigenization movement
The internal cause was due to events that occurred from the final years of the 19th century till the early years of the twentieth century.Alyhough the Three-Self Movement had been encouraged by missionaries as early as the 1870s, this did not gain momentum until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Chinese Christians suffered from the Boxer Movement, New Culture Movement
New Culture Movement
The New Culture Movement of the mid 1910s and 1920s sprang from the disillusionment with traditional Chinese culture following the failure of the Chinese Republic, founded in 1912 to address China’s problems. Scholars like Chen Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, and Hu Shi, had...
and wave after wave of Anti-Christian Movement
Anti-Christian Movement (China)
The Anti-Christian Movement was an intellectual and political movement in China in the 1920s. The May Fourth Movement for a New Culture attacked religion of all sorts, including Confucianism and Buddhism as well as Christianity, rejecting all as superstition...
s that swept China. Criticism and opposition to Christianity had also arisen from numerous Chinese politicians, intellectuals, the gentry and the masses. This caused many Christian intellectuals and pastors in China feeling perplexed, distressed, and in a state of shock or panic. Some Christians who had a national sense of justice and a pious faith began to reflect on what had been lost and gained so far from the Christian missionary work in China. They also started exploring the pathway for the churches in China to eventually break away from the influence and perceived association with Imperialism. Hence some Christians began to put into practice the idea of an independent Chinese church. For example, Chen Men-nan (陈梦南) established the Baptist Self-Support Church (浸会自立会) in Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
and felt that since the overseas churches belonged to the overseas countries, the churches in China ought to belong to the Chinese. He held that Chinese Christians should form their own independent churches and preach the gospel themselves and thus avoid being labelled as a "Western religion" (洋教) or associated with the European colonial powers. In 1872, Chen rented a house with some financial aid from Chinese Americans and commenced preaching. The following year, he formed the "Cantonese Guangdong Chinese Evangelical Mission" (粤东广肇华人宣道会) and created the "Chinese Evangelistic Chapel" (华人宣道堂). Not long after the 1900 Boxer rebellion, a Chinese Presbyterian named Yu Guozhen formed a self-supporting Presbyterian congregation in Shanghai. By 1906 he formed the "China Christian Independent Church" using the principle of "love the church and love the country, self-support and self-governance" as its main founding aim.
Gradually, numerous other independent churches were established, after splitting away from their Protestant denominations, and were able to run their own affairs without outside financial aid, interference, or ecclesiastical control. This surge in church indigenization continued into the Chinese Revolution period of the 1910s and 1920s with up to six hundred independent churches throughout the country. The True Jesus Church was amongst those which developed and grew under such circumstances.
Early doctrines
The early workers of the True Jesus Church agreed on a long set of doctrines and practices by the time they put out their first newspaper in February 1919 - The Universal Correction Church Times (萬國更正教報). Some of the most important doctrines and practices adopted at this time were as follows :- receive full immersion face-down baptism;
- seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with speaking in tongues as evidence;
- keep Saturday as Sabbath for worship;
- Seek the power of healing and of exorcising demons;
- in communion break the bread, not cut it;
- implement the sacrament of foot-washing among church members;
- have ordination by laying on of hands;
- have no time limit for Sabbath worship;
- all have the right to speak during services;
- all be permitted to pray aloud during services;
- seek revelation of the Holy spirit in choosing overseers, elders, and deacons;
- if evangelists, not receive a fixed salary
- devote their heart, spirit, and livelihood to the Lord, and give at least ten percent of their income.
Interestingly, a brief comment after this list says that only those who abide by these provisions are true Christians. Another set of clauses defined a series of corrective measures which they believed must be taken by other Christian churches in order to become proper or pure. Other churches must:
- stop using the Chinese term ShangdiShangdiShangdi , also known as Di in Oracle Bone Inscription and Thirteen Classics, refers to the supreme god or a divine power regarded as the spiritual ultimate by the Chinese people from the Shang Dynasty. He controlled victory in battle, harvest, the fate of the kingdom, and the weather...
