Joseph Gu () was former senior pastor of the Chongyi Church in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

, one of the largest churches in China today, and former head of the

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

Christian Council.

Biography

Gu, originally from Shangyu City, Zhejiang, was born and raised in a Christian home. In the late-1980s and early-1990s, he received his theological training in Zhejiang Theological Seminary and Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, and was a former student of

Wang Weifan Wang Weifan (; 1927–2015) was an evangelical Christian leader of the state-sanctioned Protestant church of mainland China, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. He was well-loved as a preacher, theologian, and devotional writer. Biography Wang We ...

. From the 1990s until January 2016, Gu was the senior pastor of the Chongyi Church in

, one of the largest churches in China today. He was also formerly head of the

Christian Council.

Protest and arrest

As head of the

Christian Council, Gu in July 2015 published an open letter denouncing the government-supported "Three Rectifications and One Demolition" campaign to remove crosses from churches and destroy church buildings throughout

Zhejiang province Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...

. In January 2016, Gu was removed from his posts as part of a probe into the embezzlement of funds. Although he was released in March 2016, he was placed under house arrest after then, and re-arrested in January 2017. According to the

Three-Self Patriotic Movement The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM; ) is the official government supervisory organ for Protestantism in the People's Republic of China. It is colloquially known as the Three-Self Church (). The National Committee of the Three-Self Patriot ...

(TSPM) and the

China Christian Council The China Christian Council (CCC; ) was founded in 1980 as an umbrella organization for all Protestant churches in the People's Republic of China with Bishop K. H. Ting as its president. It works to provide theological education and the publica ...

(CCC), removing Gu was necessary to "move one step closer towards the proper self-construction and management of church locations... and sort out the interpersonal relationship between the province and the two municipal hristianorganizations." Gu was reportedly released from arrest on Christmas Eve 2017.

References

Living people Chinese Protestant ministers and clergy People from Shangyu Three-Self Patriotic Movement Year of birth missing (living people) {{Christian-clergy-stub