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. This idea was supported and accelerated after the disastrous Boxer Rebellion. During the incident, 48 Catholic missionaries and 18000 members were martyred while 182 Protestant missionaries and 500 Chinese Christians were martyred.

Although this incident led to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, Western missionaries encouraged Chinese Christians to be self-sufficient economically, Self Preaching, and Self Pastoring even if it meant breaking away from their original Protestant denominations. The earliest known Independent Church existed in 1862 with the title, "Minnan Church". Little is known about this church since most of the records were recorded in the local Minnan dialect rather than in Mandarin. Information regarding this church is slowly being ‘discovered’ and translated.

Within Mission Churches

One category of independence was that pursued within the general structure of the foreign mission churches in China. This had a slogan: the "three-self" aim of Chinese Christians being responsible for "self-management, self-support and self-propagation" in the churches. Many foreign missionaries, and Chinese Christian leaders working within the mission-related structures of the day, promoted this goal.

From the early 1910s and the formation of the China Continuation Committee after the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference of 1910, this goal was pursued gradually, reaching a watershed in the National Christian Conference (NCC) of 1922, out of which came the ecumenical Church of Christ in China, a sino-foreign body with a significant degree of Chinese leadership and responsibility. The National Christian Council, a national Protestant coordinating and liaison body, was also a product of the conference and was operating by the mid 1920s^[1].

Not all denominations or mission groups joined the Church of Christ in China and/or the NCC. Some of them, like the Anglicans and Lutherans, pursued their own forms of Sino-foreign unity and nurturing of Chinese leadership. Others, like the China Inland Mission, continued basically a foreign-dominated operation at the top but tried to promote sensitivity to and encouragement of Chinese Christians' aspirations to responsibility and autonomy at the local level.

Church of Christ in China

The Church of Christ in China (CCC) was the largest Protestant organization in Nanjing^[2]. The church's history goes back to 1922, when several Protestant denominations in China decided to unite. At the first meeting of its General Assembly in 1927, the CCC could claim to represent close to a quarter of China's Protestants, making it the largest Protestant church in China during the 1920s, and the most powerful member of the National Christian Council (NCC). Union and independence were the twin goals enshrined in the constitution of the CCC: "to unite Christian believers in China, to plan and promote with united strength the spirit of self-support, self-governance, and self-propagation, in order to extend Christ's Gospel, practise his Way of Life and spread HIs Kingdom throughout the world." Church union had been the goal of the CCC's founder Cheng Jingyi (誠靜怡). The CCC committed its member churches to replacing foreign missions as the dominant partner in the church-mission alliance.

Extra-Mission Indigenous Sector

There was, however, an altogether different sector of Chinese Christianity which came into being in the 1900-1937 period, one which was to a high degree independent of foreign missions, autonomous in operations, and truly indigenous in ideas and leadership. This sector of Christianity has been sorely neglected by scholars of Chinese history and of the History of Christianity as well.

It is a diverse sector, made up of a combination of organized church groups (some nationwide with hundreds of congregations) and of individual congregations or even individual Christian workers who made their mark in a more local setting. Some of the these coexisted with and interacted with the mission churches; others were quite separatist and had almost no contacts with other Christians, Chinese or foreign.

China Christian Independent Church

The China Christian Independent Church began before 1910 with headquarters in Shanghai. By the 1920s, this church had well over one hundred congregations affiliated with it. These churches usually remained on fairly good terms with mission groups, participated in some ecumenical activities, and retained their original denominational creeds and practices, often a variety of Presbyterianism.

Gospel of Grace Church

Gospel of Grace Church or Grace Evangelical church was founded at Shandong by Xi Sheng-Mo (席胜魔) in 1881. In 1906, Yu Zong-Zhou (俞宗周) established this church in Shanghai. These were some of the early indigenous churches established by local Chinese Christians.

Shangdong Chinese Independent Christian Church

The Shangdong Chinese Independent Christian Church (山东中华基督教自立会) was founded in Qingdao province by the Protestant Christian Liu Shoushan (劉壽山, 1863–1935) in 1915 ^[3]. Their main method of evangelizing was through the provision of medical support and providing education to people.

Chongqing Chinese Self-supporting Methodist Church

The Chongqing Chinese Self-supporting Methodist Church (重庆中华基督教自养美道会) was established by Liu Ziru (劉子如, 1870–1948) in 1915. Liu, originally a member of the Methodist church, established this Chinese church which aimed to be self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating ^[4]。

The True Jesus Church

See also: Pentecostalism in China

Between 1917 and 1919 a very different Christian movement, the True Jesus Church, took shape. This was a dynamic movement drawing upon one of the "new" Protestant currents that came to China after 1900, Pentecostalism. Pentecostalism stresses the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" and the use of supernatural spiritual gifts such as prophecy, healing, and speaking in unknown tongues, and is fired by a strong millennialism (expecting the return of Christ at any moment; this feature was also characteristic of many others of the newer mission groups (especially Holiness and Adventist ones).