(上帝) for God and use the Chinese term Zhenshen (真神, meaning "True God"); - eliminate the appellation and the office "pastor" (牧師) and ordain only overseers, elders, and deacons;
- stop teaching the doctrine of the Trinity and teach the unitary and undivided True God;
- baptize only in the name of Jesus, not that of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- stop using denominational names and call themselves the True Jesus Church;
- stop depending on finances or influence of foreigners;
- stop baptizing by sprinkling, and only use immersion;
- honor seventh-day Sabbath as the only proper worship day;
- not restrict the right of prayerPrayerPrayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
to only one person in the assembly; - not give set salaries to evangelistic workers
- not put time limits on worship services.
The above sets of church regulations and demands upon other churches appeared in the first issue of the church paper in February 1919. They show a highly developed set of orthodox doctrines, as well as a striking exclusiveness in their presumption to dictate drastic changes to other churches.
Early Evangelization work
By early 1919, the True Jesus Church had established itself in the Beijing-TianjinTianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
corridor as a militant, millenarian sectarian church. There was no assurance that it would survive, however.
TJC missionary work in the Northern regions
The first place to which the church expanded beyond the Beijing-Tianjin area was ShandongShandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
. After becoming Paul Wei's partner in this new religious venture, Zhang Lingsheng returned Weixian. There a relative named Zhang Dianju, an antique dealer who had become a Pentecostal convert of Zhang Lingsheng years before, and other locals as well, became followers of the new church. The Weixian group implored Paul Wei to come to Shandong, which he did in mid-1919, making Weixian his vabse but influencing many in east-central Shandong. Wei laid hands on Zhang Dianju and ordained him as an elder. He now took the name Barnabas. Barnabas Zhang was to become an outstanding and powerful missionary of the True Jesus Church during the next several years, spearheading the rapid expansion of the church into central and south China. But in the meantime the movement's top leaders remained in Weixian for a time in the summer of 1919. There were also some dramatic incidents of confrontation and violent clashes between the new sect and the established Presbyterian church in Weixian, as some converts came out of the older churches to join the new group
After 1919, the True Jesus Church grew. It did so without the two early workers. Paul Wei died in the fall of 1919, and Zhang Lingsheng, due to old age, soon confined his activities to his activities to his home area of Shandong. But Isaac Wei, son of Paul Wei, continued preaching in Northern China
North China
thumb|250px|Northern [[People's Republic of China]] region.Northern China or North China is a geographical region of China. The heartland of North China is the North China Plain....
, and set up several churches.
Missionary work in the Southern regions
Barnabas ZhangBarnabas Zhang
Barnabas Zhang , was an early preacher for the True Jesus Church in China, an indigenous Chinese church. Born in Wei County, Shandong Province, Zhang's former name was Diàn-Jǚ . His mother died when he was four years old and when his father remarried, Diàn-Jǚ often fled to distant locations...
, as well as several other gifted missionaries and evangelists, spread the movement to the Southern areas of China in the 1920s. Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
province, and in particular Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
province, became hotbeds of growth of the church, and by the mid-1920s Hunan was becoming its centre of gravity.
In 1923, Barnabas traveled to Shanghai to help pastor and nurture the church with the local preacher. He then headed to Wenzhou
Wenzhou
Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010....
of Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
province and the Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
province, spreading the Gospel and setting up churches there.
During this missionary trip, former Seventh-day Adventist Church
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
members Thomas Guo and Silas Liu from Fuzhou
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
province joined the True Jesus Church
True Jesus Church
The True Jesus Church is a non-denominational Christian church that originated in Beijing, China, in 1917. The current elected chairman of the TJC International Assembly is Preacher Yong-Ji Lin. Today, there are approximately 2.5 million members in fifty three countries and six continents...
