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Lead Article
The Three-Self Patriotic Movement
Divergent Perspectives and Grassroots Realities
Why do Chinese Christians today hold such starkly different views of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) association and its official churches? Are the TSPM and its churches “compromised,” as some house church leaders claim? To answer these questions, it helps to return to the origins of the Three-Self idea, sketch how Communist victory led […]
Policy, Implementation, and Shifting Official Perceptions of the Church in China
[…] of incidents mentioned at the outset of this article continue to occur, this gray area between “normal,” or registered, religious activities and those activities that result in official prosecution has grown significantly. Without discounting either the reality of incidences of Christian persecution or their seriousness, what is remarkable is how much Christian activity takes […]
Unmasking China’s “Official” Church
China's " official" churches (those operating under the auspices of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement) are fairly often associated with terms such as "restrictive," "government-sanctioned," or even "Communist-controlled." Granted, one does not have to look too far within China's religious bureaucracy and its associated policies and practices to find evidence that would justify such notions. […]
House Church and TSPM: Surprising Admissions in China’s Official Press
A recent article appearing in Global Times, the English-language mouthpiece of the authoritative People's Daily, raises interesting questions about how China's leaders view the relationship between the official and unofficial church.
Speeding Up? Or Slowing Down?
A Study on the Current Church Growth Situation in China
[…] views about church growth in China saying the annual growth rate is five percent, eight percent, or even ten percent. Moreover, it has been predicted that the number of Christians in China will reach two hundred and fifty million by the year 2030. Other people, however, take a different point of view, one that is not as optimistic. They believe that church growth in China is slowing down. For those who are involved in China ministry, in order to do practical, strategic planning and to be good stewards of God’s resources, it is essential to find out exactly what changes are affecting church growth and development. Therefore, a research team formed by various organizations carried out a pilot research project, Church Development and Growth in China’s Mobile, Urban Context. One of the main purposes of this research is to explore the church growth situation in China, to study the developmental trends of the Chinese church, including numerical growth, stability, or reduction in attendance. From March 6, 2017 to January 2, 2018, a survey was conducted in 263 churches at different places in China. The samples were selected from traditional Bible-belt areas where generally the Christian population density is higher than that of other places in China. We assume that if the growth rate of these areas is a certain percentage, then the whole country’s rate will not be higher than that figure. Trying to discover the trend of church growth, among other questions, we put the following three indicators into the questionnaire: The current number: number of people currently attending Sunday service in this church Number from five years ago: number of people who attended Sunday service in this church five years ago Number from previous week: the number of people who attended Sunday service the Sunday before the interview day By analyzing the above indicators, we can roughly gain the following information about these selected areas: What percentage of local churches have positive growth, zero growth, or negative growth? The average growth in congregation size of the sampled churches First of all, let us compare the current reported size to the number of attendees five years ago. Table 1: “Current Reported Number” VS “Number from Five Years Ago” Sample Churches Current > Five Years Ago No Change Current < Five Years Ago Total Municipality/Provincial Capital 69.0% 18.3% 12.7% 100.0% City 83.7% 5.8% 10.5% 100.0% County/Town 74.2% 12.9% 12.9% 100.0% […]
Beyond “Two Camps”: The Complex Relationship between Official and Unregistered Church in China
[…] religious policy, and in the unregistered church community, all of which have brought, and continue to bring, a new level of complexity to the relationship between China's official and unregistered church streams. These developments have resulted in a tense yet synergistic relationship between these two main segments of the church. The Chinese Communist Party […]
Reading Tea Leaves from the 2021 National Religious Work Conference
[…] lose meaning as they blur together. So why is it worthwhile spending any time on this at all? In fact, the work conferences for China’s religious affairs officials are where the real work of governing starts. The tone and emphasis, the language, and the concepts in the major speeches are all scrutinized by officials […]
Lead Article
Religious Statistics in China
Current evidence is that religion is flourishing in China. However, practical problems make statistical statements for the number of religious believers in China quite hazardous. The author cautiously examines the evidence that exists for each of the five, major, officially-recognized religious faiths in China.
Supporting Article
Toward a Typology of Christian Leaders in China
[…] While this description has been drawn largely from the experience of top leaders in the unregistered church, similar dynamics may exist among seasoned regional leaders within the official church.) Evangelist Leader She or he is an experienced church planter in her 30s or 40s, responsible for dozens if not hundreds of primarily rural congregations. Often […]
Official Protestant Groups Plan Next Five Years of Sinicization
What Does the TSPM/CCC 5-Year Plan Tell Us about the Direction of Official Protestantism?
What are we to make of last year’s announcement that the official Protestant group leadership, the national Three Self Patriotic Movement association together with the China Christian Council, gathered to discuss a five-year plan for 2023–2027? Do China’s official churches typically have five-year plans like any other Communist Party organization? What is new about […]