This independent church is an offshoot or breakaway from the first wave of the Pentecostal movement in the United States during the early 1900s. Early workers include Paul Wei, Ling-Sheng Zhang, Peter Wang and others. The early workers believed, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, that they were establishing a reformed true church which was to correct all the mistakes in doctrines and interpretations made by other denominations. They believed that all the teachings of the gospel must have biblical references to back it up in order to avoid misinterpretations or false teachings.

In the 1920s, this new church grew rapidly in central interior provinces, especially Henan and Hunan. It was highly exclusivist; that is, it insisted that Chinese Christians renounce their old churches and acknowledge the sole legitimacy of the The Jesus Church and its unique dogma. (a mix of "unitarian" Pentecostalism, Seventh-day worship, and intense millenarianism). The General Coordination Board was established in Nanjing which was later moved to Shanghai. Its proselytizing efforts were widely felt, and thoroughly resented, by mission churches ^[5]. The True Jesus Church was almost certainly the largest of the independent Protestant churches from the 1920s to the early 1950s, when it was banned as counterrevolutionary and its leaders jailed, only able to recommence openly in 1980. Its headquarters are today in United States; it is very active there and in Chinese communities around the world.

The Church Assembly Hall

The Church Assembly Hall (聚會處 or 聚會所), also nicknamed as the "Local churches" (zh:地方教會) or "Little Flock" (小群), is a familiar and well-known church by most Chinese Christians. Founded by Ni Tuosheng, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song and others when they started holding family services in 1922. This was a strongly proselytizing church influenced by Plymouth Brethren ideas of church polity, rather exclusivist and often in conflict with denominational and mission churches.

They began arranging “small group hymn singing” sessions in Shanghai so many Chinese refer to them as the “small group”. Their early message to people was, “Walk out your denominations and return to the Bible”, since during the 1920s and 30s there were numerous church denominations that existed in China so many people were confused and did not know which one they should actually choose from. So the church’s early founders were against church denominationalism and believed that churches should stick closer to the Bible teachings instead. Their early important contributions to society were “The Revival Times” newspaper publication and several gospel bookstores which still survive till this day. By 1949 the Church Assembly Hall had approximately seven hundred churches around the country.

Watchman Nee's name is familiar to many Christians around the world because several of his talks and a few of his writings have been translated and published abroad since the 1930s; many are still available, and widely read today. From the mid-1920s onward Watchman Nee, strongly influenced by Plymouth Brethren ideas (especially premillennialism) but also by a stress on the Holy Spirit derived from the Holiness tradition, was an inspiring and compelling teacher. His evangelistic meetings were not usually large and were often held in homes. But he had a gift of revealing the importance in the Christian life of a deeper spirituality; this, and his eloquence, drew many followers. Antagonism towards missions and foreign Christians often characterized his ministry. Seldom invited by or working within established congregations, his followers usually formed themselves into strongly proselytizing new groups, in effect forming a new nationwide denomination with headquarters in Shanghai. Like the True Jesus Church, the Church Assembly Hall was dispersed in the 1950s, and Ni was jailed as a counterrevolutionary; he died in prison in 1972. But the church migrated to Taiwan under the leadership of Li Changshou, one of Ni's lieutenants, under whom it became prominent and controversial; it is now a worldwide church, with joint headquarters in Taipei and Anaheim, California ^[6].

The Jesus Family

The Jesus Family (耶穌家庭) is a unique Pentecostal communitarian church first established in Shandong province in the late 1920s. It is a more distinctive type of the independent churches in China. Founded and established by Jing Dianying (敬奠瀛) [1] near Mazhuang, they are located mostly in rural areas. At that time, their main message was, “Leave your old family and enter the new family”. What they meant was that converts were to break away Leave your old family and your old world, enter the new family and new world from their original family system and enter the new ‘Family of Jesus’. The new converts were also required to bring out all their possessions and share it out with all its members.

After they have left their previous families or societies and joined the Jesus Family, the next step was, “Change to a new life, Jesus is our Lord”, which meant that the new converts must adopt new lifestyles and that their behaviours of should change. Jesus Christ was to be the Head of the household.