. Thomas was later remembered as having established the TJC General Coordination Board and The Holy Spirit News publication.
In 1935 Barnabas Zhang
Barnabas Zhang
Barnabas Zhang , was an early preacher for the True Jesus Church in China, an indigenous Chinese church. Born in Wei County, Shandong Province, Zhang's former name was Diàn-Jǚ . His mother died when he was four years old and when his father remarried, Diàn-Jǚ often fled to distant locations...
, Thomas Guo, Silas Lin and others preached to Xiamen
Xiamen
Xiamen , also known as Amoy , is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of and population of 3.53 million...
, Zhangzhou
Zhangzhou
Zhangzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Fujian province, People's Republic of China. Located on the banks of the Jiulong River , Zhangzhou borders the cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou to the northeast, Longyan City to the northwest and the province of Guangdong to the southwest.Zhangzhou...
and surrounding areas. It was in this region where Taiwanese
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
left their former church denominations to join them. Together, they boarded a ship to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and three churches were established numbering over 100 believers, after preaching there for only forty days.
In 1927, the TJC coordination board sent Barnabas Zhang to evangelise South-East Asia and on his return journey, he established churches in Guangdong province
Church establishments in the provinces
- 1917 - The Beijing True Jesus Church in HebeiHebei' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
province - 1919 - The churches in ShandongShandong' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
province, HunanHunan' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
, ShanxiShanxi' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
, JiangsuJiangsu' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
, and HubeiHubei' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
were established. - 1922 - The church in HenanHenanHenan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
province founded - 1923 - Churches in Jiangsi and FujianFujian' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
provinces established - 1924 - Churches in LiaoningLiaoning' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
and JilinJilinJilin , is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. Jilin borders North Korea and Russia to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west...
provinces - 1928 - The churches in ZhejiangZhejiangZhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
province at WenzhouWenzhouWenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010....
,and GuangdongGuangdongGuangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
province at GuangzhouGuangzhouGuangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
established. - 1935 - Church established in SichuanSichuan' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
province at Zhongqi - 1938 - Church in ShanxiShanxi' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
province - 1943 - Church established in GansuGansu' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
province - 1945 - Church founded in YunnanYunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
province at KunmingKunming' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
Important early church events
Not long after the True Jesus ChurchTrue Jesus Church
The True Jesus Church is a non-denominational Christian church that originated in Beijing, China, in 1917. The current elected chairman of the TJC International Assembly is Preacher Yong-Ji Lin. Today, there are approximately 2.5 million members in fifty three countries and six continents...
was formed, its development was very rapid. In 1922, representatives from all the Chinese provinces held their first conference. During their discussion they agreed to become a unified body and set out 15 basic rules and standards that is expected for every church.
During the 3rd TJC major conference, delegates approved the establishment of the General Assembly Board of China in Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
(moved to Shanghai the following year) and the creation of "The Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
News" newspaper bulletin. After an excited discussion, they established the basic teachings and beliefs of the True Jesus Mission.
A theological institution was opened to cultivate preachers that can help pastor the church.
The Barnabas Zhang incident
Brother Zhang was one of the early church workers; later, he claimed that he was the first founder of this church.Zhang was discontented with the decisions made by the General Assembly; as a result, when Barnabas was sent by the church to South-East Asia, he then formed his own General Assembly in Hong Kong and became the head Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of the church and donning the attire of Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
or Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
.
Despite many attempts by church brothers to dissuade him, they continued to disagree; therefore, during a major church meeting in 1930, Zhang was excommunicated. Barnabas remained as head of the Hong Kong church until his death.
The January 28th Incident
Beginning with the takeover of Manchuria in 1931, Japan launched an aggressive military campaign that was aimed at taking control of China. This event sparked an underground anti-Japanese opposition throughout the country.On 20 January 1932, a Japanese citizen was murdered which provoked a war in the Zhabei (閘北 district, North of Shanghai. Japanese planes bombed this manufacturing and residential district to shreds.
