Independent churches in China

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As Independent Churches in China , the Christian churches in are China called that are not registered with the government then, not for the church Three-Self Patriotic Movement belong. Some of these are churches from the imperial era, such as the Minnan Church founded in 1867, and some are more or less networked house church movements , including the group of rebirths .

The Chinese independent churches are an important category of churches of the Chinese people. The majority of Christians in the People's Republic of China belong to an independent church, but membership numbers can only be estimated. The Society for Threatened Peoples gives 70 million (2004), the Evangelical News Agency Idea (idea) gives "at least 60 million" (2002).

history

During the country conference of missionaries in the mid and late 19th century, several Western missionaries advocated the independence of Chinese Christians instead of relying on outside support and funding. This idea was supported and also accelerated after the devastating Boxer Rebellion . During this incident, 48 Catholic missionaries and 18,000 members became martyrs, while 182 Protestant missionaries and 500 Chinese Christians died as martyrs .

Although this incident led to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty , Western missionaries encouraged Chinese Christians to act economically independently, to preach themselves, and to appoint pastors themselves, even if it meant breaking away from their original Protestant denominations. The earliest known independent church was founded in 1862 under the title "Minnan Church". Little is known about this church as all reports were recorded in the local Minnan dialect rather than Mandarin . Information about this church was slow to be "discovered" and translated.

The desired, structural independence of the Chinese Christians, as it was pursued by most of the mission churches, was articulated in the “three-selves” goals: the Chinese Christians should be responsible for “self-management, self-sufficiency and self-expansion “Transmitted in the churches. Many foreign missionaries and Chinese Christian leaders promoted this goal.

From the early 1910s, and with the formation of the China Continuation Committee after Edinburgh - World Missionary Conference of 1910 this goal was pursued gradually, reaching a climax with the creation of the National Christian Conference (NCC) in 1922, from the ecumenical "church Christ in China "emerged, a Sino-foreign organization with a significant degree of Chinese leadership and responsibility. The National Christian Council, active since the mid-1920s, was also a product of the Edinburgh Conference; it dealt with the national coordination of Protestant churches and the coordination with foreign mission societies and churches.

Not all denominations or mission groups joined the Church of Christ in China or the NCC. Some of them, like the Anglicans and Lutherans , pursued their own forms of Sino-foreign unity and the promotion of Chinese church leadership. Others, such as the Inland China Mission (now OMF), basically put a foreign-dominated leadership at the top, but sought to sensitize and promote Chinese Christians by promoting their "pursuit of responsibility and autonomy" at the local level promoted.

Churches

Roman Catholic underground church

The underground Catholic Church is part of the Roman Catholic community. Its history goes back several centuries. Unlike the party-loyal Catholic Patriotic Association , they are closely associated with the Holy See and are persecuted by the Chinese government.

Gospel-of-grace-church

The Gospel of Grace Church was founded in Shandong in 1881 by Sheng-Mo Xi .

True Church of Jesus

The True Church of Jesus (真 耶穌 教會) was founded in Beijing in 1917 . The church was governed first from Nanjing and later from Shanghai . The English name used to be True Jesus Mission . The Church is a breakaway from the first wave of Pentecostalism in the United States during the early years of the 20th century. Its founders believed, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit , that they were establishing a reformed, true church that would correct any errors in the doctrine and interpretation made by other churches. They taught that all of the Good News must have biblical references to avoid heresy and misinterpretation. Since 1926, the church expanded to Taiwan as well. Today more than 300 churches and houses of prayer belong to it.

Local churches

The Small Flocks ( local churches ) were founded by Watchman Nee , Zhou-An Lee, and Shang-Jie Song in 1922. In 1949 there were about 700 of these churches in the country.

Chinese Christian Church

The Chinese Christian Church is a smaller church.

Jesus family

The Jesus family was founded in Shandong.

Chinese Church in Christ

The Chinese Church in Christ was founded in 1937 by Wang Ming-Tao (1900–1991) in Beijing. On August 8, 1955, he was arrested by the communists. In January 1980, he was released from prison in Beijing.

literature

  • Paul Hattaway: Heavenly Man. Brother Yun's breathtaking story. Written down by Paul Hattaway. , 5th edition. Brunnen, Gießen / Basel 2007, ISBN 978-3-7655-3788-2 . (Experience report by a Chinese house church leader from the 80s and 90s)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrich Delius: China: Human Rights Situation Dramatic , Section “Persecution of Christians”; in: Human Rights Report No. 33 of the Society for Threatened Peoples, April 2004; Retrieved June 30, 2013
  2. ^ EKD: Federal President Rau addresses the situation of Christians in China ; ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Report in idea press service 42/2002 of April 11, 2002. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ekd.de
  3. ↑ Wang Ming-tao: A stone is being cut. Autobiography. Christian literature distribution, Bielefeld 1991, ISBN 3-89397-323-0 , p. 10.
  4. ↑ Wang Ming-tao: A stone is being cut. Autobiography. Christian literature distribution, Bielefeld 1991; ISBN 3-89397-323-0 ; P. 16.