Step three was to “Break down food, clothing and shelter; fulfil food, clothing and shelter”. This is a vivid description of the Jesus Family lifestyle which meant that the new members must change their old habits on food, clothing and shelter. For example if you like wearing flash clothes, eating delicious buffets, and living in luxurious mansions (which is what everyone craves for), then it is time give up all these habits by stop being materialistic and start living a more simplified life.

After the new Jesus Family members have adopted a very simple lifestyle, the statement “fulfil food, clothing and shelter” means that everything is to be shared among its Family Members including all the food produce and income earned.

The Jesus Family was basically imitating the example of the early Apostolic Church in Jerusalem that was recorded in the book of Acts. The early church also lived a communal lifestyle of giving and sharing and loving each other. Of course, this type of farming lifestyle is obviously easier to fulfil in the countryside so the Jesus Family followers are mainly situated in rural areas rather than cities.

The last step of their message was to: “Live and die for the Lord with all your heart”, which clearly shows the Jesus Family mentality of living everyday for the Lord and being willing to die for the Lord’s sake if and when persecution arises.

The Jesus Family Church is considered quite unique and stood out among the other independent churches in China. In reality, this type of Communal lifestyle can also be found in Israel today (The Israeli “Kibbutz”).

The Spiritual Gifts Church

The Spiritual Gifts Church (靈恩會) was the least organized of the independent churches mentioned thus far. This was centred in Shandong province in the late 1920s and 1930s, and is perhaps best seen as a Pentecostal movement, not an ecclesiastically organized body. The movement encompassed Chinese churches and pastors who broke away from denominations which refused to accept their Pentecostal doctrines and practices, and also touched foreign mission communities as well, making the famous Shandong Revival of the early 1930s a joint Sino-foreign experience. This Revival spilled over into church splits, with denunciations of heresy on one side and jeremiads against indifference on the other ^[7]. The Chinese pastors and their followers who left their old churches, many of them from the U.S. Presbyterian mission, found a new home, at least temporarily, in this loosely structured movement. The Spiritual Gifts Church did not develop institutionally and this church did not survive past the 1930s since no publications or records indicated that it ever went beyond this informal stage of development.

The Christian Tabernacle

It originally was just a family service but was later established as a new church by Wang Mingdao (王明道) at Beijing in 1937. The Chinese Church in Christ (CCiC) was founded without the help of any foreign missionary so it was essentially Chinese Christians preaching to Chinese people. They also self administer and are self efficient economically.

Wang Mingdao was especially tight on church entry. During the sixteen years from 1933-1949 only 570 believers received baptism since every new believer must bring another convert to the church before baptism was allowed. He said, “The sheep must have life, your behaviour of giving birth to more sheep shows that you have life”. Therefore being able to bring people to believe in the faith is evidence that indeed you are quite clear of the path to salvation. Although it does not mean that you have already received salvation, it shows that you are worthy to become one of their church members.

Once Wang Mingdao's strict entry requirements have already been satisfied, both the new convert’s behaviour and lifestyle will be closely observed or examined by church members for a period. This is done in order to confirm that the new believer really is behaving as a Christian ought to behave and that his faith truly has a solid foundation.

Bread of Life Church

The Bread of Life Church, also known as Ling Liang Church, was founded in Shanghai, China by Pastor Zhao Shiguang (趙世光) in 1943 . In 1954, the headquarters were moved to Taipei. Today there are currently 168 churches all over the world ^[8]. Since 1990, the Hong Kong Bread of Life Church operates independently of the organization in Taiwan.

Summary

These six main churches are the most well known and representative of the many independent churches in China and which can still be found till this day. The current ‘House Churches’ in China are also independent churches because after 1949, with the arrival of Communist control and departure of all foreign missionaries, all Chinese Christian denominations had become independent and had to stand on their toes. Therefore the original independent churches flourished during and after the severe persecutions and their standards and experiences will provide good role models for other Chinese churches to learn. The Chinese independent churches will most certainly play an important role for Christianity in China in the near future.

Notes

1. ^ National Christian Conference, Merwin
2. ^ Boynton and Boynton, p.xi
3. ^ Independence Movement of Protestant Churches in China
4. ^ The Patriotic and Charitable Liu Ziru (爱国慈善家刘子如)
5. ^ See Bays, Indigenous Protestant Churches.
6. ^ On Ni Tuosheng and his movement, Kinnear is basic; also see Lyall, Three of China's Mighty Men. A solid biography of Ni is in Zha, Zhongguojidujiao, pp. 305-40
7. ^ Bays, "Christian Revivalism in China," 99.171-72
8. ^ Brief history of the Bread of Life Church

See also

Christianity in China portal

• Japanese Independent Churches

External links

• “Pentecostalism”and the study of grassroots Christianity in China - Department of Theology, University of Birmingham