By that time, most of the residents living there had already evacuated and fled to safer parts elsewhere. However, the True Jesus Church
True Jesus Church
The True Jesus Church is a non-denominational Christian church that originated in Beijing, China, in 1917. The current elected chairman of the TJC International Assembly is Preacher Yong-Ji Lin. Today, there are approximately 2.5 million members in fifty three countries and six continents...
General Assembly (which was in the Zhabei area) was holding the 6th delegates conference during that time. Japanese soldiers advanced to that area and wrongly believed that anti-Japanese rebels were hidden inside the church and were using it as headquarters. The soldiers quietly poured gasoline and ignited the whole church building which included the Holy Spirit Times newspaper printing factory.
Unaware of what had just occurred, the 21 church committee members continued with the meeting until they started seeing smoke fumes. Two of the committee members decided to flee from the building. Unfortunately as they were escaping, one of them was riddled with bullets on his leg (since the Japanese soldiers had surrounded the entire church building) and died shortly afterward - the other church member disappeared and was never seen again.
The remaining church members were frightened and decided to pray. Fortunately, the Japanese military officer heard the word "Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Halleluyah, and the Latin form Alleluia are transliterations of the Hebrew word meaning "Praise Yah". The last syllable is from the first two letters of the name of God, YHWH, written JHVH in Latin). Hallelujah is found primarily in the book of Psalms...
" shouted from inside the church and concluded that they were "good people". The Japanese soldiers then escorted the church members from the building to the safe foreign settlement zone. This is considered the worst disaster that this church had faced ever since its establishment fifteen years before. After this incident, the church headquarters was relocated inside the safer foreign settlements of the city.
The "Tribulation period"
Shortly after the Communist Party of ChinaCommunist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
came to power in 1949, one of their main aims was to free the country from external forces of influence. Initially, Christianity was tolerated but the authorities quickly changed their minds and a law was passed to ban Christians evangelising or holding services. In practice, however, very few Christian groups are prevented from doing either. Every Christian denomination had to go to the government approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement
Three-Self Patriotic Movement
The Three-Self Patriotic Movement or TSPM is a state-controlled Protestant church in the People's Republic of China...
church for services which were said to be monitored.
The following is a list of significant dates:
- 1950 - The "three self" renewal doctrine for churches proposed by government.
- 1951 - The outbreak of the Korean WarKorean WarThe Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
stirs up anti-American sentiment. All foreign missionaries were ordered to leave the country.
- 1954 - Three-Self Patriotic MovementThree-Self Patriotic MovementThe Three-Self Patriotic Movement or TSPM is a state-controlled Protestant church in the People's Republic of China...
churches commences. The following year it becomes the only legal church. All preachers must undergo government training. The leadership of the True Jesus Church in China was brought within the Three Self Organization and subjected to increasing criticism.
- 1956 - Many underground family services secretly held.
- 1957 - Numerous preachers including Isaac Wei were arrested and imprisoned for illegally holding services.
- 1958 - The True Jesus Church and all other Christian churches (save the Three-Self Patriotic Church) suffered from the government-imposed bans - The majority of the followers participated, along with other church denominations, in various "Christian unification services" to continue worship. (These operated under government surveillance). The church was accused of ‘illegal’ activities, including "causing the death of sick people through the refusal to allow medical treatment, and causing illness and death through baptism in freezing rivers". Such accusations must be set in the context of the decisive conservative movement during the Cultural Revolution in Chinese politics at the time and the substance behind some of the reports may be questionable.
- The only exception was True Jesus Church in Fujian which was still allowed to continue maintaining the original organization and hold services by themselves.
- 1959 - Only a few large churches left; the rest are closed down.
- 1966 - In June, the Cultural RevolutionCultural RevolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
began, by August all churches were closed down.
