Protestantism in China Protestant Christianity ( zh, t=基督敎新敎, p=Jīdūjiào xīnjiào, l=New teachings of Christianity, in comparison to earlier Roman Catholicism) entered China in the early 19th century, taking root in a significant way during the Qing dyna ...

uses ''lianghui'' () to speak of the two Chinese government-sanctioned Protestant organizations: 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). Due to the close relationship between these two organizations, they are sometimes mistaken as the same organization.

Administrative structure

Beginning in the 1980s, both associations were simultaneously headed by K. H. Ting (, 1915–2012), an ordained

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

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 ...

in 1955 (prior to the absorption of all Anglican and other Protestant denominational churches into the TSPM). He would retire from both positions at the 6th National Christian Conference, where he addressed the delegates on 29 December 1996. The TSPM and CCC together form the constituent organizations of the National Conference of Chinese Protestant Churches. The distinctive roles of the TSPM and CCC are hard to distinguish due to overlaps but both organizations maintain separate Standing Committees. The administrative structure of the lianghui is diagrammed as follows: Administration Structure of Lianghui

Ministries

The TSPM and CCC jointly administer the following ministries: * Social Service Ministry :Organizes resources both domestic and abroad, to plan and coordinate the activities of local churches to promote an active social welfare programs, disaster relief programs, and emergency relief work. * Publication Ministry :Coordinates the editing, publication and distribution of books, audio and video materials, Bibles and hymnals. Also sets guidelines for the publication of materials by local TSPM committees and Church councils. * Ministry of Reconstruction of Theological Thinking :Researches main trends of Churches overseas, major themes involved in Reconstruction of Theological Thinking, and issues concerning church development in China. * Education and Training Ministry :Supervises and coordinates issues relating to educational guidelines for Theological Seminaries and Bible Colleges in China, organizes overseas study program for theological graduates, supports lay training programs, and organizes training programs in specialized fields. * Overseas Relations Ministry :Supervised and coordinates the establishment and development of relationships between Chinese churches and overseas churches through regular mutual visits and exchanges on the basis of mutual respect, and equality.

Number of Christians

There are large numbers of

Chinese house church In China, house churches or family churches (), are Protestant assemblies in the People's Republic of China that operate independently from the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and China Christian Council (CCC). They represent ...

es in China which are outside of the registered organizations. Together, the TSPM and CCC claims a total of between 9.8 million to 13.5 million Protestant Christians in China.

Controversy

The TSPM and CCC are viewed with suspicion and distrust by some Christians both within and outside China. Some claim the TSPM to be a tool of the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

to control and regulate the expression of Christianity. As a result, many groups refuse to deal with the TSPM or CCC and there exists a large unregistered

House Church A house church or home church is a label used to describe a group of Christians who regularly gather for worship in private homes. The group may be part of a larger Christian body, such as a parish, but some have been independent groups that see ...

movement in China with some claiming that it serves the large majority of

Protestant Christian Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

s in China. There are allegations of regular and systematic

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

against Christians associated with the House Church movement and other unregistered Christian organizations in China.Forum 18 Analyses
Reports from China
(URL last accessed on May 1, 2007)

Catholicism

Roman Catholicism in China The Catholic Church in China (called Tiānzhǔ Jiào, 天主敎, literally "Religion of the Lord of Heaven" after the Chinese term for the Christian God) has a long and complicated history. John of Montecorvino was the first Roman Catholic ...

uses ''lianghui'', or ''yihuiyituan'' ( or "one association and one conference"), referring to the

Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association The Catholic Patriotic Association (), abbreviated CPA, is a state-sanctioned organization of Catholicism in the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1957 after a group of Chinese Catholics met in Beijing with officials from the Chi ...

(中国天主教爱国会) and the Bishops Conference of Catholic Church in China (中国天主教主教团). These two state-approved Catholic organizations do not accept the

primacy of the Roman Pontiff Papal primacy, also known as the primacy of the bishop of Rome, is a Roman Catholic ecclesiological doctrine concerning the respect and authority that is due to the pope from other bishops and their episcopal sees. The doctrine is accepted a ...

, in contrast to the Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference (天主教台灣地區主教團) in Taiwan.

References

External links

Christian (Protestant) Lianghui Home Page
(in Chinese and English)

(in Chinese) * ttp://www.amityfoundation.org The Amity Foundation(in Chinese and English) {{Christianity and China Protestantism in China