The situation deteriorated into anarchy
Anarchy
Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
during the infamous Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
initiated by chairman Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
where Christians were among those who were persecuted, martyred, attacked, and imprisoned by the communist authorities. Mao's young red guards
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
forced people to hand over Bibles and they were burnt.
On the outward appearance, evangelising came to a standstill; it seemed that Christianity in China
Christianity in China
Christianity in China is a growing minority religion that comprises Protestants , Catholics , and a small number of Orthodox Christians. Although its lineage in China is not as ancient as the institutional religions of Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism, and the social system and ideology of...
had been effectively crushed. However, services were still secretly held in homes or underground and bibles were handwritten. Individuals started memorizing entire Apostolic letters and books in order to duplicate them later on.
When the Christians' underground hideouts were discovered, they fled to other cities and provinces, carrying their Gospel with them and preaching to new faces.
It is said that many Christians climbed high up into the Wenzhou
Wenzhou
Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010....
mountains where they could pray unhindered.
Nevertheless, in the 1970s in Fuqing
Fuqing
Fuqing is a county-level city of Fuzhou in Fujian, China.It is located in the eastern part of the province, borders the East China Sea, just southeast of Fuzhou and 45 kilometers from Changle International Airport of Fuzhou. Fuqing city has geographical advantage, for its location between...
during the Cultural Revolution, one elder recounts how he witnessed the growth of the church, people copying hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
als by hands, and exchanging the equivalent of fifty-five kilograms of potato chip
Potato chip
Potato chips are thin slices of potato that are deep fried...
s for a Bible.
The church situation from 1975 to present
In 1975, Richard NixonRichard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, former President of the United States, re-established ties with Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
's government. Due to foreign pressure on human rights issues, their official policy changed to: "You can admit that you're a Christian but do not evangelise." The Cultural revolution had stopped by 1976.
Since Deng Xiao Ping's took over the communist regime, the situation has improved as their tight grip has been relaxed. In April 1979, the first church reopened and gradually other churches followed. The number of Christians increased rapidly during this period and numerous miracles occurred. Nevertheless, people that are caught preaching will face a minimum prison sentence of 3 years.
In 1980 a law was passed that allowed Christians to worship at specific locations and venues; evangelising elsewhere is prohibited. Seven prohibitions were listed. This includes: no secret family services, no building of churches, and no preaching.
After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
incident, Christians returned to underground services for only a brief period.
From 1996–present, China's welcoming open-door policy to foreign investors has lifted its economy to new heights and since China wishes to enter new markets and continue the prosperity, Christians can now hold services safely.
Of the current population of Chinese Christians, there are an estimated 2.4 million True Jesus Church
True Jesus Church
The True Jesus Church is a non-denominational Christian church that originated in Beijing, China, in 1917. The current elected chairman of the TJC International Assembly is Preacher Yong-Ji Lin. Today, there are approximately 2.5 million members in fifty three countries and six continents...
members.
There is no well organised church governing structure so many areas still lack Bibles and other reference materials.
See also
- Christianity in ChinaChristianity in ChinaChristianity in China is a growing minority religion that comprises Protestants , Catholics , and a small number of Orthodox Christians. Although its lineage in China is not as ancient as the institutional religions of Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism, and the social system and ideology of...
- True Jesus Church in TaiwanTrue Jesus Church in TaiwanThe True Jesus Church is a nontrinitarian Christian denomination began in China, growing out of the Pentecostal movement. Since its foundation it has spread to other countries including Taiwan....
- True Jesus Church in IndiaTrue Jesus Church in IndiaThe True Jesus Church, started in China, is a nontrinitarian Christian denomination growing out of the Pentecostal movement.The True Jesus Church in India was brought there on two separate occasions...
- True Jesus Church in SingaporeTrue Jesus Church in SingaporeThe True Jesus Church is a nontrinitarian Christian denomination begun in China, growing out of the Pentecostal movement. Since its foundation it has spread to other countries including Singapore....
.